The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Viewer Rating:simonconnolly has rated The Twilight Saga: Eclipse rating: 3 Star

In 2008, despite being a really dreadful film Twilight became a global phenomenon and it was almost impossible to go anywhere without hearing someone going on about it. But it was a big success and a sequel was released just one year later. And now number 3 is here a year later once again, keeping the franchise going quickly before people lose interest. So how does it compare to the previous installments. Well it is a significant step up and if they take their time with the next two then the franchise might be saved and perhaps more widely loved and respected.

In the film Bella yet again finds herself both in danger and in a bizarre love triangle, her character becoming more and more like a mix between Scooby Doo and Brad Pitt. Red headed murderous vampire Victoria is still trying to get revenge on Bella and Edward, even going as far as gathering a vast vampire army to kill the Cullens. Meanwhile Bella also has to choose between her love for Ed and friendship with Jacob, knowing her decision could ignite a was between vampire and werewolves.

Having been dragged to the first two films (lightly dragged but dragged nonetheless) I didn't at all have high hopes for this. But it is easily the best of the franchise so far and could even get the franchise some new fans. And I can only speculate as to what made this so much better but I can take a guess and say that I think it may be all thanks to new director Slade. He has made an installment which will not only keep the hardcore fans happy but will also attract a new audience. It is far more likable, accessible and thankfully far less pretentious than the first two.If this franchise was to have as many installments as Harry Potter or Star Wars then the last few films would probably be pretty awesome as they get increasingly more enjoyable with each one.

It is vital to mention at this stage how impressed I am by what is in my opinion Slade's finest achievement with Twilight: Eclipse. He has somehow managed to hide the absurdity of this films story. Only there when I was writing a plot summary did I realise that it is completely insane. Wolves and vampires both falling in love with a moody girl who ends up unintentionally igniting some sort of vampire civil war etc.. And I have read a hilarious article discussing the plot of the final book and if this article was accurate then the last two films are going to be so magnificently terrible with the plot giving the word crazy a while new meaning. But watching it I never once noticed that what I was watching was mental. I think the secret likes in how seriously they actually film it, preventing audiences from noticing how bizarre it all is.

And Slade might even get Twilight some more male fans as the action is actually pretty great. The special effects are spectacular and this time round it looks a lot less ridiculous when a man turns into a wolf. The fighting is well orchestrated and the climatic battle is extremely entertaining and thankfully doesn't follow in the footsteps of Transformers 2 and Iron Man 2 by keeping these head to heads clear. That being said it would be difficult to make them unclear when it's wolves vs vampires, don't exactly look similar or anything.

And even the acting in the film has gotten a hell of a lot better. Stewart and Pattinson somehow found the time to so The Runaways and Remember Me respectively and they've come back better than ever before. Pattinson has dialed down his silent, brooding, looking seriously into nothingness stuff and has actually started to act. And Stewart who was amazing in The Runaways is finally showing off her acting chops. She has stopped phoning it in and Pattinson has improved. And their chemistry is far more convincing and electric than previously. Slade has come in and gotten some surprisingly fantastic performances out of his previously immature and poor stars. He hasn't done much with Taylor Lautner just yet so what you saw from him in New Moon is basically what you'll see here.

And the supporting cast, although very few get a respectable amount of screen time, all do quite strong. There are few films which can assemble such a good cast for such small roles but this has done it and forgetting for a minute that I think many of them deserve better they did also help me enjoy it. Dakota Fanning, Billy Burke, Anna Kendrick, all great well known stars but few given the time to make a substantial impact.

So all in all Twilight: Eclipse is far better than its predecessors and gives us a look into the promising future for the franchise. They started horribly but are getting increasingly better and I would go as far to say I've high hopes for the future. The direction is better, the actors do better and all things considered it is a much better film. The 'Twi-hard' fans should be more than happy but this could also gain some new fans for the franchise, although few are likely to admit it.

Review published on the 06 July 2010 20:59