Eclipse (2010)

Director: David Slade
Writers: Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay), Stephenie Meyer (based on her novel)
Composer: Howard Shore

Returning Cast:
Bella Swan- Kristen Stewart
Edward Cullen- Robert Pattinson
Jacob Black- Taylor Lautner
Carlisle Cullen- Peter Facinelli
Chef Charlie Swan- Billy Burke
Renee- Sarah ChalkeBilly Black- Gil Birmingham
Mike Newton- Michael Welch
Jessica Stanley- Anna Kendrick
Eric- Justin Chon
Angela Webber- Christian Serratos
Alice Cullen- Ashley Green
Jasper Cullen- Jackson Rathbone
Emmett Cullen- Kellen Lutz
Rosalie Cullen- Nikki Reed
Esme Cullen- Elizabeth Reaser
Jane- Dakota Fanning
Quill Atera- Tyson Houseman
Embry Call- Kiowa Gordon 
Newcomers:
Victoria- Bryce Dallas Howard 
Riley Briers- Xavier Samuels
Bree Tanner- Jodelle Ferland
Leah Clearwater-
Seth Clearwater- Booboo Stewart (he later was cast in the Disney Channel movie "The Descendents"- one of very few people from Twilight who had notable careers after these movies, which is a real shame)

Write-up: 

A lot of thoughts on this book/movie... 

First off, I don't know why this is, but whenever I read "Eclipse,' it seems to take me forever. I was at it for at least a week or two. I get maybe halfway through and I just check out and don't pick it back up for a while. I remember the first time I read it and how long it took me. And ultimately I think the reason is that I just found it boring... very little seems to happen in it and we're only waiting for this huge showdown with Victoria that's been hyped up for a long time. The craziest part is that Eclipse takes place only over a couple of months. Either April or May and it ends in mid-June. Twilight took place from January to May or June. New Moon took place from September 13th to April or May. And I believe Breaking Dawn takes place from August 12th to just after Christmas. 
I guess this is me saying that Stephenie's writing for Eclipse could have been abridged a bit and thankfully the movie does a great job of it and makes it helluva lot more entertaining than reading the book. I think I'd only read it maybe 2-3 times ever. But I'd seen the movie a lot more. But that doesn't mean I don't remember everything that happens in the book or the aspects of the story that the movie completely screwed up. As an adaptation, though, it's a job really well done. Plus Kristen Stewart keeps improving in this particular role. I'd had some harsh stuff to say about her as Bella in previous installments, but the more I watch, the more I do like what she does with it. Even though Bella still comes off sassier to me in the books than she ever brought to her in the movies. 

I don't know... I think as far as "Twilight" goes as a series, I sometimes feel like I prefer it had just took place in one book and never mind about with the sequels. New Moon is miserable cuz Edward leaves and Eclipse takes a long while to get through. At least for me. Breaking Dawn... I'll have my thoughts on that for when I get to the movie. I just don't remember if I'd ever read it more than once- probably twice, though. 

One thing I should also add is that this the only movie in the series my sister watches with us wheneve we have them on. Heck, I think she's watched it on her own when it's on TV. I think she might be Team Jacob because he's less intimidating than Edward. And I can totally see why. But even now and then, she'll say 'I'm Switzerland, ok?" just out of context. Also Jacob saying "I kissed Bella" to Charlie and the scene before the fight and she says "Jacob, kiss me!" Thought those details were worth sharing.

I also remember in the theater a few moments that got a lot of laughs. Although at the moment, I just remember the scene where Charlie tries to tell Bella about "being safe" and it's super awkward for both of them. It's always good for laughs when a father and daughter in a movie are having this talk cuz it's not really something dads are comfortable with. 

