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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Release Date: 9th July 2010
Director: David Slade
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner
Running time: 124 mins
Cert: PG
With a new, edgier director in David Slade, and a renewed energy from an altogether lighter script, 'Eclipse', the third instalment of The Twilight Saga, finally shows some teeth.
Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) is the third director in as many big-screen adaptations of Stephanie Meyer's mega-best selling Twilight series. This new blood gives the series a pulse that its morose, low-budget predecessors sadly lacked. Where previously as mopey and dawdling as misery-guts heroine Bella; the plot this time is pacey, whipping along from pained love-scene to action and back again, sparing us the endless high-school classroom interiors and bleak inner-monologues characteristic of Twilight and New Moon.
This less heavy-handed direction and cinematography (our retinas are still recovering from New Moon's anaemic white to pitch black transitions) gives us a world much more pleasant in which to spend two hours. More importantly, the girl-meets-vampire-meets-werewolf trio of lead stars have a fresh confidence about their performances.
The story opens with a dark, menacing scene of Forks local-boy Riley ambushed by a mysterious assailant. The attacker is Victoria, a vampire bent on avenging the death of her mate at the hands of Edward (Robert Pattinson). Riley and Victoria set about creating an army of undisciplined yet super strong army of 'newborn' vampires.
With the newborn army (seemingly recruited on the basis of their trendy haircuts) encroaching on the town of Forks, natural enemies Edward's Cullen-clan vampire coven and Jacob's werewolf pack form an alliance as unlikely as the supernatural love triangle at the centre of the story.
Meanwhile, Bella (played to pined perfection by Kristen Stewart) must choose between her two paranormal paramours; dreary yet dreamy vampire Edward and wolf-whistle werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner).
Themes of teen abstinence and chastity ensure a parent-pleasing PG rating with fourth Jonas brother Edward determined to put a ring on it before 'changing' Bella from human to vampire or from girl to woman despite Bella's best efforts to have him pop her cherry and pop her clogs.
Lautner's Jacob Black stands behind Bella's romantic 'Door Number 2' as she is forced to choose between the two. Unfortunately, once again, the perpetually topless T-Laut's abs are more defined than his acting chops - often his CGI werewolf alter-ego displaying a more convincing emotional range.
While one superhuman suitor offers the chance to literally live happily (if undead) ever after, the other offers an unchanged human life and a warm heart behind hunky muscles. Much teen-tonsil tennis and lovey-dovey dialogue ensue as Bella decides between a heart of stone or abs of steel, and most importantly to the teen audiences - which guy is the better kisser.
Fans will enjoy the time given to explore the back stories of some of the peripheral characters including members of The Cullen clan and the Wolfpack; an excuse for some period vampire camp. This doesn't feel like an interruption to the flow and helps elevate Rosalie (Nikki Reed) and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) from the mere props that they had been until now.
Thankfully David Slade and scriptwriter Melissa Rosenberg approach this third instalment with a healthy dose of knowing self deprecation and tongue in cheek one-liners. Edward asks of the oft bare-chested Jacob "Does this guy even own a shirt?" while later the wereboy quips to stone-cold Edward, "Face it, I am hotter than you". (True that). With Eclipse poking fun at itself, it's easier to try not to poke holes in the plot.
Eclipse's real redemption is its new attitude. It revels in its inherent and unabashed camp (watch out for Dakota Fanning's deliciously hammy turn as the leader of The Volturi) and is unapologetic about its soppy teen romance. While the limp Twilight and punishing New Moon may have left you baying for blood, on the whole, Eclipse is a brighter and better affair with more bite. |
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