"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse"...good if not better than the original TWILIGHT

Rating: 6/10 (17 April 2015)

The first TWILIGHT film was really good as I said in my review for the first TWILIGHT film. I got to NEW MOON and I said I hated it and it was something that I would never watch again, but now I get into the third film in the Twilight film franchise, ECLIPSE.
I had to say I had mixed feelings when I first saw the trailer for THE TWILIGHT SAGA - ECLIPSE. Do you know how crappy and bad that the story of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON was? Well, the third film gladly makes up for all of the crappy stuff NEW MOON had in it.
The plot of the movie follows the book nicely. The film follows Bella Swan once again, as she develops awareness of the complications of marrying Edward Cullen. As Victoria draws nearer with a group of newborn vampires, Jacob Black and the rest of the werewolf alliance to destroy her, in turn, to keep Bella safe. While Bella tries to decide who she is, a fight brews and the consequences are paid once Jacob gets hurt. Intent on keeping a compromise with Edward, she vows to keep true to her engagement and marry him.
After the critical response and box office success of NEW MOON, it was announced that in early November 2008, Summit Entertainment announced that they had attained the rights to the remaining books in Stephanie Meyer's book series, TWILIGHT: New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. In February 2009, Summit confirmed that they would begin working on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The director of the second film, Chris Weitz, decided since he was in the post-production phase of NEW MOON would not be directing the film. Instead, David Slade was directing the film, with Melissa Rosenberg returning as the script writer.
The story is not as confusing as the story of NEW MOON was, it is really good. The CGI on the werewolves is a very good improvement over the CGI in NEW MOON. The dialogue is not an issue in this film as it was in the second film. The musical score was not composed by Alexandre Desplat, as he would work on the final two Harry Potter films, instead Howard Shore, composer of The Hobbit trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, was brought in to compose the film score. The soundtrack is once again amazing with songs like "Heavy Heart." The acting is back and forth, but credit has to be given to the three main actors: Kristen Stewart as Bella is amazing, Taylor Lautner as Jacob is amazing this time around and Robert Pattinson as Edward is once again amazing. The entire original cast returns this time including Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Elizabeth Reaser, Peter Facinelli, Billy Burke and Ashley Greene. Also returning, Dakota Fanning as Jane and she is stunning and very beautiful.
There are new major editions to the cast: Jodelle Ferland plays the role of Bree Tanner, a newly turned vampire. Ferland was in a video game adaptation of Silent Hill, which was released in 2006. Other new cast members included: Julia Jones as Leah Clearwater, Booboo Stewart as Seth Clearwater, Jack Huston as Royce King, Catalina Sandino Moreno as Maria and Xavier Samuel as Riley.
The biggest casting change was the part of Victoria. Since the character was originally played by Rachel Lefevre, Summit Entertainment announced that Bryce Dallas Howard would play the part for the third film. Lefevre was saddened and disappointed by the decision to recast her part. The action sequences is really what makes the movie a stand-out for me and the fight choreography is really good. This movie should have won an Academy Award for best visual effects and best music as far as those two went.
Overall, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE is really good, if not better than the third film.