MOVIE REVIEW - Twilight Eclipse

Here is the third installment of the Twilight series. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson star in Eclipse. Huge at the box office...as expected.

Before we move on, don't ask me what "team" I'm on. Team Edward or team Jacob. Twilight movies have become so much more than just movies for adolescent girls and very young women. They are an event. And you better be careful in choosing your team, and of strong thoughts to the contrary on this movie. All weekend long TE continued to pack movie houses, and no end in sight.

Bella (Stewart) is still torn between Edward the vampire (Pattinson) and Jacob the wolf (Taylor Lautner). Who will she pick? You come into this movie with that question on your mind if you've been following this series, and amazingly enough at the end of this movie you still don't know. But that's to be expected. There's just too much money to be made up the line, and string everyone long a little (or a lot) longer.

I'm all for making movies for all audiences, and all movies have to be viewed for what they are. Tough to tear apart movies apart that are made for kids, or families, or even young adults. But some are not above reproach. This series is wildly popular, and immensely influential on young people. And as I said in the previous reviews, as an adult, it's tough to watch movies where our main character, Bella (a 17 year old young woman now), is so obsessed with these two guys that there is no room in her life for one single other thing. - Ever.

Lying, omission, manipulation, and just down right heavier than life drama played out on the screen. Obsession, adult feelings, and situations, long range plan making as teens. Staring down life changing decisions all for "young love," and self loathing, and basically being drawn to all that is unhealthy in life. You can understand the concern of some that this may be a bit too over the top for some to digest in clear perspective. And some will say, "Hey it's just a movie....get over it...." And that's perspective too.

I have no trouble with the well done battle scenes with the vampires and the wolves. This is handled quite well, with virtually no blood and a lot of implied violence. This is fantasy, and as a viewer you know it. But the never ending "love triangle" (going on 6 hours now on film), is highly real, and thebasis of the relationships are unhealthy at any age.

Truth be told, when Robert Pattinson finally takes off the lipstick, white makeup and yellow contacts, I think he has every chance to be a real movie star. I really liked him in Remember Me last fall, with a look is a throwback to the James Dean era. He's actually really good here, photographs well and has a lot more potential than this limited Edward role is giving him. He is the star of the show, with Stewart, (well cast), who is our leading character clearly is painted into a corner with this series. Make it while you can. Taylor Lautner, just runs around with no shirt on. That's all he's asked to do, and he does it a lot.

Twilight Eclipse. It's one thing to read a story like this in a book and quite another to see a story like this portrayed on the big screen.