An astonishing achievement for the Twilight film series! A very enjoyable addition to it!

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2010)

My goodness! I never thought I would be saying this! But I actually really enjoyed Eclispe! This coming from a guy years ago who couldn't stand the first one! I saw the second New Moon at university because lots of friends who were girls beg me to see it with them at the film society and I mildly enjoyed it.
Since writing the review for New Moon. I have taken to reading the books. I wanted to partly see if it was just the making of the two films that was the problem of why they were bad or that the books were the cause, well it was the films. The books are immensely enjoyable, the best for me being Breaking Dawn. In the books the chemistry between Edward and Bella is there, but that has been missing completely from the movies. And even Bella's happiness of smiling and laughing in the book was never apparent in either film.
I think since New Moon, the new director David Slade has made huge improvements and he has to be commended. The first of the improvements which I have been hoping for was improvement in the acting of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as Bella and Edward because in Twilight and New Moon they couldn't act. They mumbled there lines, sounded dull and bored with zip chemistry between them. But I'm amazed and very pleased to say, their acting has improved! Kristen has come the furthest. She had injected more emotion into her voice when delivering her lines and I can for the first time actually believe she cares about Edward. She also smiled and laughed! Something else that has been missing from the films that were apparent in the first two books. There were times where Stewart did fall flat of delivering her lines as her acting was still very bad in places, but she has improved and has at least stopped along with Pattinson the annoying habit of pausing before finishing a sentence, which brings me on to Pattinson. He has become better in his acting too. The anguish he felt at certain points in the film where Bella is in danger was clear and it made me feel sorry for him. Also the argument between him and Jacob was tense. He still delivers a lots of his lines deadpanned, but there were instances like Stewart where he injected more believability into his role.
What has also helped these two actors more is the scriptwriters. The dialogue is even less cheesy than New Moon (though there were still parts that were) and thankfully as mentioned flows naturally without any awkward pauses. Furthermore for the first time there was actually romantic chemistry between Bella and Edward, something that had been seriously lacking and had been desperately needed in the last two movies. When they are kissing in the meadow or Edward's bed. The chemistry was electric, which was something I wasn't expecting. Slade wisely uses extreme close up shots to show this.
Other parts of the film like the special effects were stunning as the other actors and actresses like Taylor Lautner who plays Jacob, like Xavier Samuel as Riley or Bryce Howard as Victoria did well in their supporting roles. The action sequences and there was more that made me like it even more was choreographed superbly, the scenery was stunning, the music was also nice, there were some good moments of comedy like when Jacob kisses Bella and she punches him in the nose and gets a broken hand for it was funny and I also liked the story more than the others. In terms of relating it to the books I have to say David Slade did a great job keeping in the essence of the story going (considering I thought Eclispe was the weakest book) even though scenes were cut out. Normally like the majority of others on IMDb I would severely criticise this film, but I cannot accommodate them this time. I agree with the few on here who have given this a higher rating. Improvements still need to be made particularly with Stewart and Pattinson, but they should be proud of themselves for doing better and I am glad there acting is improving along with some great chemistry with the characters. David Slade has made the franchise come in leaps and bounds and has to be commended for a terrific achievement. I look forward to Breaking Dawn with high hopes it will be even better. My expectations for the franchise has just been raised. I recommend Eclispe as a great summer film. I for one thoroughly enjoyed it.