Film series typically do not get better over time. I could point to any collection of recurring films but you can draw your own examples of multiple movies that fall victim to the effect of diminishing results. The Twilight series is possibly an exception as it is based on a series of books by a first-time author, which as you might be able to attest from reading this site, who could only get better over time.
The story of Eclipse falls within the same awkward teenage love-fest between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, a person’s person and a vampire respectively. After the events of the last film, Edward and Bella are back together while Jacob is immersing himself in whatever shape-shifter tribes do. Whereas this would be an appropriate summary for the film if it were in the same vein as the last two, something else actually happens other than Bella lusting for Edward and/or Jacob and the convoluted love triangle between them. There seems to be some disturbing behavior happening in nearby Seattle with the rising of a vampire army, the reasons of which are supposed to be unknown but really are apparent if you pay attention. With the army heading for Forks, the Cullens and the wolfish tribe work together to battle them.
The primary complaint that I, and many others, can fault the Twilight series for is the importance of an otherwise inconsequential teenage relationship drama taking center stage in a story about freaking vampires! In Eclipse however, there is an actual plot other than horny young adults and it is in fact quite good. Other than the threat of physical violence from the aforementioned vampire army, Bella has been elevated into a character that actually has thoughts of her own to deal with the consequences of turning into a vampire while in the midst of a love struggle. As such, the conflict between Edward and Jacob seems a bit more serious this go around as time grows short with regards to Bella’s future.
In fact, this is more of a grown-up film compared to the previous two. Here we see and learn of the consequences of Bella’s decision to join the vampire clan and the impacts it will have on her friends and family. Compared to previously, Bella is not merely contained within a fantasy with her actions as she is told the real consequences of her decision. This counters greatly to the graduation speech given by the lovely Anna Kendrick which embraces the gift of mistakes and bad decisions. Bella instead has chosen with reservations a future to which there is no turning back from much to the chagrin of others.
With a grown-up movie comes a grown-up director (not to say anything about the ages or maturity of the previous two directors) as David Slade comes to rescue the material from the ire of cinematic fans everywhere. While it is still painfully present, the Bella/Edward/Jacob cluster takes a back seat for a good portion of the film as the threat of the vampire army ramps up as compared to the last film where almost nothing went on outside of the love triangle. The bad vampire clan is real and dangerous and that escalates the story in this film far beyond what the previous movies could have accomplished with just a trio of misfit blood-suckers. I was a bit disappointed that this element of the story was not more front and center as the previews may have otherwise lead us to believe. Regardless, these tense moments of actual fear as the vampires grow in numbers and make their way to our protagonists, while seemingly minimal in the actual film, are the best this series has offered in the form of real horror and conflict. The score by Howard Shore (yeah, of Se7en) also has more gravitas than previously making this seem like more of a typical film, less of a teenage girl’s fantasy.
In an about-face, almost everything has improved in this film over the previous installments. While the previously mentioned outside threat has a great deal to do with this, the existing characters are expanded in ways not realized before. Previously a source of my distaste for the franchise, Kristen Stewart has either aged quite a bit in the past two years or grown more accustomed to the character as she delivers a fairly good performance as Bella. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, while I did not have a problem with them before, have settled into their characters leading to much less awkward moments other than what the script calls for. Even a chunk of the largely ignored supporting cast, especially Jackson Rathbone and Nikki Reed as the prime examples, are given far more weight in the story than they were previously afforded. Even while Billy Burke, sidelined from the last film, is back with a vengeance as one of the sources of humor, there are other moments of self-reflection from the characters that are worth a chuckle.
For all the praise I can give this movie about its momentum beyond a romance saga, there are plenty of reasons to deny me from doing so. While the romance is somewhat sidelined here, when it does appear, it runs on the field in an inappropriate display forcing the game to be significantly delayed. The most obviously scene to this effect is while Jacob, Edward, and Bella are camping at the top of a mountain in snowy terrain and Jacob is compelled to cuddle with Bella to preserve her body temperature. While this is going on Jacob and Edward talk man-to-man about who Bella really loves and why. In short bursts, this sort of thing is tolerable but this scene goes on approximately a billion times too long as the two Alpha-males argue over who is better for Bella. (Sigh) Movie, you almost had it right.
So, Eclipse is not a perfect movie. If you want a love story, then watch a romance. If you want a horror movie, then watch a slasher. Eclipse is a remarkably good combination of all the things a typical rom-com has with the trappings of a decent horror flick. If this forward momentum keeps up, I have somewhat high hopes for the next two installments.
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