I Definitely Get The Books, Watch At Theatre Not At Home.

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2010)

The key to the Twilight Saga is two fold. One, the draw of being Meyer's interpretation of these classic supernatural beings. Especially the vampires though the werewolves are amped up as well. No running from sunlight. No ghoulish mutations. Phasing at will. In her idea, a perfect being basically chiseled out of diamond. Unstoppable, undeniable, insatiably immortal.
By the way, you get your own tailored super power. Two, sharing all of that with your perfect soulmate getting down and dirty in the lap of luxury. Now, what is the overwhelming suspense. Where and when will Bella be changed and given the keys to paradise. Doesn't come across as well in the movies, but that's the draw people who ask why is the series so popular. Read the books. The conflict, now vigilantes and the vamp secret service are trying to bust the party up.
Most people who watch vampire/werewolf type movies envision themselves with the monsters' capabilities. The problem is, the drawbacks usually soon outweigh the positives. Now we have all of the magic with little to none of the problems. Proof of this is the fact that when the vampires disappear in New Moon we were all counting the pages until they returned.
Even the werewolves were sexed up for all of us who used to sport plastic fangs as kids well after Halloween and pretend to be wolfmen. The movie doesn't explain the werewolves as well but from the books they all live forever, or until they stop shape shifting, get buff, real tall, and stay young, oh yeah, they keep a constant temperature of above 100 degrees no matter what the weather.
On to the films. I liked all three movies but can now say that Eclipse is my favorite by default. Here's why. Twilight was one of the best movies that I saw in 2008 so I really liked it. Not a lot to it though on the rewatch. The music may have made the movie and had me into it the entire time. Was I the only one who didn't want it to end and was picturing myself at the prom. Okay, now New Moon if you read the books is a bit of a debby downer for about four fifths of it's entirety. I read the series twice but skipped New Moon the second time around. The movie I have to say has probably my favorite soundtrack of all time though. Gotta love it.
Eclipse is a more mature film. Not as Degrassi-ish. More suspense, more thrills. Delves deeper into the world and keeps a good pace. I enjoyed the CGIs and could have done with a bit more. The shattering effects during the fight scenes added a nice touch and was inventive. Pulling back a maimed quartz crystal limb from the mouth of a humongous wolf will entertain me every time.
Here's the main issue. The problems with Eclipse are the depictions of Bella and Edward relationship wise and their personalities. They're not how Stephanie wrote the characters. Thing is, that's the majority of the substance of the books. Probably the screenplay writers fault as well as the actors. In the novels you feel for and love the characters. The movie, not so much. Bella is supposed to be smart, mature for her age, independent (never has a lot of friends, does her own thing type), a bit insecure about being uncoordinated, but at heart a go getter and feisty. For all of the anti femme talk. Here's the deal.
Being a strong female lead doesn't require being a femme nazi with a hand crafted light saber in your drawer. Wink wink. I like strong women and Bella is written as being strong. Everyone has thoughts like her, over-thinking, we just don't act on them all and neither does she. For Twilight Kristen pulled it off brilliantly. I remember the first time seeing her out of character and thinking, wow, she's nothing like Bella. Kristen is sort of impulsive, a touch immature, and kind of a quirky tomboy and her own personality shows instead of how Bella was originally written this time around.
In the books Edward holds all of the cards and is kind of grandfatherly in his protectiveness of Bella. It comes across as being chivalrous if not sometimes over protective. That's how Meyer shows how much he cares about her I suppose. She's classic. Bella striking out on her own, being daring or seductive plays out as her growing up and not being helpless in the book versions. Basically retaining some balance and control of herself. It doesn't come across like that in the movie. In the movie Bella holds all of the cards and comes across as being insensitive and selfish. The screen writers tried to make Bella more like Kristen and Edward more like Rob which was a mistake because both of them have somewhat irritating personalities in real life.
Also, isn't Edward supposed to be the strong mysterious silent type. A throw-back. Pattinson has turned him into a whiny kind of lame stalker. Not too cool for school. It's got to be the way that it was written because he did a great job in Remember Me.
Everybody else's character and skills have developed well. Ashley and Nikki, mouth watering. Other than a couple of mis-castings of the Volturi, and Lefevre being hotter, pretty good job. I do have to ask what the heck the makeup artist were thinking when they applied Facinelli's dye and face paint. He looks a lot younger in real life. Kinda how Carlisle should minus the hair. You're supposed to make people look better, not worse folks. A touch Madhatter-ish. Anyways. That's it. Over all, an entertaining film. When it's all said and done I can watch Eclipse numerous times and like it more and more. The most important factor of a movie.