3/5 * 
2010 brought us the third of the “Twilight Saga” with Eclipse and I, unlike many young ladies, did not rush to see it in the cinema. However I did enjoy relaxing at home and watching it on DVD.
I am a big fan of the books and read them around 2 years ago. When I watch a film of a book I’ve read I prefer to keep a time period between the two so I’m not thinking of the details of the book while watching the film as I find I spend more time picking out flaws than enjoying the film. I know some people would prefer to pick flaws and compare books to film but I prefer to keep them separate where possible so that I may enjoy both. If not, I tend to avoid one if I have experienced the other.
So lets get to it.
If you have watched the first two films I’m sure you will have noticed the poor acting. Well in Eclipse I feel that the acting improves greatly, although it is still not up to standards. If you are a hardcore actor watcher you will probably find this too annoying to watch. The chemistry between Robert Pattinson, Kirsten Steward and Taylor Lautner is semi-convincing, however they all keep with the slow, “sexy”, broody talk which I just found a little time consuming and annoying but only noticed this a couple of times at most. However I was happy for Taylor Lautner to spend as much time on screen with his lush body. (A very “young-girl” opinion there).
The action scenes are much improved with all the graphics mediocre, if not vaguely impressive and it kept me watching without disbelief nor distraction. The only problem I had with the effects was the way the vampires bodies “smashed” like broken glass when they were struck. This may be an aspect of the story rather than the film making, although I do not remember this ever being in the written story and therefore think it is more to do with the film producers.
The other aspects of the vampires that people criticised in the first films, such as the sparkling in the sun, are part of the writing and are simply another take on vampires. Just because one person says they burnt in sunlight does not mean that another person cannot say they “sparkle” in sunlight. After all there is no vampire facts.
Overall I think its an enjoyable addition to the Twilight series than would please fans of teenage love stories with a sci-fi twist. However for the hardcore, action film fans it is probably not for you. As a teenage film it contains little gore and scare with lovey dovey scenes that limit themselves to kissing and a slight bedroom scene.
I noticed no major differences in story to the book. Although as I mentioned above I read the books a couple of years ago, however I still remembered sections that were wrong when watching the other films but none in this one. This may just be my memory however it satisfies me.
I have given the film 3/5* however you must remember I am a fan of simple, easy pleasure films and I understand another film fan would not give it a high rating.
For more about eclipse visit the International Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325004/
