Eclipse Movie Review

**Warning: This Contains Spoilers**

(cause it’s a review…so yeah, if you haven’t seen it then stop reading this and go!)

Well, let me say that though I love all the twilight books, this has never been a favorite of mine. I mean I like parts of it, cute Edward/Bella moments, the proposal, the tent scene – but the whole situation with Jake bugged me, cause I’ve always felt he was a tad bit manipulative and just needed to back down (especially since he didn’t imprint on Bella, I’d assumed if they got together he’d leave her one day and she’d be the new Leah).

But the movie was amazing. Starting off with just the song choices and score, it was pretty incredible (for the review of the music/score I’ll be posting a separate blog which I’m hoping will have a review for each movie, which all will be written by the beautiful and creative MC for me) There are many things you could talk about for this movie, something that just stuck out in the beginning was the relationships and how comfortable the actors/actresses were with one another. The chemistry between everyone was at an all time high, which enhanced every scene.

This movie focused on the relationships between everyone more than the action, at least in my opinion. One character that I’ve overlooked to a certain extent was Charlie; I never appreciated how funny he was. He doesn’t have a lot of lines, but the few he has he delivers with a straightforward, blunt sarcastic feeling. They really did cast him perfectly for that role.

As for some of the other “side” characters, you have Dakota Fanning as Jane. I was a little weary about this choice when I first heard about it; I just couldn’t imagine her in that role. After New Moon, she seemed to become Jane well, but it wasn’t until Eclipse that I really saw the perfection of casting her. She’s brilliant as a ridiculously evil vampire (haha) If I had to pinpoint it to something, I’d have to say it is her ability to deliver her lines without any real facial expressions, maybe a little sinister look here and there, but she has the whole disinterested/bored look down.

Now, possibly my favorite part of this movie was all the screen time that the other Cullen’s got. I absolutely adore Jasper, Emmett and everyone and they never really got any lines or big scenes in the first two movies. (actually a big reason I started reading more fanfiction was to get more of their characters because they just aren’t in the books enough!) How about we go through them :)

Edward, oh Edward. He was brilliant in this movie, why? I think it was mostly the more cuddly side of him that we haven’t seen in the first movies. He was so distant in Twilight, and in New Moon he was gone most of the time, but in Eclipse he was more the Edward I imagined in the books. More cuddling, kissing and just touching in general – oh and he was happier something that I missed. He also looked beyond AMAZING in the movie. Now you can ask MC, I’m not a huge Rob fan (heck I can’t even pronounce his last name, which pisses her off something fierce hehe) and that was something that bothered me in the first movies. I felt in Twilight they were just too new, he wasn’t pale enough or “vampire” enough for me, and in New Moon they did a much better job but it was all so sad and depressing, so now that we are out of that we can really get a good look at him. We both though he looked the most scrumptious when he was pissed off or hungry, sigh. (and can we get another one of those for the amazing make out scene at the “sleepover”? I was so happy with the way that turned out, especially since the kissing scene in Twilight really didn’t do anything for me, felt too awkward and not fitting with the book to enjoy it, but there was no problem this time).

Bella did great in the movie; she was another actor I wasn’t extremely impressed with during the first Twilight movie. In New Moon she really surprised me with her acting and ability to really express the emotions to the audience. But what I loved was that any and all of her slightly annoying ticks were gone this movie, it felt like she really found her ‘groove’ per say. So go Kirsten!

Jasper really stepped up in this movie; all his scenes were above and beyond(the fight, the training with the wolves, etc). He was funny and looked great, even when his hair was a little funky. In the flashbacks he’s one hot civil war officer, if I do say so myself.

Alice was Alice, she’s been solid through all the movies so there’s not much to add. The Jasper and Alice scenes were exceptionally cute (i.e. the practice fight they had, I was worried how they’d do that but I loved the way they adapted it but kept it with the book, pretty hot and so cute), I loved seeing them more as a couple and the more intimate side of the relationship we didn’t get to see because Jasper wasn’t getting much screen time.

We even had some good Rosalie screen time, which was nice because she really doesn’t say or do much in the first movies, cause she dislikes Bella being there so much. I think she looked her best when she was fighting or practicing, I’m not a fan of the way she looked during her close up or when she’s lounging in the house. Perhaps it’s because of the way they do her hair, maybe it’s the make up. Something I did think was cute was she stood in front of Emmett when they were with the werewolves, of all her faults she does love him and is extremely protective of him (though it is funny since he’s well bigger and looks stronger then she does, but it’s the thought).

And this of course leads us to Emmett himself, one of the funniest vampires you’ll ever meet. He’s just the life of the party, and I was so happy to see so much of him during this movie. The dynamic’s he brought when he was with Jasper or Edward added a lot to the underlying feelings of the movie and well I think we can all agree you can’t ever have enough Emmett

As for Carlisle, looking good as always, it was interesting to see him fight since he’s such the nurturer and almost pacifist of the family. But seeing him with Esme was a treat, they are really an adorable couple.

Jake, what can I say? He looks good I’ll give you that, but honestly not a fan of him in the book and in the movie it was the same. Nothing against Taylor I’m just too much of an Edward fan. But what I did love was all the Edward/Bella/Jake scenes in the movie. The tension they created was perfect; the actors did a great job. After Jake returns Bella home (with a broken hand) you can just feel the hate rolling off both of them, and of course the tent scene, which was a top scene for me in the movie. Both Taylor and Rob created the perfect atmosphere in my opinion, you could really feel the pain Edward was going through not being able to help Bella and realizing his only option was Jake, and then having to deal with him and his incredibly loud thoughts.

I really also liked the new Victoria. I thought she fit into the role perfectly, I loved the way her voice was and the way she looked. I thought the first Victoria was good, but the new one just fit for me better. The way she was so sweet and innocent worked so well, fitting in how they kept underestimating her and how she doesn't seem like she'd be a threat (when she is). And how she can use that to manipulate people to do her work, like Riley.

Back to more of the movie, they included a lot of the flashbacks, histories of Jasper and Rosalie. I was a little worried about it being cheesy or something like that but they were well done and really added to the movie.

This movie focused a lot on the little moments, conversations between the characters, more so than any of the other movies, which was perfect because there is just so much going on here. The film was also shot in a lot of close ups, adding to the intimacy of some of the scenes. I was also impressed by the amount of information they were able to include, I was worried about what they’d be cutting but as far as I’m concerned nothing really important was left out. Overall the acting was top notch, and it surpassed all my expectations.

As for the acting/special effects, they definitely out did themselves. The wolves were even more intense this time around, since they did more and were around more of the movie. All the fighting between vampires, practice or real, was great. I loved how they changed how the vampire’s ran/fight in New Moon after Twilight, and they just stepped it up another notch in Eclipse.

MC and I went to see it in Imax, which was exceptional and as far as I can see definitely worth any extra money to buy those tickets. But, just to make sure that its better than just regular movie we’re going again – for research and all J So just got back from the regular movie, and it was just as good really. The only thing was the film wasn’t as clear, which is to be expected, but what really bothered me was the “burn” marks on the film from switching reels or whatever they do, it happened about 9 times and that just distracted me, but MC didn’t seem to be bothered much so it could just be me.

Overall the movie was amazing, 5 stars, two thumbs up and all that jazz. Go see it, go see it a few times and then tell all your friends to do the same. With the way things are headed I’m really excited to see how they keep improving for Breaking Dawn.