Bella (Kristen Stewart) wants to become a vampire so she can be with Edward (Robert Pattinson) forever. She’s willing to leave behind everyone else in her life because that “love” is so strong. For the record, this is what people in cults do. Edward makes weak-willed attempts to convince her not to change, but at no point does he flat out say “No.” Instead, he puts the condition on her that she has to first marry him before he’ll turn her into a soulless creature who will love blood even more than she loves Edward.
Saturday, 9 February 2013
Saturday, 2 February 2013
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse movie cast and crew
Directed by
David Slade
Xavier Samuel
Kristen Stewart
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Robert Pattinson
Billy Burke
Justin Chon
Anna Kendrick
Michael Welch
Christian Serratos
Jackson Rathbone
Ashley Greene
Paul Jarrett
Iris Quinn
Sarah Clarke
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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse movie overview
The Twilight films may be as ruthlessly exploitative a franchise as Harry Potter; they may be devoted to a creepy ideological agenda to promote pre-marital chastity; and they may be simply retreading much of the high-school vampire shtick that made Buffy a TV hit more than a decade ago. But in a universe where almost all CGI-laden, blood-spilling tentpole movies are aimed at ensnaring the teenage male, there's something to be said for a series of films aimed squarely – and successfully – at teenage girls.
While the Potter films are the cinematic equivalent of a cold shower, damping down the urges of its adolescent acolytes, the Twilight films, on the other hand, know all the about the vampire-movie obsession for blood, sex, addiction and death, even if it dilutes it for its own ends. At the point Edward Cullen
(Robert Pattinson) presents Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) with the traditional bauble as he proposes marriage, he could almost be a Jonas brother suggesting she join his Silver Ring Thing; significantly, this comes moments after he's knocked back her invitation to go all the way, claiming it's "too dangerous".
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This convoluted preparation for carnal union is arguably the high point of this third Twilight movie, which premiered in London last night: it's triggered by the rampaging hormones of a cross-species love triangle, in which human Bella is fought over by vampireEdward and werewolf Jake Black (Taylor Lautner). These two deadly enemies are, however, forced to join together to battle yet another lethal foe – an army of 'newborn' vampires, created and harnessed by maverick vamp Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) to kill off Bella in a convoluted revenge plot against Edward. (Confused? One thing about the modern vampire film is that however elaborate the mythology it invents, no one involved in the story has any trouble understanding or believing it. So neither should you.)
It is the clear-eyed seriousness of its principal actors that gives Twilight its strength: they communicate the urgency and pain of the raw teen emotions unlocked by these supernatural shenanigans. This third instalment, with a new director in the chair, appears to avoided the impulse to do too much explaining and exposition, and has decided to simply focus on the yearning. This, surely, is what its principal audience comes for: a chance to wallow in the midst of a choice selection of sensitive hunks and sassy gal-pals, all emoting like mad, and each with a nicely melodramatic backstory. And just when it looks like things are getting a tad overwrought, some actual laughs are to be had: Edward and Jacob get catty in their squabble over the girl they both love.
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It has been pointed out in the past that, without all the vampire superstructure, Twilight would be just a thin-blooded teen romance about kids too scared to do anything really dangerous. But that would be to detract from the operatic, high-voltage kick that its occult stuff supplies. It's not often you find yourself commending a contemporary teen-oriented franchise for sticking to the old values of character and narrative, but Eclipse, in its sulky, lip-biting way, manages it.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse movie review
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is like last’s year’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon on steroids. Everything that was slightly good in that film becomes better. There’s slightly more intentional humor, less of protagonist Bella Swan moping, and some mostly well-done (if slightly redundant at times) set pieces. But the aspect of the The Twilight Saga I hate the most—the advocating for the possession of a woman under the guise of “love”—is taken to an excruciating level. I know that this review can’t dissuade fans from seeing the movie. I know that I’ve made my problems with the subtext clear in my reviews of the first two films. So what I’d like to do this time out is struggle with why the fans love this series and what had them cheering at the end of the movie.
