FILM REVIEW: 'THE TWILIGHT SAGA - ECLIPSE'

Finally; A 'Twilight Saga' Film that Won't Make the Boyfriends & Husbands Cringe

By: Darryl Morden

June 28, 2010

Finally a Twilight film that won’t make husbands and boyfriends squirm in their theater seats.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is a monsters-in-action movie first and a romance second. Which is okay. Really, aren’t many films and TV shows in the genre dark romances as well? Think Buffy/Angel, Moonight, Dark Shadows and more.

It helps much that this third installment is helmed by David Slade, an actual horror film director (30 Days of Night) who also gets teen-centered turmoil with tension (Hard Candy). Previous directors Catherine Hardwicke on Twilight and Chris Weitz on New Moon each had a different style — the former quite indie yet too self-conscious, and the latter forced to deal with an unfortunately plodding first half of a story.

Sinister new vamp Riley (Xavier Samuels) has raised an army, and they don’t just want human blood. So it’s up to hero blood-suckers, the Cullens, to take them on. But they can’t do it alone. Meanwhile, the evil Victoria, dressed from the Janis Joplin boutique, is back and wants revenge for the deaths of lover James and fellow vamp Laurent. Along the way, we also get additional back-stories of some Cullens — Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) and Rosalie (Nikki Reed) — each tale filled with tragedy; plus there’s the origin reveal of how Native American shape-shifters became werewolves. This is loads better than Bella journal confessions in voice-over and time spent with her Nick channel high school pals.  Still, the theme of graduation yields a funny line or two and some typical grad moments.

You can be sure that Twihards who’ve read all the books know how things will turn out, and Eclipse appears to be a pretty faithful adaption of what’s probably the most solid book in the series. While the love triangle is still at the center of the movie, it’s the “good” vamps and werewolf alliance against “bad” vamps that drives the film and makes it watchable for guys.

Let’s put it this way: think Marvel Comics team-ups. You’ve got the X-Men of vampires (the Cullen clan, each with their own extra “gift”) joining forces with adversaries, the shape-shifting wolf pack (okay, they’re not Magneto’s Evil Brotherhood, but you get the idea).  It’s the ol’ “the enemy of my enemy” thing — a truce for their greater good against a greater evil. And it works. The action sequences, especially the big battle, have more in common with fantasy films than the first two movies, though the Volturi ruling class of Italian vampires were fascinating and didn’t get enough screen-time in New Moon and, thankfully, play a part here, led by Dakota Fanning — creepy with a nasty streak too.

What’s obvious and wince-inducing?  The dangers of sex as funneled through Meyer’s Twi-world with restrictive Mormon perceptions. There’s nothing wrong with sticking to one’s values, but it’s all delivered in such a heavy-handed fashion. On the other hand, the Edward/Jacob rivalry is snipe-filled, with plenty of verbal and visual barbs for those who are one “team” or the other, leaving the rest of us to just be…well, a bit amused.

Stewart is far more tolerable than her annoying, no-one-understands-me portrayal in the first two movies (but blame the character rather than the actress). Pattinson is still a brood boy but gets to…ah, sink his non-fang teeth into the role much more. Lautner also gets greater range here, wearing all emotions on the outside as Jacob, as opposed to internal-until-he-bursts Edward.

There are several standouts in the rest of the cast, though all are quite settled into their respective roles. Billy Burke is especially good as Bella’s local cop dad Charlie, who wants her away from Edward though he still does not know about the vampires or werewolves (one of the flaws in this series, as he is clearly no idiot). Peter Facinelli plays Carlisle Cullen with continuing paternal grace, wisdom, and even warmth for a “cold one”; and Ashley Greene’s Alice is still darn cute. Bryce Dallas Howard (Spider-Man 3) takes over as Victoria from Rachelle Lefevre and does well enough with it, though Lefevre seemed to perhaps have a darker edge in the first film.

Everything comes to a satisfying conclusion (not quite a happy ending for all, but…) and most plot threads are nicely sewn up. It could all end here as a trilogy, but of course there’s one more book, Breaking Dawn, and that is being divided into two films (milk that franchise) and could also be titled “The Volturi Confrontation,” if you want a “hint” of where things are heading. But again, Twi-hards already know what’s to come. Still, Eclipse is sure to make them happy…heck, giddy; and this time, grumbling male companions won’t be wishing they were in the theater next door watching something else.

This review first appeared on That Writer Guy.