Relief at last...

Rating: 7/10 (15 July 2010)

Skeptical as I was, having quite laughed my way through the first two movies (what with the standards for bad editing, terrible acting, and cheesy dialogues that both movies in their different ways set), Eclipse was a pleasant surprise.
Firstly, there's not too much slow-motion drama here of Edward and Bella staring into each others eyes for what really seemed like forever in the first two movies... thankfully we were spared of the 'oh so intense' glares and stares of Edward, the puppy-dog eyes 'want me.. want me!' of Jacob, and the oh very sloppy 'kiss me' expression of Bella!
The movie cuts the crap, and moves through the story in what is perhaps the neatest adaptation possible of the book.. most of the characters in the book get their share of screen-space and time, which was much lacking in the previous two movies..
Some of the scenes are actually very funny.. (Charlie and Bella, the tent conversation, Jessica's speech) and there are some very well shot not-so-funny scenes as well (the training scene with Jasper is a personal favorite, Riley and Bree, the marriage proposal scene, the meeting with the Volturi)..
and the fight... it was really very well done.. slick, and if you forget for a while about whether the wolves could've looked better or not, you'll see the running, jumping and fighting looked really convincing, and the editing is first-rate! i mean, just compare it to Edward's jumping around and tree-climbing in twilight, and you'll see what i mean..
all in all, this is the first really decent movie of the Twilight saga made.. sure the acting could've really been much better, but as I said, at least they wiped the silly expressions off their faces in this one, and got down to the narrative..