A slight improvement on New Moon.

Rating: 5/10 (1 July 2010)

A slight improvement on New Moon, this third instalment still delivers exactly what you would expect. Shameless excuses for Taylor Lautner to have his shirt off, a plethora of chances for R-Pattz to pout and moan like the SNAV – Sensitive New Age Vampire – he is, substandard CGI that should be better and emotional (read: corny) dialogue that female tweens the world over will consider literary genius. Let's not even mention the dodgy wigs and worse make-up.
However, this sequel has an ace up its sleeve: humour. Eclipse has taken the intelligent step of realising that some of the proceedings need to be taken with a tongue-in-cheek approach – Edward's response of "doesn't he own a t-shirt" when a topless Jacob is waiting for them is priceless – and to keep on board those audience members that aren't going through puberty it must flex its funny muscles even more. To that extent, Billy Burke offers up plenty of amusement as Bella's concerned, but awkward father; his 'birds and the bees' chat is downright hilarious.
There's plenty of action for those who have been dragged along by their daughters, girlfriends and wives too. Although the computer effects are still fairly poor – which is strange considering the $65m budget – the training sequence partway through and the climactic battle at the end are both exciting and serve well as a reward for sitting through the less thrilling segments of the movie, namely whenever the love triangle rears its ugly head in the form of conversation.
Not having read the book I obviously can't make the comparison, but I get the impression something may have been lost between page and screen. There's essentially zero character or plot development when focussing on the romances of the main trio. What was established at the end of New Moon – Bella has feelings for Jacob but doesn't know what to do about them, Edward realises he couldn't continue his existence without Bella, Jacob seeks to persuade Bella that he can give her the life Edward never can – is what we leave this movie with thanks to half a dozen scenes between the three leads where the same story line is played out over and over again, a resolution never attained.
Nowhere near as good as Twihards would claim, but definitely not as bad as Twihaters would lead you to believe either.
2.5 out of 5 (1 - Rubbish, 2 - Ordinary, 3 - Good, 4 - Excellent, 5 - Classic)