Film review- Eclipse.

by Rebecca Jennings

My experience with the Twilight saga is that if you aren't prepared to fight then don't bother coming to see one of these films within the first week and a half of opening, never mind any previews. Strangely though as I walk in to an empty hall, my heart drops. While I don't enjoy the non-stop pushing and prodding, it was a bit of a let-down to have no one else there. Granted I was an hour and a half early and there were millions of screenings throughout the day but this was a total let-down. Gradually however more and more people arrived and they even let me enter the theatre first.

The film more than lived up to its expectations. With new director, David Slade, the film took a massive turn and became a dark and terrifying instalment worthy of vampires. The beginning features a shadow flitting back and forth attacking a young man. The dramatic music (Howard Shore, LOTR) really fit the mood and added to the rising drama. The interspersed action scenes throughout the film really rose this film up to be better than its prequels. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is once more being hunted down by some vampires, this time an army of newborns. Whilst worrying about who is behind it all, she also has to choose between the love of her life, 109 year old vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) or bulky eight-pack Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). What a dilemma. The cheesiest lines were said with so much sincerity that it was hard to chuckle at the lines that had us cringing into the back of our seats in the first two.

The back-stories added a most intriguing sense of what it took to become one of the damned, though typical conventions such as this are debated within the film. Jasper's (Jackson Rathbone) civil war era was gob-smackingly unforgettable as was the emotional scene between Bella and Rosalie (Nikki Reed) where she tells her the story of when she was raped.

Long drawn-out repetitive scenes from Twilight and New Moon were much more condensed and even though there was still a lot of dialogue, you didn't find yourself staring around the room examining the wallpaper this time around.

The acting was alarmingly better in this one. None of Kristen Stewart's annoying ticks and Rob Pattinson being able to portray anger much better. The accents and make-up certainly helped to. I felt that I was actually watching the book form of Jasper rather than an imposter attempting to play him. Actress Nikki Reed was unbelievable as Rosalie and even though I know her and Stewart to be close friends in real life, her authority and resentment towards Bella really shone through.

The range of genres targets a much wider array of audiences. The first two's principal genre was much of the romance aspect with action, and their being vampires, a secondary factor. This instalment however offers everything from action to humour to romance and that can be contained in just the one scene.

The favourite scene overall has to be when Jasper trains the Cullens and the wolves how to fight the newborns. Excellent music, witty humour and amazing effects, reminding me much of my favourite scene in Twilight, the baseball scene.

Eclipse has really opened up the Twilight saga and will hopefully encourage men to go see it without having to be dragged by their girlfriends. It will also hopefully encourage haters to be more open-minded about the series. This was a fantastic film and is great even as a stand-alone feature. My only worry is that come Breaking Dawn, the stomach biting and falling in love with babies doesn't once again put people off.