Twilight: Eclipse Review

There's just no escaping the phenomenon that is Twilight these days. Eclipse, part three of the series was released in the cinema just last week here in the UK and having reviewed the first two films I was honour-bound to go see part three. Thankfully, I got to see it before the schools broke up for their summer holidays so there were very few people in the cinema. The mere thought of watching a Twilight movie in a cinema packed with teenage girls fills me with dread. Shudder!

THE PLOT. At the end of New Moon, vampire Edward Cullen asked Bella Swan to marry him. Eclipse begins with teenager Bella's response. She still wants Edward to turn her into a vampire so that they can be together for all eternity but the thought of marriage does not appeal to her. Meanwhile, in nearby Seattle, a group of newly created vampires have gone on a murder spree, making the police and the media think there is a serial killer on the loose. Such behaviour attracts the attention of the Volturi (the ruling elite of the vampires) and they send a team to investigate. Alice Cullen, the vampire with psychic powers, gets a vision of the newly created vampires moving from Seattle en masse to track down and kill Bella. So forewarned, the Cullen clan makes a pact with the local werewolves to join forces and defeat their common enemy. Because Jacob the teenage werewolf is so in love with Bella the two sides are able to work together despite their mutual loathing. Jacob still holds a torch for Bella, and throughout the film tries to woo her back from Edward. Followers of the films and/or books won't be surprised to learn that Victoria is the instigator of the young vampire army as she still seeks vengeance on Bella, whom she blames for the death of her vampire lover, James. So the scene is set for a big confrontation. Who will win the war? Not hard to guess, is it?!

THE FILM. Directorial duties are passed over to David Slade, who directed the much gorier vampire film 30 Days of Night. Consequently, he is quite at home directing action scenes, although he is hampered somewhat by the film having a teen-friendly 12A certificate. Kristen Stewart (Bella), Robert Pattinson (Edward), Taylor Lautner (Jacob) and Ashley Greene (Alice) reprise their roles from the previous two films. Likewise with the actors and actresses playing the rest of the Cullen clan and the tribe of werewolves. The one major change is that Bryce Dallas Howard has been brought in to play Victoria the evil vampire, replacing Rachelle Lefevre. She does so-so in a role that has her do little more than snarling.

THE VERDICT. Irrespective of what I say or think about this film it will be a huge box office smash and I fully expect it to earn more money than any other film this year. The multiplex where I saw it was showing it on five screens, so they clearly expect it to be a massive money-spinner. For what it's worth, I'm not a big fan of the whole Twilight Saga but I don't hate it either. It has vampires and werewolves in it, so that grabs my attention straight away. I am so far removed from the target audience (teenage girls) that it is hard to review the film objectively. There is much to criticise - I still don't see what Edward and Jacob find attractive about Bella (she's a moody, sullen teenager) or what she sees in them (Edward is such a wuss and Jacob is overly emotional). With a running time of just over two hours there are parts of the film that drag along at a snail's pace. In the novel of the same name, I felt that the big fight at the end was over too quickly. Sadly, the same applies to the film. I quite liked the flashback scenes; Rosalie's in particular was rather poignant. I like the look of the werewolves - they are huge and very imposing. If I was a vampire, I wouldn't want to mess with them. And still, my favourite character in the film is Alice Cullen, although she has too little screen time for me. I noticed that one of my new followers has chosen a portrait of Alice for her personal profile. Good choice, Laura!

Twilight Saga author Stephenie Meyer will undoubtedly have a huge hit on her hands with this film. I'll admit to liking it more than I expected and it is certainly a better film than the previous one, New Moon. Just don't expect to find any acting masterclasses here! So, because I gave New Moon a 6 out of 10, I'll rate Eclipse 7 out of 10.

