Review of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) by Sean N — 12 May 2012

To its credit, Twilight Eclipse is an improvement over the last two movies for two reasons. First of all, it isn't as boring as those two films and second, there's actually some good action in here for once. But still (and I'm sure you know where I'm going here) this is still some of the worst writing I've ever seen in a motion picture. I'm not meaning in terms of story, I mean in terms of character development. This film cements the character of Bella Swan as honestly the most selfish, male dependent, uncaring, manipulative, self-centered, pretentious, idiotic whining little character in all of cinema and literature (Special thanks to Doug Walker, aka the Nostalgia Critic, for that brilliant description of this character). If she had actually been smart enough to live with the werewolf guy and live a normal life, then maybe these movies would be easier to watch but nope. Instead, she just pits the two male leads against each other time and time again and constantly toys with their emotions. Again, this isn't anything against Kristen Stewart. It's just the writing that makes these movies hard to watch. It's a shame because like I said, Eclipse is honestly the best of these movies although that seriously isn't saying much.

As a string of killings ravage Washington, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) must contemplate the choice she must make. Either she marries vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and becomes a vampire herself giving up her normal life, or goes with werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). While she figures that out, the vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard, taking over for Rachelle Lefevre) leads a army of newborns to kill Bella in revenge for Edward killing her mate James from the first film.

The thing that really bugs me about this film is that the tagline for this film is 'It all begins... with a choice' when really that's a load of baloney. It is so clear from the beginning of the movie to the end that Bella is going to pick Edward and become a vampire. Even though pretty much everyone else in the movie is telling her not to give up her normal life, she just ignores all of that. Seriously, why are these two so keen on being together anyway? Heck, the majority of the conversations in the movie are just Bella trying to convince Edward to turn her into a vampire and at one point just to have sex with her. Even when she's technically cheating on Edward at times with Jacob, he doesn't mind. I mean it, there is one scene in this film when Jacob hears that Bella and Edward are getting married he storms off but before he leaves, Bella tries to convince him not to go and get killed. She flat out says she's in love with him and they kiss no doubt not far away from Edward. Then, when Bella goes back to Edward and tells him about this, he's cool about it because 'she loves him more' and might I also add it's she who says this, not him. If I had actually seen this in the theater, I would've yelled out, 'You idiots! She's messing with you two!'. I mean it, in this one all Bella does is just pit these two against each other when it's so painfully obvious she's going to end up with Edward. I said that in New Moon, you feel sorry for everyone who has to deal with her but in Eclipse, that is primarily directed towards Edward and Jacob themselves. They should just ditch this girl and find other people.

So after three movies, I think I found the major problem that have plagued this series from the beginning. When it comes down to it, these movies mostly revolve around just conversations. That's what made the first two films so boring is that all they were pretty much were just people talking all the time and little to no action. This film falls victim to that too because, as I mentioned, most of the conversations in the film are just Bella and Edward contemplating their future. That is just uninteresting to watch as it has been for all of these movies. The thing is, this movie also has the other members of the Cullen family explain their backstory and their stuff is WAY more interesting that this damn romance.

But to its credit, this is the best directed film of the series. Behind the director's chair this time is David Slade, who did the films Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night, 30 Days of Night being another vampire film. The reason why he has done the best out of any director attached to this series is because when he does action sequences, they are incredibly entertaining. Those action scenes near the end are the best parts of the film. Also, the acting has actually kind of improved from the main leads although it still ain't really great. I feel kind of bad bashing on them because it really ain't entirely their fault these films stink. I mean, how can Robert Pattinson go from being in Harry Potter to this?

So even though this is the best in the series at this point, it is still a very annoying film to watch. Like with New Moon, it's all because that repulsive main character is just endangering everyone around her, doesn't really care about those same people who fight for her, and constantly is toying with both of the guys who love her when it's so painstakingly obvious who she will pick at the end. To the film's credit, it isn't as annoying as New Moon. New Moon, while no doubt a great 'so bad it's funny' movie, was honestly one of the worst movies I ever saw just because of you know who. So now there's only one more book to go in this series... but two more films. That's right, Twilight is going the Harry Potter route and is splitting Breaking Dawn into two films. A few things bother me about this. First of all, I can't imagine why it is necessary to do this. Sure the book is pretty big but two films that will probably be mainly just talking about stuff. UGH! With Harry Potter, that's understandable to split the final book into two movies, but this? Really? To make matters worse, when the final film comes out in 2012 there won't be any Harry Potter film to compete with it although that doesn't help much either seeing how this series always win all of the 'people's choice' awards. Second, I hear they're trying to maintain a PG-13 rating even though I think everyone's heard how violent and mature the book is. Seriously if they would just do it like in the book, then maybe these films might get a bit better. But I guess that's not primarily their best interest.