ANOMALY //>

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Directed by: David Slade

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner

4/5

Bella, whose high school graduation is fast approaching, is forced to choose between her love for vampire Edward, or her friendship with werewolf Jacob, all while trying to stay alive from the clutches of hell bent vampire Victoria, who wants her revenge on Bella and The Cullen family.

The Twilight series has finally come full circle with Eclipse. As i've mentioned before, i found the first 'Twilight' film to be enjoyable, but it's very uneven most of the time and i still find it to be the weakest of the series. 'New Moon' improved on the first film A LOT and i was very happy with the final product [minus ONE hideously cheesy forest frolic scene].

Eclipse is hard to fault though, not because it's a perfect film, but because it's ironed out a lot of the issues that have plagued this series so far.

Director David Slade does a great job bringing the book to life. In fact, i would have liked to have seen him direct all the 3 of the first films, he has a more darker take on the story which i think would make the movies more appealing to a wider audience. Not a big deal though, i still like the fact that each film has had a different style.

The cast FINALLY settle into their characters properly. I'm not sure if playing a punk rocker lesbian in 'The Runaways' had anything to do with it, but Kristen Stewart loosens up a lot in this, and she isn't stuttering and moaning her way through the whole thing. Granted Bella is less annoying anyway, but still, Kristen seemed to look like she was comfortable being the character. The same can be said for Robert Pattinson as Edward. Less constipation face, more smiling and relaxing face. Jasper and Rosalie get nicely beefed up roles in this film, and both actors did great with their scenes.

The new cast members were all decent. Riley, Victoria's newly born right hand man was a strong addition to the cast, and even Bree Tanner had a small role in the film. As we all know, Rachel Lafavere was replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard in the role of Victoria for Eclipse, and that would be my only minor gripe about this movie. I didn't NOT like Bryce in the role, in fact, i thought she did well, i just preferred Rachel as that character. There was a maturity and strength about her that Bryce lacked. Bryce was way too girly looking. That blank stare and deep voice Rachel had was perfect for Victoria, it was a shame she couldn't finish up the character properly.

The make up on the cast is still over the top, why hasn't anyone from the town the vampires live in asked why on Earth they all have the most fucked up eye colour ever, lol!?..........to David's credit though, he did pull back a lot on making Edward look like a butter face, and Jasper lost his Spaghetti hairdo. Bella was given a wig throughout the film [Kristen had cut her hair for another role], most of the time i actually liked it, but every so often it would change shades of brown and sit a whole bunch of different ways. Random. Overall though, everyone looked a lot better.

The pacing of the film was a lot faster than the previous movies. There's no need for introductions anymore, so we get right into the action from the first shot of the film. The character arcs have become more interesting, Bella actually has more to think about other than Edward, she's facing a decision that would change her life forever, and that brings in a whole bunch of issues about where she wants her life end up in the future. The flashback scenes a few of the Cullen's get in this film flesh out the Cullen history well, especially with Rosalie, which sets up her character nicely for the next couple of films. Hopefully we get to see the remaining Cullen's history in the next two movies.

I think most fans would agree that the series is going from strength to strength, and it's been interesting seeing a different director have their own take on each film.

If you've hated these movies from day one, you may get some more enjoyment out of this movie, i wouldn't hold my breathe though. For Twilight fans, it's perfect and for the casual viewer who doesn't have any bias opinion of the series, it's enjoyable.

I loved it, and i can't wait to see it again. Now all i have to do is wait for 'Breaking Dawn part 1', it's only a year and a half away [sad face].