Teenage girls love the “Twilight†series and why wouldn’t they? Between Kristen Stewart’s compelling portrayal as Bella Swan and hunky supernatural dudes like Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, there’s enough hormones and repressed sexual desire for a busload of catholic school girls to get their fix. However, in the end, the newest addition to the “Twilight†series, “Eclipse,†in spite of continuing the same motif as its predecessors, and even adding a bit more action, still can’t cut the mustard as a mediocre film.
For starters, if you haven’t watched the first two movies in the series, right now is a bad time to start. There’s just so much back-story and so many characters to follow that you’ll be so lost that you won’t appreciate the soap opera-type drama for what it is, addictive. Yes, the drama presented in “Eclipse†is just like the stuff that Rick James spoke about in his stint on the “Dave Chappelle Show,†cocaine. Regardless of if you can’t stand the concept or the characters, you’ll sit through the entire movie, yelling at the screen, wanting Bella to make the right choice [in your mind] or for the vamps and weres to defeat the newborn army.
For a film that can’t stand firm on its own feet, aside from some excellent cinematography, [which show off some beautiful landscapes throughout] and cool fight scenes [easily the best in the series] to still be able to captivate you the way it does at times is a pretty cool thing.
The only problem is never during this rapture or hypnosis, [unless you’re a teenage girl] can you honestly say this is a quality film. It bounces around so much and never develops the plethora of emotion it has and makes you feel that there is any real support or purpose.
Throughout the film, Bella’s father, Charlie [Billy Burke] and Jacob [Lautner] continually ask her to separate herself from Edward [Pattinson] and figure things out for herself. Ironically, if this film would have spent some more time developing its characters and separated itself from this soap opera atmosphere, it could have appealed to a more mainstream audience, instead of the popcorn and bubblegum crowd that feel right at home with “just because†answers that lack any depth and permanency.
However, for that to happen, this film would have to be a TV sitcom, so perhaps making millions by throwing together a mish-mash story with great-looking characters works.
Hopefully the smart movie-goer knows better.
Even if you have seen the last two movies, if you’re not a hardcore fan, you know, with a life to live, you may have to go back to the older films and catch up before heading to the theater and may get annoyed with the lack of depth. After three films, to see the same themes going on, with Bella still unable to make a choice and Jacob and Edward at each others throats, and mere measly events occurring in between, it’s easy to get fed up.
Make a choice Bella and put a steak in this series once and for all.
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