Twilight: New Moon Review

It was my birthday yesterday and as a treat for myself I went to the cinema to see New Moon, the second in the Twilight series based on the hugely successful books by Stephenie Meyer. I reviewed Twilight, the first film in the series quite a few months ago. It is hard to escape the phenomenon that surrounds this series. In one way, I like it, as vampires and werewolves are now officially "cool" and a whole new audience is being introduced to the genre. On the other hand, what I dislike about this series is that it ignores the horror of being a vampire or a werewolf for a soppy love story firmly aimed at teenage girls. In no way can these books or films be called horror stories.

THE PLOT. The film opens with Bella Swann celebrating her 18th birthday. She wants a quiet affair at home with her vampire lover, Edward Cullen, but Edward's family of vampires have other ideas and so Bella is invited to a party held in her honour at the Cullen household. Things go badly wrong when Bella suffers a paper cut when opening one of her presents causing Jasper, the least experienced vampire to freak out and attack her. It is a pivotal point in the Bella/Edward relationship as it forces Edward to break up with Bella. He and his family depart, leaving Bella heartbroken. She finds solace and a new love with Jacob Black, a friendly neighbour. Bella sure knows how to pick them. It turns out that Jacob is a werewolf and his clan have a long lasting feud with all vampires. Bella catches glimpses of Edward, but only in times of great stress or danger. This causes her to become more and more rash as she becomes almost addicted to thrill rushes, putting her life in peril. One stunt, where she dives from atop a steep cliff almost ends in her drowning but for a timely rescue from Jacob. Alice Cullen, the vampire who can see the future, had a premonition of Bella dying because of the cliff jumping. She rushes back to find out the truth. Due to a misunderstanding Edward believes that Bella really is dead and decides to end his life by revealing himself to be a vampire in an Italian town ruled by the elite of the vampiric society, the Volturi. Cue Bella and Alice in a race to save him.

THE FILM. The cast of the first film all reprise their roles, with the leads played by Kristen Stewart (Bella), Robert Pattinson (Edward), Taylor Lautner (Jacob) and Ashley Greene (Alice). Michael Sheen plays Aro, the leader of the Volturi, who are the vampiric leaders and enforcers of their laws, of which there is only really one - keep the existance of vampires secret from humanity. Catherine Hardwicke passed the directing duties over to Chris Weitz and he does an admirable job with the material. With a running time of 130 minutes, this was quite a long film but never boring.

THE REVIEW. Whatever I say about this film won't alter the fact that it is going to do outstanding business at the box office. Twilight was a huge succes and this looks like it will be an even bigger hit. So my views amount to little but for what it's worth I liked the film in parts but found it lacking as well.

The good points include the introduction of the werewolves to the saga. They look suitably impressive when in wolf form. These critters are are about the size of a grizzly bear and even more lethal in a fight! Apparently, Jacob is the only werewolf who can transform in mid-leap, a very impressive feat. Alice continues to be my favourite character. I just wish she had more screen time. The Volturi were also a welcome addition and you do not want to mess with them, which probably explained why Edward wanted to fulfil his death wish on their home territory. The scenes with the Volturi at the end of the film gave a palpable taste of their true power.

The bad points are that not much really happens. When I saw Twilight for the first time, I hadn't read any of the books so I didn't know what to expect from the film. Now though, I've read the complete saga and in my opinion, New Moon is the weakest out of the four books. As a consequence, I did not have high hopes for the film. Bella and Edward continue to be annoying adolescents. Edward may be over 100 years but my God, he still acts like a pouty teenager. At times I just wanted to bash the pair of them together to knock some sense into their brains. The film sags after Edward departs but picks up when the werewolf clan take out Laurent, one of the three vampire rogues from the first film. This is the first time that Bella sees a werewolf pack but she runs away before witnessing Laurent's demise.

I'll certainly buy the DVD when it comes out and I'll go see the next installment, Eclipse when it is released next year. I rate New Moon 6 out of 10.

