Movies Reviews

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Movie Review

By Anne Brodie Jul 2, 2010, 17:27 GMT

“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” finds Bella once again surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge.  In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob — knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf.  With her ...more

The Twilight series has a hot new star and he’s up to no good.  Xavier Samuel plays Riley, a human strolling around the docks late at night for some reasons, and is attacked by a fast moving, invisible force.  He’s only winged and calls out to see who’s there, and is attacked again.  This times his assailant succeeeds – it turns Riley into a vampire.

Which makes Riley a “newborn”, which in Twilight parlance, is a newly minted vampire who is by nature beset by overwhelming negative emotions, and cursed with massive physical strength that he cannot control.  And that’s just the opening titles.

Bella, Edward and Jacob are still side stepping their romantic issues, Edward won’t have sex with Bella who makes it clear she’s ready for it, Bella won’t listen to Jacob’s protestations of love and protection and Jacob won’t give up on her.  Jacob imagines himself to be her saviour from vampirism.  He tells her that if she makes the ultimate sacrifice and chooses Edward, she will no longer be able to live in her world. 

There is an uncharacteristically touching scene between Bella and her mother during when she visits her in Florida which brings that reality close to home.  Bella has a revelation of the things she will lose.  Kristen Stewart does an admirably layered, complex interpretation of Bella’s struggle throughout the film, and especially here.
Stewart seems to emerge from her shell in Eclipse; her acting is improved and she seems confident.  We’re finally getting to see glimpses of the talent she showed in Panic Room and frankly, the franchise needs that.

Strangely, Edward (Robert Pattinson) seems to recede in Eclipse, in part due to the nature of being an older vampire who is calm and still.  He becomes a study in grey and blue, a very old being with a good face with wide planes and dark eyes, at the centre of the storm.  But he is not the force he has been; he advocates non-action. 
Life does not go on as usual for the Twilighters in Eclipse.  There are more enemies, who are tougher to vanquish and endless battles must be fought.  Even the Volturi show up in the Pacific Northwest to knock heads, that’s how bad things get.  Dakota Fanning is exceedingly eery and dark and would make a nice little story on her own.  These much ballyhooed battles are well-shot and keep us engaged.

And this is the strength of director David Slade’s Twilight outing – he knows how to stage an action fight scene and balance it with the underlying romantic longings the kids want to share.  Slade’s well executed action sequences raise Twilight to new levels of cinematic appeal.  The franchise makes no pretense of being anything other than what it is, a fast paced romntic actioner for the teens but this is the best yet.

35mm fantasty romance
Written by Melissa Rosenberg, Stephenie Meyer
Directed by David Slade
Opens: June 30
Runtime: 124 minutes
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some sensuality
Country: USA
Language: English