The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - Cinema Review

'still confuses belligerent moping and clichéd dialogue as accurate representations of young romance'

In a film that ends up being better than Twilight but worse than New Moon, Eclipse frustratingly fails to address any of the problems that blighted the previous incarnations. Why would it? After all, most fans have lived and loved the series so far with a dedication not dissimilar to werewolf-like rabidness and for them, I suspect this will similarly satisfy their taste for the Edward (Robert Pattinson), Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) love triangle.

For anyone after something more expansive though or anyone who was dissatisfied with the previous entries, Eclipse disappointingly fails to break new water, despite the series now being on its third director. Newly installed, David Slade brings some much needed action to the series in the same way that Chris Weitz did during various moments of New Moon but everything feels smothered by the will she/won't she pondering of Bella and her looming Volturi-set deadline. At a conservative estimate, I would have a stab at roughly 40% of the film's major conversations detailing her decision and listening to her trying to convince Edward of its positive points or listening to Jacob try to convince her of its negative points unsurprisingly gets drastically repetitive.

Performance wise, although Pattinson and Stewart aren't breaking new ground here, they have both improved on their various negative points from the previous films. Pattinson in particular is given much more to work with, especially in a finale that, although incredibly cheap looking for this sort of blockbuster, at least serves a proper dramatic purpose, whilst Stewart finally looks as though she's shrugged off some of the reticence about the character which has been so apparent in her public appearances and tangible in her performances. Lautner continues to be the best of the leading trio whilst elsewhere, Ashley Greene and Peter Facinelli are generally a joy whenever they appear.

Overall though, the film still confuses belligerent moping and clichéd dialogue as accurate representations of young romance and most of Eclipse's scenes can be regarded as such. What this means is that if you've not read the books and are therefore not invested in the characters to a substantially heightened degree, there's no new reason to care about them here. In excitement and action terms, the inevitable final conflict worked but in character terms it didn't - I had been given no reason to root for one or other of the potential romances or any individual character - a fact that, sadly, hampered my enjoyment of the film to a distinct level of distraction which I felt beginning not much shy of thirty minutes in.

The Twlight Saga: Eclipse is released in UK cinemas on 9th July, it is out now in the US.

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'the problem I still have with this film is quite simple. You have to like the lovers in order to care for the plight. Not only must you like them, you have to believe the love. I may have said this before about New Moon before but if the franchise wants to regurgitate the same old arguments, then I'm sure I can too' - The Afrofilmviewer