I must say, I was a lot more impressed with "Eclipse" than I ever thought I would be. I knew I would come out of this film knowing it would probably be the best of the series simply because this book was structured to be a good film. However, I did not expect to come out singing Taylor Lautner's praises, but I have to. He truly did shine in this movie. But lemme start at the beginning...
I could spend a moment going over the basic plot of "Eclipse", but I'm sure anyone who will care enough about what I think of it, will not already be a fan, but will have read the books. So I will round it all up in one sentence for you: The Cullens and the Wolf Pack must band together to protect Bella from an army of newborn vampires heading to Forks, while battling with a choice: Edward or Jacob? That's the long and the short of it.
Being only a few minutes over 2 hours long, they couldn't take their time getting into the action. They jumped right into the intruder putting Bella in danger, Victoria still hanging around, that the army of newborn vampires threatening to bring the Volturi to Seattle. And of course, the looming love triangle.
Now, just to make myself clear, I couldn't stand Jacob in the books. I hated him in fact, until I read the section of "Breaking Dawn" that is in his point of view. Only then, did I start to feel sympathy towards him. However, there is something about Taylor Lautner as Jacob, that I can't help but love his character...and it's more than just his rock solid abs. Although, those are fantastic too!
Every time there was a scene with Jake, Edward and Bella, I gotta say, there was sparks flying on screen. It really is the first chance we get to see all three of them together, and the chemistry between the three of them was amazing. Especially between Rob and Taylor. Edward and Jacob had so many great lines between each other, that I have to give a huge nod to Melissa Rosenberg and Rob and Taylor for the perfect delivery of so many witty lines that this series really had been lacking in until now.
Other than the outstanding performance of Taylor, who truly does have a big career ahead of him, even after "Twilight" is all over, the performance of Jackson Rathbone as Jasper was the other thing really stuck out for me. First of all, the background story of Jasper is my favorite part in the book, and I was sincerely hoping that they did it correctly in the movie, and honestly, I couldn't be happier with it. Overall, Jasper had a much bigger part in this movie than in the last two, and he had so much more to work with than just a handful of lines. We finally got to see the character of Jasper, instead of just seeing him standing in the background. One of the main things I was really happy about, was the fact they let Jackson keep his real accent for the character. Jackson was raised in Texas, so obviously has a bit of a washed out cowboy accent. Jasper is also from Texas. That is one little thing that irked me about the last two films was Jasper had no accent. As a writer, giving a character an accent gives him more layers. That is what we got from Jackson in this film. Having seen Jackson in many other things, I know he is a great actor, and have been supremely excited to see what he would come up with for this one.
Overall, the acting was better all across the board. I am a firm believer that all it takes to get a great performance out of an actor is the right director. Having seen the results of that for "Eclipse" I have to take my hat off to David Slade.
I was also supremely proud of Kristen Stewart in this film because of only one single scene that she just totally nailed! After Jacob overhears Bella and Edward are engaged, Jacob begins to run off. Bella of course, runs after him, desperate. Now, if there has been one thing I have not liked about Kristen in these films, was that sometimes, she doesn't show enough emotion. But in this scene, she really did shine and showed her magical abilities as an actress.
There are endless things to talk about in this film, so I will stick what I liked the most, and what I hated the most. Let's start with the things that I liked, other than the acting performances I already talked about.
As always, Billy Burke always steals every scene he is in, but I do have to say, the funniest scenes in the series belong to Billy in "Eclipse". A scene I dearly hoped would make it into the film is one of my favorite moments: when Charlie tries to have "the talk" with Bella.
Finally, we get the Jacob and Bella kiss. We all know that Bella is destined to be with Edward, but this scene was done beautifully, and Kristen and Taylor were at their best. This scene almost had me in tears, and that is truly saying something.
The proposal scene. It is one of the highest points of the entire series. Both the actors and the crew had a lot to live up with this scene, and in my opinion, it is one of my favorite scenes of the entire series so far. Rob and Kristen nailed it. Some of the most memorable visuals that I loved in the book, are in this scene, including the infamous leg hitch!! When I saw that, I about jumped from my chair in pure excitement. A twitter friend of my said it best. "That is the hottest and sexiest non-sex scene I have ever seen." And I have to agree with her. It is all topped off by the absolutely gorgeous song that is being played during this scene, "My Love" by Sia.
My absolute favorite scene in the entire series so far, the even more infamous Tent Scene!! First of all, two of the best lines of the movies are given to Jacob in this scene. To Edward: "You know I'm hotter than you." Then after Jacob slips into the sleeping bag with a freezing Bella: "You know it would be better if you took your clothes off. Survival 101." I have to say, I was rolling in laughter at these two lines of dialogue in perfect succession. Fabulous witty humor. But beyond the humor, is why this scene is my favorite. Edward and Jacob have their first real conversation, and it is magic, thanks to the chemistry, the writing and the acting. Extra kudos to David Slade, Melissa Rosenberg, Rob Pattinson and Taylor Launter for this scene.
The last thing that truly captured my attention, but is no real surprise, is the soundtrack and the score. I have said this since "Twilight" was released: these films have some of the best soundtracks and scores that I have ever listened to. The score "Eclipse" in particular is composed by Howard Shore, the Academy Award winner for his work in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The music in this series truly is flawless.
Now onto the things that I didn't like, which is really only one thing that actually surprised me. I didn't like Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria. I know there was a change in actress from the previous two films, but I honestly thought that I would like Bryce better, being a more talented actress. However, I was extremely disappointed. The character of Victoria is supposed to be sassy and antagonizing, and Bryce missed all the marks. I felt as if she tried to make people feel sympathize towards her, and that is not the purpose of Victoria.
Overall, the movie was fabulous, and I'm sure I'm going to see it at least as many times as I saw "New Moon", which I really do not want to admit how many times I saw it. I also don't want to admit that I have fallen to pure TwiHard crazy in the last few days. After getting into a car accident on Sunset Blvd on my way to Century City AMC to see Rob and Kristen after a showing of "Eclipse", I was only extremely angry because I missed them, and not because of my car. As a friend of my put it: an ultimate TwiHard reaction. I have also finally dropped to a whole new low of purchasing "Twilight" bedding. I will now be going to be with Jacob Black every night.
What can I say? I'm crazy, I know. Deal with it.
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