"Eclipse" much better than its predecessors -- but still a soulless series

by Ken San Nicolas

Director: David Slade

Time: 2 hours 4 minutes

Genre: Adventure

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Dakota Fanning

The third chapter in the Twilight Saga, "Eclipse" develops the growing relationship between Bella (Kristen Stewart), Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Compared to "Twilight" and "New Moon", the latest film is a much more polished. However, "Eclipse" still suffers from many of the same weaknesses characteristic of its predecessors.

Director David Slade should be applauded for his efforts -- "Eclipse" is a much better offering than either of the first two films in the series. The action sequences are exciting, and the music really fits with the tempo of the film. Slade seems to have a good grasp of building accurate sets to get the true atmosphere of a scene across. Unfortunately, not even Slade can save a really poor script and even worse acting.

I'll be honest -- I haven't read the entire Twilight Series. Maybe the books have better writing but I can't get past the fact that this script is so utterly pathetic. The plot is decent, don't get me wrong -- but the dialogue in this film is lame. Horrible acting from Lautner, Stewart and Pattinson only compound this failure. This movie has little soul. The only saving grace to this notion is that this series is so beloved by its fans that one has to appreciate the magnitude of a film series like this. Imagine Lord of the Rings -- except replace the elves and orcs with werewolves and vampires, and replace the benevolent text of Tolkien with the adolescent dialogue of Stephenie Meyer. As you can see, the Twilight series just has not lived up to the moniker of "epic".

It's unfortunate that this series had to start off with two absolutely horrible movies. I really think that David Slade is a strong director. There is good character development of the supporting cast here. However, the central plot still revolves around this lame love triangle. Hearing Jacob whine and claim that Bella loves him but just doesn't know it yet, it just comes across as so pretentious. Seriously, did we really need two movies to elaborate on the depth and complexity of this love triangle? With a script as bad as this, it should only take 5 minutes.

If you liked the first 2 films in this series, you will enjoy "Eclipse". It is an overall improvement in action, cinematography and tempo. However, don't expect an improvement in dialogue or script - it's as boring and shallow as ever.

2 out of 5 stars.