Directed by David Slade. Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Nikki Reed, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Dakota Fanning. Fantasy, Horror, Romance, USA, 125 min.

The latest episode in the TWILIGHT series based on Stephenie Meyer’s young adult bestsellers is enough to bring out the high school girl in all of us.

Finally the combo of heightened passions, supernatural trappings and telenovella clichés melds into a thoughtfully intense and highly engaging teenage fantasy that puts the vampire vs. werewolf eternal triangle on an accessible level beyond the core female phenomenon everyone can now enjoy. Much of the success of ECLIPSE is down to director David Slade whose HARD CANDY mastery at capturing nuanced performance marries neatly with the similar cold visual style he brought to 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. Under Slade’s nimble direction the romantic tensions between Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), Edward Cullen (Robert Pattison), and Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) reach a heart-breaking turning point, while the Cullen family and Black’s Wolf Pack are forced to unite against a common danger. Someone is creating an army of Newborn vampires whose ravenous thirst makes them deadlier than their older counterparts. Clearly their target is Bella, and both Edward and Jacob will not allow the Newborns’ mysterious leader to exact a terrifying revenge. Cue the thrilling climax involving a huge battle between all three warring factions with Bella the star prize. Unlike any recent blockbuster in memory ECLIPSE actually takes its time to lay its story foundations and build up to its CGI heavy finale. Rather than spread the action load through short bursts to keep the audience placated Melissa Rosenberg’s deceptively simple script adaptation takes a measured approach to Bella’s operatic emotional state, Edward’s old school moral values and Jacob’s seething sexuality. Rosenberg even includes a gag at the expense of hunky Lautner’s continually shirtless state. If you find this careful attention to plot detail slow, then I suggest you watch JONAH HEX again! Okay, it’s borderline soap opera stuff, often endearing in its naivety (Bella and dad Charlie’s ‘birds and bees’ talk) and shamelessly startling in its Big Theme arc – Bella continually articulating the pros and cons of becoming a vampire and its cost to her relationship with Jacob. But once more Kristen Stewart makes it all work in a solid anchor performance of superbly shaded underplaying. The ECLIPSE difference is that both Robert Pattison and Taylor Lautner finally match her tone and really step up to the franchise commitment mark.  Another entertaining plus is the movie delivers terrific back stories for the Cullen duo Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) and Rosalie (Nikki Reed), as well as the origins of Jacob's family. So you get Cowboy and Indian, Civil War and Prohibition flashbacks, which give an added atmospheric pitch to the central cool, crisp British Columbia locations.

If you haven’t done so already now’s the time to step aboard the TWILIGHT SAGA express. It’s actually turning into something worthwhile.  . 

Alan Jones

© London FrightFest Ltd. 2000-2010
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GORE IN THE STORE
REVIEWS BY FANS FOR FANS
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

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