Anyway, there's one huge thing about this movie I need to address because it's the one thing that bugs me. And it might extend to the whole movie franchise. 
I'm the kind of person who loves continuity and it throws me off when certain characters look different from movie to movie or from one season of a TV series to the next. And nothing upsets me more than changes in casting. I stopped watching certain animé series because they changed the cast (Pokémon in particular- I checked out of it for years because nobody can play Ash better than Veronica Taylor- meeting her at Comic-Con 10 years ago was a huge trip). 
While Victoria isn't a character I love (obviously cuz she's the villain with a vendetta against Bella and Edward because she thinks Edward killed her mate, James), it annoys me to no end that they recast the role at this juncture of the series. If it had New Moon, fine... she has no lines in that movie at all and just appears in the scenes where she's being pursued by the werewolves before Bella cliff-dives. But this is her big moment, her big showdown with Edward and Bella and to me, it's never going to feel right watching it because it's a different actress. And this movie started a line of movies where I just plain didn't like Bryce Dallas Howard because of the roles she plays. I'm not convinced about her playing Victoria or feel any connection to her at all and it makes the character almost out to be a joke because the acting looks comical. (Twilight as a whole really isn't known for having Oscar-level acting, but still...). I also did not like her because of her in "50/50" as Joseph Gordon-Levitt's girlfriend or her role in "The Help"... thankfully, she got cast as Claire in the "Jurassic World" franchise because while she doesn't start out as the most likeable character, Claire does grow as a person as the story progresses. 

And with this movie as a whole, it's my time to really address the cosmetic changes with the characters. I keep reading trivia where Robert Pattinson hated waxing his eyebrows in the first movie so he refused to do so in the sequels. And I think he comes off better as Edward in the later movies. I can understand Nikki Reed not looking completely the same as Rosalie because dying her hair in the first movie ruined her hair so she had to wear a wig. 
However, Jasper is where my issue kinda lies. His hairstyle and look is different in every movie and the lack of continuity is really distracting to me. And maybe it's because this is a fact that was revealed more about his character later on or he didn't have as many lines... but I find it distracting that Jasper all of a sudden has a Southern accent in this movie. His backstory was that he was the youngest officer in the Confederate army at the age of 17 and he was changed into a vampire by Maria, who was part of this huge phenomenon in the southern US where rival vampires fought each other with newborn armies. And after two movies where it was tough for him to say more than a sentence to Bella because he's still getting used to abstaining from human blood, he's suddenly more talkative. Granted, I like listening to him and find him extremely fascinating explaining his area of expertise. But it seems like too many random pieces thrown together that weren't there the last two movies. 
Also, don't know why, I really didn't recognize Esme in the movie at all. There's the scene we see the whole Cullen family in the field waiting for the newborn army to show up. She has her hair tied back and her hair color looks different. Maybe it's just me, but I feel very nitpicky when it comes to continuity. 

Again, the adaptation from the book to movie was really well done. The book spent way too long with Edward being super controlling and not letting Bella see Jacob and the two guys not wanting to cooperate. A lot of that got streamlined for this. There are multiple times Bella see Jacob in La Push and they almost always are fighting about something. And meanwhile, she's agonizing about her decision, whether she's ready to become a vampire and not wanting to hurt those around her. A couple of times it's completely fine, but there are way too many of thsoe instances in the book, I even get exhausted. 
Then again, I also spent a lot of this book wanting her to just stop seeing Jacob because all he's doing is getting between her and Edward and trying to change her mind about her decision. 

The following train of thought happened when I was watching the movie for the first time- I was kinda annoyed with Edward, if I'm being honest. Because he wouldn't let Bella see Jacob. Then I was reveling when Jacob showed up at her school and helps her play hookey. Of course, not much time passes where I'm annoyed with him again... him hating on Edward and saying he'd rather Bella be dead than become a vampire. It was like a switch in my head- one pointing to Team Edward and the other to Team Jacob- was flicking on my head forcefully in either direction and it was distressing how strongly it switched from one direction to the next. 
I had said in my New Moon review how reading the book had me really leaning towards Team Jacob, more than I typically do, but it evenutally went back to the default Team Edward position by the end of the story, where Bella rushes to Italy to keep Edward from getting himself killed. 

I watched the movie the other night... and it feels like a while since I'd seen it. There's a strong chance, among the movies, that it's the one I'd seen the movie other than Twilight. And the switch in my head was coming into play again. I can't say exactly when it happened, but I was leaning so far towards Team Jacob, Edward was almost completely off my mind. I think it was around the scene where Jasper is showing the werewolves how to fight against newborn vampires and Bella is chilling with Jacob when he's in his werewolf form and continued to where he's carrying her through the trail to mask her scent. And also when he's keeping her warm in the night. Of course, I'd always go back to Team Edward cuz I just cannot help myself.
I have a suspicion that my mind was having this debate because I'd read the end of the book earlier that day and Bella was finally releasing part of her loves him too. And if Edward had left her alone and never came back the first time he ran off (he was out of school for a week in Twilight because he couldn't stand how strong her scent appealed to him), she would have ended up with Jacob... eventually. And that'd be absolutely fine. I can see the appeal of that. However, it's hard not to side with Edward because he is the man of mystery fantasy. It's like choosing someone who's one of the kind extraordinary opposed to the everyday boy-next-door nice guy. 

