My Review of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

I, like many others, went to see Eclipse at the midnight showing on Tuesday 29th, and got out at two in the morning on the 30th, highly satisfied with what I saw. Thursday night I went to see it again with a friend and my mom and got to really absorb what I was watching and if I truly liked it. I rate The Twilight Saga: Eclipse five stars.

Unlike for Twilight and New Moon, I watched no spoilers (okay, maybe two) for this film. With the first film, I watched all the trailers multiple times, any interviews with the cast or crew, behind the scenes footage, and every pre-released scene there was. I pretty much saw the whole film before it was even in theaters. Therefore I was not surprised at many of the parts. For the second movie I was better, yet I still wanted any information I could find. Finally for Eclipse I was a little tired with the whole series, and just found myself not bothering with interviews or spoilers. So for the most part, every scene layed before me in the theater was a surprising treat.

The director of the film, David Slade, is known for his other movie 30 Days of Night, and I have to say that while I watched Eclipse I could tell in some parts that he definitely directed it. The way the camera zoomed into a vampire's or werewolf's face when they got angry, bared their teeth, and screamed. Twas very 30 Days of Night.

I felt like some of the acting was questionable, whether it was screaming in pain or rage, or just saying lines. Like when Robert Pattinson as Edward, proposed to Bella, played by Kristen Stewart. The words were lost - quite and lacking burning emotion. Or at least that's what I thought. There was also something, or more like someone, who stood out to me during the movie. Jodelle Ferland had the role of Bree Tanner, of newborn vampire created by Riley in attempt to make a newborn army. Ferland's acting...questionable. There was just something about how she tried to look like she was in pain, but sounded more like dramatically acting and just plain screaming. Could I have done better? That remains to be seen...

I especially enjoyed the Hale's past flashbacks; Rosalie's tale of how her path in a perfect life took a dark turn when her drunk fiancé raped her and left her to die and Jasper's second life spent as a vampire who trained newborns in the army and then a year later had to kill them. They, especially Jasper's, captivated me. Jackson Rathbone in general did an amazing job in this film with much more to do with his character. He was in my favorite scenes.

Despite what all the typical teenage girls are screaming about, I am not obsessed with Taylor Lautner or his abs in any way. In fact, I think in this movie I completely lost respect for Jacob's character. I liked Jacob in Twilight and a good chunk of New Moon. In fact, I stopped liking him once he became a werewolf and started having all his issues. Maybe I would like him if he wasn't so angry or sarcastic all the time. He doesn't smile and when he does, it's cocky. I just don't really understand how anyone can be on "Team Jacob."

I think I expected more humor in this film, mostly because that's what I heard in interviews, so I was a bit disappointed when there were only a few jokes here and there like in the other two films.

The music was also better in the first movies. When I saw New Moon, I was floored with the beauty of the film and said it was more like an art film. The music was probably the best part of it. So while I watched Eclipse, I was pretty let down with the choice of music. There were probably only two songs I liked in the movie, which is a bit sad. Even the score, which was composed by Howard Shore who did the music for Lord of the Rings.

Still, despite its minor downfalls, Eclipse didn't fail with the action sequences. The chase, the fight practice, and the actual fights with Victoria and the newborns. I like a good action film as much as the next sucker, and I wasn't let down. What interested me most was how with each movie, the material the vampires are made of seems to change. In Twilight, as James was torn to shreds, he was more like flesh. In New Moon, the vampires cracked and smashed like rock. And in Eclipse, after numerous moments, it looked (and sounded) more like they were composed of glass, or ice.

All in all, I thought Eclipse was a great film, and I don't think any true fan of the series could say they thoroughly hated it. So thank you to David Slade, the amazing cast who put together an awesome film.

Next stop, Breaking Dawn...