Totally Eclipsed

Saw Eclipse last night. Not THE eclipse, as in the eclipse of the moon that took place a few nights ago, and that I REALLY wanted to see and missed. No, I mean ECLIPSE THE MOVIE. As in Twilight. As in the Eclipse I really didn't care if I saw or not. Other than for bragging rights of course.

I am so not a Twilight fan. I read the books, and I really don't see how anybody over the age of 14 could really like this story. I know I'm in the minority here, but come on. And the first two movies were even more painfully, embarassingly, ridiculously angst ridden than the books, if that is possible.

So I went in to this movie dragging my expectations on the heel of my shoe. I was really only there for the promised Harry Potter 7 preview, which, they didn't even show. And missing out on the preview put me in a bad mood right at the start. You can't say you are going to do something that MILLIONS of people have been looking forward to and then just not do it. So I had to go home and watch the preview online. Lame. Now if you want to talk geek on movies and juvenile/young adult fiction, lets talk Harry. I can geek it up with the best of them on Harry. But that movie is still 4 months and 20 days away, so that will have to wait. Back to the vampires.

Eclipse is definitely another Twilight movie. Crazy enraged vampires plotting to kill poor pouty annoying Bella. Lots of camera time spent on longing gazes and close up kissing. Brooding Edward, shirtless men ( okay, only one man) with rippling abs, and oh so much angst.

But all that obvious stuff aside, as much as it pains me to admit this, I actually enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. If you could only know the depth of my aggravation with the first two movies, you would understand what it takes for me to say this. And it may be that by starting out with such low expectations, it was really easy to exceed them. But this third movie is very much an improvement over the first two. Some of the acting has stepped up several notches, there was a lot more in the way of action, and the whole feel of the movie, while still totally unbelievable, just had more of an authentic feel to it. Having read the books, I knew the plot points that were coming up, but it was still fun watching it unfold. There are some good scenes between Jacob and Edward, and a few places where the movie pokes obvious fun at itself that are good for a few chuckles. My prediction is that if I, as an anti-fan, can enjoy this movie, the true fans of the Twilight series, or saga, or whatever they are calling it now, are going to LOVE this movie.

Now on to my quick and painless critique, in no particular order:
-Loved the music. Except for the soaring instrumentals.

-The werewolf scenes have improved.

-There are some really funny moments.

-The big battle scene appeared to be about 20 teenagers running around playing tag. That was kind of weird.

-The other day I heard somebody somewhere say that the biggest mistake made in these movies is that Jacob comes off looking so much better than Edward. Jacob is the one that gets to run around with his shirt off. Jacob is the only one that shows any emotion or passion. Jacob is the funny one. Jacob gets all the best lines. In fact, I think Jacob is the only sympathetic character in the whole movie. Edward and Bella are boring. They don't really do anything except gaze longingly at each other, argue about their stupid relationship and stand around wringing their hands. And they don't seem that happy together either.

I could go on, and I could get into a rant about all the problems I have with this story, but I won't. I really need to get out of here and get some running time in. See, I don't have a big strong vampire or a werewolf to carry me through the forest when I get in trouble, so I have to make sure I can take care of myself.