Bella (Kristen Stewart) wants to become a vampire so she can be with Edward (Robert Pattinson) forever. She’s willing to leave behind everyone else in her life because that “love” is so strong. For the record, this is what people in cults do. Edward makes weak-willed attempts to convince her not to change, but at no point does he flat out say “No.” Instead, he puts the condition on her that she has to first marry him before he’ll turn her into a soulless creature who will love blood even more than she loves Edward. Is it really so bad that Stewart would love Edward until the end of her life? Eternity is an awfully long time and I suspect a relationship like this can only work if the people never change emotionally. I suppose it would be nice if we could be frozen in time forever, but the wonderful thing about life is that we grow and experience new things. The Cullen Clan is stuck in a cycle. They keep going to high schools, they keep moving to new towns, and remain aloof in order to hide their vampirism from the living.
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But if Bella chooses to remain human, then she can be with the werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) because the notion of being single is apparently an anathema to her. Bella also has feelings for Jacob because Jacob says she does. When his character wasn’t brooding, Lautner was one of the few good things in New Moon. In Eclipse he’s one of the worst. Jacob comes on like an abusive boyfriend who tells Bella what she’s feeling. When he tries to kiss her, she punches him in the face only to break her hand (that’ll teach her to refuse a man’s advances!). Jacob spends the movie treating Bella like crap or getting into a pissing contest with Edward. The only point the werewolf and vampire agree on is that Bella can’t defend herself so they have to do it.
To be fair, Bella can’t do much against an oncoming threat of an angry army of freshly created vampires come to kill her and the Cullens. Victoria (originally played by Rachelle Lefevre but recast with Bryce Dallas Howard in the role) is still sore about Edward killing her boyfriend James in the first movie and so she marshals an “army” (it’s about fifteen vamps) to descend on the town of Forks and take out Bella and the Cullens. Outmatched, the Cullens are forced to turn the sworn enemies of the vampires, the werewolves. Stripped down to its bare elements a revenge tale that turns into a war which unites age-old enemies is a solid premise. And on a technical level, director David Slade has made the best the best Twilight movie yet. The action scenes are—for the most part—well executed and look convincing.
Unfortunately, these scenes exist in the Twilight universe of mostly unlikable characters and its grotesque depiction of “romance”. The extent to which Bella is depicted as helpless is hilarious/disturbing/depressing. All she can do to aide against Victoria’s 15-vampire-army is to act as bait. When part of protecting Bella calls for Jacob to mask her in his werewolf sent, he needs to carry her for some inexplicable reason. She’s not even allowed to walk on her own. Oh, and every time he carries her, he’s shirtless. At least Eclipse has the courtesy to crack a joke about it.
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Detached from the depressingly terrible Edward-Bella-Jacob love-triangle, Bella isn’t a completely awful character. She’s certainly better than her psychotic post-breakup dementia of New Moon, but that’s due in large part to her stepping away from the “love” drama and interacting with her parents. The point of those scenes is to demonstrate what Bella will lose once she becomes a vampire, but they show a far better life for her. It’s a life of independence where she goes to college and becomes her own woman. But Bella knows it’s better to throw it all away for Edward.
As I asked in my New Moon review, what is appealing about Edward Cullen? What are his interests? What makes him special beyond his physical attractiveness and complete devotion to the equally vapid Bella? It doesn’t help that Pattinson’s performance consists of furrowing his brow and cracking a brief smile to remind us that he’s happy around Bella (when she’s not in mortal danger). His sexual abstinence is also curious. When Bella tries to make a move, he pulls away and basically calls her a slut as he explains that back when he was alive things were less “complicated” and courtship was more prolonged and people only had sex after marriage. Edward’s willing to give up his life to protect Bella, but when she wants to be physically intimate with him, he refuses. While I can respect abstinence, I find it unnerving in Twlight because it sends a message that a woman’s sexual desire is somehow undesirable and incompatible with love.
I honestly ask all Twilight fans who read this website one question: why do you like this? As to the movie itself, I would say it’s the least terrible one so far. I can’t stand the subtext, but on a technical level it surpasses Twilight (which upon further review is worse than I originally thought) and New Moon. The movie is filled with other problems including the atrocious soundtrack and the forced inclusion of the Volturi who do almost nothing, but these are minor missteps compared to The Twilight Saga‘s outright hatred of feminism. Even if the great Bill Condon manages to craft a technically sound movie, there’s nothing anyone can do to conquer the horrible subtext.
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