my first movie review of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

I know it's a few weeks after the release but to me, that's just less pressure. I know now that no one is going to google Eclipse reviews and stumble across my little blog expecting Roger Ebert. But alas, the review.

I saw Eclipse opening night at the 12:04 a.m. showing with my dear friend Molly, along with tons of Paradiso Prostitots in Team Edward & Team Jacob shirts and lots of Twilight Moms. I had a calmer experience this afternoon at the earliest showing at the Malco Forest Hill with my favorite sister-in-law, Dara, and feel like I can adequately review the movie.

(As a note, while the movie has been out for a while and anyone who watches the movies has read the books, I'm still going to attempt to make this a spoiler-free review).

For those who don't know, Eclipse is the third installment of the Twilight Saga (based off the books by Stephanie Meyer) and it jumps right in with our heroine and the heaviest breathing girl in Forks, Washington, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), and her vampire boyfriend, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), in an attempt to break the record for most marriage proposals in under 10 minutes. 

Edward & Bella.

The plot thickens when it's revealed that Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), Bella's werewolf former best friend who happens to be in love with her, is still upset that Bella chose to be with Edward and wants to be a vampire too. And further when previous vampire villain Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) returns, building an army of uber strong vampire newborns to take Bella down.

 

My official opinion: I loved it. And not just because Pattinson's Edward Cullen makes me weak in the knees. 

While I don't think even the hardest of Twi-hards (a label i refuse to wear myself) is laboring under any delusions that any of the Twilight Saga films are being reviewed by the Academy, Eclipse definitely blew past the expectations that Twilight and New Moon had inspired.

But it wasn't perfect.

I know it's explained in the book, but I'm with Edward on this one: "Doesn't he own a shirt?" Aside from the lack of clothing, Lautner's Jacob had one too many one-liners for me. But the fourteen year olds loved it, so what do i know?

Ok, this one I want to preface with I love Anna Kendrick. I do, really. And I always want her role increased in these movies. However, the way screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg went about this is giving her the valedictorian speech. May I just say that if Jessica (Kendrick) is the best and brightest that Forks High School has to offer, the town should be worried.

I LOVED the casting change of Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria.

Brilliant casting aside, I have a note for director David Slade. The camera doesn't actually already have to be moving all the time. The fight scene was nearly perfect but it would've been a lot better if I wasn't reaching for the Dramamine. 

the main attraction and source of most conflict (Team Edward vs. Team Jacob anyone?) throughout the film is the werewolf-human-vampire love triangle. without revealing everything, in this scenario, neither of the gentle-monsters are bad guys and Bella is beyond ridiculous. The final Bella & Edward scene almost makes up for her being so ridiculous though :)

Official Movie Grade: B+