Directed by David Slade.
Less than a year after the release of New Moon, the producers of the teenage heart-fluttering Twilight series are striking while Jacob’s abs are still hot with this third instalment, which, despite being somewhat cooler under the direction of David Slade, fails to move much further on from the wolf-vampire-human love triangle that made up the bulk of the last film.
Mopey Bella Swan (a wig-wearing Kristen Stewart) is, like, totally in lurv with Edward Cullen (the smouldering Robert Pattinson) and is preparing to become a vampire and spend the rest of eternity with him. When Bella is not visiting her mum in Florida or driving perfectly-shot Volvos around Forks, she flirts openly with shapeshifter (NOT werewolf) Jacob and makes everything more difficult for herself than it already is. If this wasn’t complicated enough, Bella also has to deal with the fact that ruthless vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) is after her aided by a new-born army led by underused hottie Riley (Xavier Samuel).
With all the impending doom of a vampire vs. evil vampire vs. lupine shapeshifter battle climax running throughout the film, you would think that all the smushy stuff where teenagers discuss their feelings and stuff would take a back seat. Not so. That would be about as likely as Taylor Lautner cracking any other facial expression than the damning snarl he wears throughout Eclipse. The point is, despite the fact that critics are trying to find more to the Twilight series than Team Edward/Jacob, it takes up a hell of a lot of the running time. When the characters should be preparing for an onslaught, they decide to have twee heart-to-hearts which go round in circles. One minute it’s Bella and Jacob, then Bella and Edward, then Edward and Jacob, then Bella and her father, and so on, until these dialogues do nothing but slow the pace and retard the progress of the story.
The emotional stuff is the heart of the series, but David Slade shows in this film that he can do action sequences and gives Eclipse a more stylised look than its predecessors. The opening attack on Riley is brilliantly shot and adheres to Gothic tradition, while the flashback scenes of Jasper (Jackson Rathbone – the coolest Cullen) and Rosalie make for some of the best film-making in the series so far. Coupled with the fact that the soundtrack is 21st century all over (Muse, Florence and Vampire Weekend all feature), we have a merging of past and present which helps to expand the temporality of the Twilight series more than the first two films. After all, these characters are immortal.
Overall, Eclipse is a vast improvement on the series and gives The Twilight Saga a little more credibility than it had in the days of bad scripting and slow motion, but there is still much tweaking to be done. For example, when Jacob’s pack (both muscular and tribal) develop a little more personality, it would be fine to give them more screen time than the enigmatic Cullens, while the few attempts at comedy in Eclipse are well intended but often misfiring. On the whole, while by no means perfect, Eclipse shows an ironically bright future for the Twilight franchise.
oh wow moping vampires AND muse. NAAAAAAT