In the hands of director David Slade the Stephenie Meyer book with the most action thus far truly takes off. Slade may be no neophyte to the world of vampires because of his 30 Days of Night directing gig, but as any pop culture fan knows, Meyer's vampire world is completely unlike any other in history.
For one, Twilight is a full-blown phenomenon. Secondly, Slade has the challenge of bringing what many believe is Meyer's best book in the series to life. Not an easy task, given Eclipse's 640-page count!
Slade has succeeded on all counts as not only is Eclipse the best of the Twilight movie bunch, but it is also the most faithful to Stephenie Meyer's books.
In Eclipse, what Meyer lacks in writing skills overall beyond crafting a heady page-turner has been deftly drawn on screen by Slade and his team. Yes Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner bring the author's characters to life effectively on screen. But it is the smaller players in the Twilight Saga that make this engine cook.
Performances in Eclipse that excel include Bryce Dallas Howard's new interpretation of Victoria, Dakota Fanning's deliciously devilish and let's get more screen time for Elizabeth Reaser and her Esme to Peter Facinelli's Dr Carlisle Cullen!
If I have to fault Eclipse in anything, we have to talk about the makeup. OK, we get it. They're pale, but this is ridiculous. It's a little too much in this third installment.
Now where the film franchise goes from here is a difficult task. Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final chapter in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight quadrilogy is in many ways unfilmable. It is too disturbingly violent on many levels for even the teens that ingest these books. But, by the hiring of Academy Award-winning director Bill Condon do helm a now two-film finale. Our hopes are high that something special comes from that union. Otherwise, look for Eclipse to be the best of the rest. Period.
Udne Ki Aasha
