Twilight: Eclipse
Perhaps the curse of the trilogy is being lifted by the cinematic powers that be…The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third in the Twilight series, was actually more enjoyable than the first two. First Toy Story 3, now Eclipse…it seems that writers really want to go out with a bang, and Eclipse did not disappoint.
Assuming that the majority of Twilight’s potential audience is already familiar with the story, Eclipse plunges right in without stopping to offer a recap of the previous films. Fortunately for me, my friend’s 13 year old daughter was able to help serve as my guide, and I sheepishly admit that I was recently turned on to the series by someone who I was dating, but who broke my heart just days before the screening. I was not looking forward to seeing a sappy romance after that, but was pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing at some of the clever banter between Edward and Jacob, and there was quite a bit of action to distract me as well.
Bella Swan is about to graduate high school and is hoping her Edward (Robert Pattinson) will give her immortality as her graduation gift so they can stay together forever. Edward, a traditional romantic, still wants Bella to marry him first and is hoping she will change her mind. Edward is given several opportunities to smile and show a little personality, aside from his possessive and protective nature, however, I still find Edward and Bella to be the most uninteresting couple in a romance series. Some of the least interesting characters to come along in a long time, Bella is vanilla without the beans, and Edward is a passive aggressive bore who’s content to let Bella go if she doesn’t choose him…hardly the romantic vampire I’d like to be bitten by. The passion is forced, even in the heated scene in the bedroom. There is more heat between Bella and Jacob…not sure if that’s because werewolves are naturally 110 degrees or because of Jacob’s tanned sculpted body.
Jacob is still in love with Bella and is determined to draw out how she feels about him. Apparently he has more insight into how she really feels because of his werewolf instincts and he makes no apologies for his aggressive behavior, to Bella, or to Edward, who he seems to enjoy taunting. Jacob is shirtless for most of the movie which drew screams from all the women in the audience (and I do mean ALL, there were middle aged women who were just a little too excited to see the hottie on-screen).
Neighboring Seattle is struck by a wave of mysterious killings, and young people are disappearing and people are dying in large numbers, attracting the attention of both the Cullen coven and the Volturi. It is clear that Victoria, the fire-headed beauty, still plotting to avenge her lover’s death, is behind it all and has converted a young man, Riley, into a rogue vampire. She uses her feminine wiles to convince Riley to help her create an army of newborn vampires, the most dangerous and reckless, having not yet learned self control or the “rules” of the Volturi. With Bella in danger, the Cullen family and Jacob’s wolf pack must choose to put their own feuds aside for the time being in order to protect her.
I found the ancillary characters, Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) and Rosalie (Nikki Reed) well defined and far more interesting than our main characters, Edward and Bella. Jasper’s background of being a Confederate Major is especially engaging. I was not disappointed about the book to screen conversion, either. While the sequencing was different, they really did a great job fitting in some of my favorite parts of the book, with few changes.
Darker, grittier, and a little more thought provoking than the previous installments, Twilight fans will be satisfied. As previously stated, Eclipse was better than the first two…but at the end of the day, that’s not saying much.
June 30th, 2010 at 8:07 pm
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