A Not-So-Late Review

Rating: 8/10 (11 October 2010)

Eclipse continues off with Victoria's (Bryce Dallas Howard) plan to avenge her dead vampire lover James (Cam Gigandet) by slowly creating an army of vampires, including one Forks native whom she later deceives just to have her plan put into works. After Bella's (Kristen Stewart) and Edward's (Robert Pattinson) near-death experiences in the previous instalment, the two leading characters mended and promised never to leave each other again. Edward was especially protective of Bella ever since news of newborn vampires surfaced and Victoria hot on their tail. Eventually, the Cullen clan and the werewolves had to forget their differences for a while in order to work together to fight off the ever-raising number of Victoria's army and protect Bella. The movie concludes with Bella's protectors killing Victoria and Victoria's army, but not without the Volturi almost interfering the fight.
Eclipse, in my opinion, has a much darker theme compared to the first two movies. David Slade, who specializes in sci-fi/thriller movies, is best-fitted for this instalment. He is able to show well in the big screen the highlights of this romantic-sci-fi novel. The cinematography is very much appropriate for the storyline. Visual and sound effects are close to reality, though they aren't as superb as those in Avatar or in any high-budgeted sci-fi movies. The setting brings about the natural side of the characters. One thing I find a bit disappointing is Stewart's portrayal of Bella. She lacks emotions in expressing Bella's thoughts, which makes her monotonous. Well, I still have the same comments about Stewart's acting ever since the release of the first movie saga. Among all the cast members, I find Taylor Lautner's character, Jacob, the most moving maybe because he is able to really give life to the character with his facial expressions and body language.
The Twilight Saga's storyline is really not that unusual, for it has been patterned with ancient legends about vampires and werewolves. One movie I could think of that has, somehow, the same plotâ€”that is vampires and werewolves fightingâ€”is Van Helsing (2004).