Definitely had different expectations going into this one compared to New Moon. I really loved New Moon as a book but not so much Eclipse.
I always thought Eclipse would benefit from a film makeover to put a bit more dramatic tension in it. The book seemed bogged down with back story, building up to a big scary battle that was ultimately neither big or scary - only baddies died and none of the goodies ever really looked threatened, well OK, so Jacob gets a little bit roughed up.
Anyway back to the film. Before I went to the cinema I had a reply to a tweet saying that the film closely followed the book, which made my heart sink a little. And it did closely follow the book.
There is a lot of back story which made the pace a bit soggy at times but, I enjoyed the film more than the book for several reasons.
Firstly the book is tome-length (Stephanie Meyers was suffering from the JK Rowling successful writer-indulgent editor syndrome) so condensing it down to two hours means a lot of guff is inevitably cut.
Secondly, the lame battle works better visually than on the page. Yes all my criticisms of the book still stand, but there is something more engaging about seeing the vampires move at bullet-speed and doing flips and tumbles and tearing off heads that is lost in print.
Thirdly the sound track is superb, like they have all been. The songs sound and feel written for the film - I'm sure some of them were - perfectly matching and adding to the mood. Although I would add that the signature Howard Shore score seems a little out of place at times.
And finally, and this was probably the winner (aside from ogling fit young men's honed-bods, natch), was the script.
Yes there is a lot of gooey stuff still in there in keeping with the essence of the books. But I love some of the nice little ironic quips and humour that have been injected back into it. For example, Edward says to Bella about Jacob: "Doesn't he own a shirt?" And Jacob when acting as a hot-water bottle for Bella says to Edward: "Face it, I'm hotter than you."
Billy Burke as Charlie has always been a highlight and he really comes into his own in this film. He's given a bit more to work with and the exasperated-parent asides, dare I say it, allow him to steal a scene or two. The awkwardness of the father-daughter birds and bees talk is brilliantly executed.
So I want to see it again, as I did New Moon but I liked it more than New Moon and that was probably because I had less invested in it from the start.
I have some more thoughts about Edward but I'll write separately about those otherwise this post is going to become tome-like in itself.
What did the critics think?
Well I'm interested to hear what respected critic Mark Kermode has to say, he's been a fan of the previous films but I haven't listened to the podcast yet so will add that in later.
Tom Shone in The Telegraph gave it three stars and wrote what is really quite an amusing review although if you are die-hard fan I wouldn't read it. Particularly enjoyed this line: "That Jacob
steals the show has nothing to do with Lautner, who has the charisma
levels
of a small potato, but the script, which keeps fencing Edward off from
the
action, both on the battlefield and off."
Empire online gave it four stars believing it to be the best so far: "The fan base will enjoy the maturation of characters and plot, while
Slade brings great energy to the climactic battle between the Newborns
and the Cullen-Wolf Pack alliance. Under his guidance, the series has
evolved into something most unlikely: Twilight is in danger of becoming
cool."
Rotten Tomatoes UK gave it a rating of 52%
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