Team Edward

Team Jacob

Twilight DVD

Confession time. I've never read any of the Twilight series of books by Stephenie Meyer. I have a huge collection of vampire novels and somehow this series passed completely under my radar. The first I'd heard of them was when the film was released at Christmas 2008. I'd read mixed reviews of the film but went to see it with an open mind... and I quite enjoyed it.
Just last week I bought the two-disc DVD version of the film from those good folks at Amazon and this is my review of the DVD.
THE STORY. Bella Swan is an American teenager who goes to live with her dad in the small town of Forks, Washington after her divorced mum wants to go touring with her new boyfriend. At high school Bella is curious to know about the five members of the mysterious Cullen family, who are a part of her class, especially Edward, whom she is teamed up with in biology class. Bella's classmates warn her that the Cullens don't mix with other students. But Bella is slowly drawn to the brooding Edward and when he saves her life by stopping a van that was about to crash into her with one hand she becomes convinced that he is not what he appears to be. Yep, Edward is a vampire. He has the ability to read minds but cannot read Bella's mind. So, the pair are drawn to one another and when Bella discovers the truth about Edward she is not repulsed at all but even more besotted with him. Edward takes her to meet his family, the other four "teenagers" and mum and dad - all vampires as well. They get on well together and enjoy a game of baseball, which is interrupted by the arrival of three nomadic vampires. The Cullens were able to integrate themselves in the township by only drinking the blood of animals. These newcomers have no such qualms about taking human blood and when one of them smells Bella's human scent the hunt is on. Can Edward and his family protect Bella, and if so, at what cost?
THE FILM. Edward and Bella were played by Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart respectively and the film was directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The story is a simple love story and is aimed primarily at teenagers, especially teenage girls. So I'm well out of the target audience. But hey, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of my all-time favourite TV series and I'm a sucker for any vampire movie. Bella is so pale skinned she could easily pass for a vampire herself. I liked her plucky attitude. Edward is such a pretty boy and an obvious teenage heart-throb but I found him too full of angst and way too irritating. Why must so many vampires be such tortured souls? Out of all of the Cullens my favourite was Alice (played by Ashley Greene) who not only looked as cute as a button but who also had the ability to see the future. Plus, she got to rip the head off one of the nomad vampires! For a vampire movie there was very little blood to be seen, which wasn't surprising given its 12 certificate. My favourite scene in the movie was the baseball game, which was worth the admission fee alone! Baseball between vampires is far more impressive than the human version. With vampiric strength they can smash the ball way out of the park. However, with vampiric speed, the fielders can race after the ball in the blink of an eye, thus making for a even-sided game. It was nice to see a new take on just what it is that defines a vampire. These vampires were not afraid of the sun but avoided it as it gave their skin a sparkling diamond-like quality - a CGI effect that didn't quite work. I've seen a lot worse films than this one and it's not as bad as some critics would have you believe, although the acting by the two leads is a bit flat. I'd rate it 6 out of 10.
THE DVD EXTRAS. I love the special features of a DVD - the more the better. This two-disc set does not disappoint in that respect. The second disc contains deleted scenes, extended scenes, trailers for the film, music videos aplenty, an interview with Stephenie Meyer (who comes across very well, I must say), and of course, the obligatory "making of" documentaries, which I nearly always enjoy watching. All good stuff so far and at over two hours long you certainly get your money's worth. However, what does let the extras down is the film commentary by director Catherine Hardwicke with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Now I'm usually a fan of film commentaries. If done well they can be hugely entertaining and informative. However, here they make the classic mistake in any commentary of having too many long pauses. Also, there was way too much giggling going on between the three of them. Consequently, I can give the special features no more than 8 out of 10. But for the commentary it would have been higher.
FINAL VERDICT. If you're a fan of the novels you don't need me to tell you to buy this - you've probably already got it! If you're not it is still worth seeking out. For sure, it's a teenage love story, but look on the bright side - it's not High School Musical! The film has whetted my appetite for reading the books and I'll be buying the series very soon. I hear the book is much better than the film, but that is so often the case. Twilight - New Moon, the first sequel is schedulded for a November 2009 release. I'll be there to see it and to review it here.