First, let's start with the Stuff that bugged me:
Edward's Grey V-neck. Yeah, I know that seems petty, but that shirt exposed his chest hair and gave me flashbacks to that one scene in New Moon. I won't make you suffer that picture again. The good news is that that plunging V is all we had to see of his pale hairy chest. But let's put some nice crew neck shirts on him.
Could Jasper Relax his Eyes? Have you seen Edward Scissorhands? Great movie. Amazing, really. One of my faves. So you'd think that the fact that Jasper seems to constantly be channeling Edward Scissorhands' wide stare shouldn't bother me, right? But oy! There has to be a different way to convey his special power. I think instead of bugging his eyes out, he needs to master the smize. I'm sure with their bigger budget they could hire Tyra Banks to coach Jasper.
Bella's hair. Tangle much? Wiggy? It's all about the hairline. Most people's hairlines aren't a perfect straight line. Anyway. It bugged me. Everyone else's hair looked fine. More about that in a minute.
Victoria. I have new info on the reason Rachelle LeFevre was canned. Apparently she wanted more money. Poo on her for messing things up. She had the perfect evil sneer, I loved how she delivered her lines, and I was extremely disappointed by her departure from the series. Bryce Dallas Howard isn't a bad actress. She looked the part, red hair and all, she tried really hard to be evil, but she wasn't as good as Rachelle LeFevre. She didn't look evil enough. She was missing the attitude.
Stuff that pleasantly surprised me:
Riley. There have been questionable casting choices with this series (Rob Pattinson comes to mind), but give that casting director a raise for hiring on Xavier Samuel as Riley. In the book, there's really not a lot about him. He makes an appearance at the end for about 2 pages, and isn't described in much detail. However, the screenplay included bits from the novella, "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner." You catch a glimpse of Riley before he is changed, and he is a sweet, young college student. The next time you see him, he is a blood-thirsty, angry vampire. The transformation is convincing and complete. I don't know where they found him, but two enthusiastic thumbs up.
The music. Sorry to keep comparing this movie to New Moon, but the orchestral music in New Moon bugged the heck out of me. The orchestral soundtrack is meant to enhance what is happening on the screen, not distract you from it. So FAIL on that account for New Moon. But obviously, the success from the first 2 movies have helped boost the budget enough that they could hire Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings music guy) for Eclipse. Nice call, people. I admit, the second time I went, I paid more attention to the music and couldn't believe I hadn't realized it was his music the first time. Definitely similar to LOTR stuff. I loved it.
Edward. I know I have already mentioned his yucky shirt and hairy chest. Those were Edward moments I could live without. But there were moments that I understood the whole teen craze over Rob Pattinson. I don't know if it was that they finally figured out that unruly hair, or got the light angles right, or put on just the right amount of makeup, but there were moments he was actually quite attractive. One of the reasons he was more attractive was that he actually smiled. Convincing smiles. Maybe he found a happy place in his life. Or maybe the director told him to stop looking crazed.
The dialogue. These movies are based on romance novels. So there was potential for a LOT of gooey, sappy, lame dialogue. And there was some of that, of course. But there were some great moments, like Charlie trying to give Bella "The Talk," and Edward and Jacob's conversation in the tent ("You know I'm hotter than you."), and so on.
Rosalie. Finally, Rosalie had a decent wig. It didn't look overstyled. Her hair was sleek and shiny, and when it was pulled back I wasn't distracted by the hairline too much. Her makeup was a bit excessive, for sure. Whoa on that eyeshadow. But she looked beautiful and I think they finally got her near the description Meyers gave her in the book.
Jacob. Still hot.
The Action. I LOVED the fight scenes. They were fun, action-packed, and exciting. I loved the impossible spinning leaps of vampires over werewolves, the crunch as vampires collided, and Edward pounding a tree down with Victoria in it. Good stuff.
So, what's the verdict? Best of the three, hands down. Others may disagree, but that's my take on it. I didn't feel like giggling when I wasn't supposed to (except at one spot that I'm sure teenagers thought was totally swoon worthy, but was a bit ridiculous to a 32-year-old housewife). It was one I look forward to buying and watching with my friends more than once. Two thumbs up.
5 comments:
Comments forthcoming, I haven't seen it yet...
I agree it was the best of the three. I think the actors have matured a little and settled into their characters. It didn't feel as awkward. (Maybe I've just gotten used to them though...)
I went with a bunch of friends, and the theater had Twilight and New Moon before Eclipse. I was making jokes all through the first two moviee (admit it, there is a TON to make fun of), but when Eclipse came on, they actually made a pretty sweet movie! Hardly anything to make fun of. I agree that this is the best of them so far, and I have hopes for Breaking Dawn.
I saw the movie and finally have time to make a comment. I thought overall it was the best of the three. HOWEVER, the makeup and hair on Carlisle and Esmé were awful. Really awful. I thought it was interesting that they improved the makeup on Edward and the others' makeup got worse. Weird. And what was with the nasty dark brown updo during the battle? Finally, where the heck did Jasper's Texas drawl come from?
Emma, I totally forgot about Jasper's drawl. I thought it was funny that suddenly he started up with the accent in the third movie. Of course, he didn't say much in the first 2, but it did come on suddenly. I meant to talk about that in my post, but I was totally drawing a blank.
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