The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

Movie Info

I’m kind of just screwing with my real boyfriend by messing around with you…

Bella (Kristen Stewart) has vowed to become a vampire upon her graduation from high school despite warnings from Edward (Robert Pattinson).  Now as time ticks down, Bella is going to learn what it really means to be a vampire from Edward and his family.  The battle for Bella however isn’t over between Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and Edward.  Bella is also going to learn about wolves and why they fear vampires.  Unfortunately, trouble is brewing in Seattle where people are disappearing.  The Cullens fear that Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) is building an army to seek revenge for the death of James and will have to team with the wolves if they hope to prevent the Volturi from becoming involved.

I love this shot…in Let’s Scare Jessica to Death…and Land of the Dead…

Directed by David Slade, The Twilight Saga:  Eclipse is the third film in the Twilight Saga and follows The Twilight Saga:  New Moon from 2009.  The movie adapts 2007’s Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer and was met by huge numbers upon its release.  The film received Razzie nominations for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Actor (Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson), Worst Actress (Kristen Stewart), Worst Screenplay, Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel, Worst Screen Ensemble, and won the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor (Jackson Rathbone).

Who’s a good dog?

I continue to be confounded by the whole Twilight trend.  I am not the target audience but half the people in love with the series are middle-aged women.  I was in Los Angeles when Eclipse was premiering and there were tons of 40 and 50 something women camping out…I guess trying to relive some teen dream.

The story continues to not only be boring while also presenting a very, very strange message to the teens that do see the movies.  The movie pretty much has Bella meeting up with various vampires and werewolves and hearing their stories.  This is accompanied by constant warnings that being a vampire isn’t a good thing, but Bella in her teenage wisdom has decided it is right for her to essentially commit suicide to be with her teen crush for eternity…fortunately they are getting married first…another good idea.

That’s right! I’m Victoria now!

Stewart and Pattinson just aren’t lead actors.  Both actors seem bored with their roles and in turn make a boring film. The “Team Jacob” aspect of the books makes its way heavily into this film with Jacob vying for Bella’s love, but it never seems that there is any true love between Bella and Jacob so that aspect falls flat.  Both Jacob and Edward’s family get more face time this film and that helps develop them.  The film recast Victoria with Bryce Dallas Howard which is always an unfortunate event in the middle of a series.

A CGI wolf is attacking me!!!

Visually, the movie continues to fail.  The computer generated wolves look computer generated, and I still can’t get over the sparkly vampires.  The movie goes back to period pieces in this film with some flashbacks to Victorian ages and explorer times…they are not the best looking scenes.

The strange pacing almost feels more like a WB TV series rather than a film.  The movies end almost with cliffhangers (tune in next week!!!) rather than resolutions.  The movie is a slight improvement over The Twilight Saga:  New Moon but still has a long way to go before being good.  The filmmakers saw the advantage of milking these films and like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, they decided to divide the final book into two parts.  The Twilight Saga:  Eclipse was followed by The Twilight Saga:  Breaking Dawn—Part 1 in 2011.

Related Links:

Twilight (2008)

Twilight Saga:  New Moon (2009)

Twilight Saga:  Breaking Dawn—Part 1 (2011)

Twilight Saga:  Breaking Dawn—Part 2 (2012)