"THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE" (2010) (Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson) (PG-13)
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QUICK TAKE:
Drama/Horror: A teen girl is torn between her love for a vampire and a rival werewolf even as her life is in grave danger.
PLOT:
The saga of human Bella (KRISTEN STEWART), vampire Edward (ROBERT PATTINSON), and werewolf Jacob (TAYLOR LAUTNER) and their love triangle continues. Little does Bella's father Charlie (BILLY BURKE) know, but Bella has made the decision to let Edward turn her into a vampire once she graduates from high school. Jacob, though, still has hope that she'll see that a life with him means she won't have to give up her humanity, her family, or her life.
Meanwhile, the female vampire Victoria (BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD) is still out there plotting her revenge against Edward, who killed her lover. Her plan is to use a fellow vampire, Riley (XAVIER SAMUEL), who is from the same small town where Edward and Bella live, to assemble an army of vampire "newborns" (those recently bitten when the bloodlust is especially insatiable) to slaughter the Cullen family and kill Bella.
The Cullens, who include patriarch Carlisle (PETER FACINELLI) and clairvoyant Alice (ASHLEY GREENE), form an uneasy truce with the local werewolf tribe to protect the town and keep Bella safe. A massive battle royale seems imminent, and it is unclear if the governing vampire body, the Volturi -- under the leadership of Jane (DAKOTA FANNING) -- will pick sides or sit this one out.
OUR TAKE: 5 out of 10
By now, if you haven't taken "The Twilight Saga" into your soul after two films and multiple books, chances are you never will. And that's OK. Not everyone is a Trekkie or Jedi padawan or a member of Red Sox Nation. I certainly don't get the extreme appeal. Like so many people, I find these brooding, mopey, melancholy characters bordering on self-parody at this point. I'm actually surprised the Zucker brothers or the Wayan brothers haven't cashed in with something like "Vampire Movie" or "Sucked!" The script would practically write itself.
At any rate, you may have heard that this film is the best of the three "Twilights" so far. And it is actually. It has the most action of the three films. There are some really affecting flashback sequences that finally add a bit of depth and texture to some of the minor characters. And the alt-rock songs on the soundtrack this time actually have a little snap and pop to them.
The problems, of course, remain. The long, lingering looks between vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and human Bella (Kristen Stewart). The almost comical way Jacob (Taylor Lautner) moves through the picture shirtless. The slow and maudlin manner in which the three leads deliver their lines. The inexplicable reasons why nearly two dozen characters put their very lives on the line to save the dour, charmless Bella as her life is threatened yet again.
The main plot of "Eclipse," aside from the love triangle, has to do with bad-girl vampire Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) vowing revenge against Edward for killing her lover. Her plan is to seduce a young vampire (Xavier Samuel) from the town of Forks, Wash., where Bella and the Cullens live into helping her form an army of newborn bloodsuckers (humans recently bitten) to help her kill Bella.
Edward's clairvoyant sister Alice gets wind of the plot and warns him and the rest of the Cullen family. In turn, they form an uneasy alliance with the local werewolves to protect the town and Bella. A quick training montage follows and a climactic battle royale is all but assured. The only tension is whether the producers will finally spend enough cash to make the action halfway exciting. They do.
At the same time, the Volturi - which is kind of the governing body of vampires worldwide - gets wind of the army and dispatches Jane (Dakota Fanning) and three fellow, slow-moving, slow-talking vampires to observe. They basically stand from afar and comment on the action, and you're not quite sure if they'll take a side or just continue watching. Again, it's all done in a grandiose, self-serious, ripe-for-parody way.
But I will say this. In a summer where "Iron Man 2" wasn't as great as "Iron Man," where "Robin Hood" wasn't really the Robin Hood of yore, where the "Sex and the City" gals were pale knock-offs of the shrewd characters they once were on TV, this series HAS maintained a consistency through three films. And, yes, this third one finally delivers some memorable spectacle and affecting performances (Billy Burke remains underrated as Bella's clueless, frustrated father).
It's not my cup of Earl Grey, but the fans cheered long and hard at the end of my recent preview. For that, I give it a 5 out of 10. (T. Durgin)
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