Another thing about the adaptation that's really good... I may be a hypocrite here because I hated the way Twilight diverted and added more scenes with the nomad vampires to fill out the movie when the book only focused on Bella's perspective... but I really like how they filled out the storyline in Eclipse, showing Victoria's interactions with Riley, the vampire she creates to in charge of her newborn army. We start the movie with how she attacks and changes him... that really helps set up the character. Don't know why, I always remember Xavier Samuel played Riley (although I remembered his name as "Xavier Samuels"... maybe cuz his character's name is Riley Briers). But we got to see more of his interactions with the army and also we see more of Bree Tanner. She plays a small role later in the story, but she sadly doesn't have much face time. 
There was a novella Stephenie wrote about Bree and it shows more about what happens with the newborn army and it offers more insight. But I'd only read the book once and I really don't feel up to it at this current time. Even though I probably should read it again at some point. 

And here's another paragraph of issues I have with the adaptation. I'm sorry, but I just can't help myself. 
First off- a positive- one of the biggest scenes a lot of us were looking forward to was the chapter called "Fire & Ice" where Edward and Jacob were having a candid discussion about them and Bella. 
Negative- the scene where Rosalie tells Bella about how she became a vampire and why Bella should not... in the book, Bella is staying over at the Cullen place and Rosalie actually goes out of her way to talk to her. I thought that was a really great moment for her character, showing that initative and willingness to talk to her, especially when she spent the first two books (except the end of the New Moon, of course) being really hard on Bella. I didn't ever hate Rosalie, but I don't particularly like her that much because she's such an ice queen. In the movie, Bella goes out of her way to talk to Rosalie because she storms off after a conversation about becoming a newborn. I can kinda see how both sides work well because it shows each character being stronger than they're given credit for, whether that lens is through the reader/viewer or each other. That being said, Rosalie's telling of her backstory to Bella was photographed really well. However, there's one piece I always kinda felt was missing... Rosalie talks about having a run-in with her fiance and his friends and he's drunk and it's alluded that he sexually assaults her in front of them and leaves her in the street to die. Because the writing and shooting of this scene was very discrete and doesn't show a lot because a certain rating needs to be upheld. In my mind, I interpret as "she was sexually assaulted and it was violent, but it doesn't translate to her being on the brink of death"... how it had been said or written that she was subsequently beaten, had ribs broken that pierced some of her internal organs or her skull was cracked on the pavement, that would make more sense and translated slightly better. 
It is nice, though, that Rosalie gets more opportunities to win over the parts of the Twi-hard fan base that weren't generally fans of her. People like me. 
And there are small things- like the valedictorian at graduation. In the book, it was Eric, but in the movie, it was Jessica. Yes, it's a small detail, but I feel like it was a blatant rewrite just for the sake of capitalizing on Anna Kendrick's career skyrocketing. I mean, she's awesome and the reason I'd seen a lot of her movies. I guess it's kinda on the same level as giving Dobby's roles in the various Harry Potter movies to Neville... although it takes a little more effort to animate Dobby than just giving someone's lines to another character. The funny thing about the graduation scene is that I remember a lot about her speech... but I never realized that it was written by the writers as yet another message to Bella to really think about her decision to become a vampire. The sentiment of the speech was that this was not the time for rash decisions, it was a time for mistakes and nothing is permanent. Don't know why I just suddenly understood it, but I did this time. And it's even cooler to look back on. 
Bree Tanner had a short time in the book, but there's an aspect of her part in the story that was completely left out of the movie. The movie just makes her seem innocent and nervous about what's going to happen to her. But the book has her seeming a little less civil and screaming that she wants Bella (meaning to drink her blood) and asking how they can all stand close to her. And Bella also looks at her a few times and wonders if that's going to be her future... Bella barely acknowledges Bree at all, either during the scene in the clearing with the Volturi (who convenientally show up AFTER the fight... like true politicans not wanting to get their hands dirty, ugh!) and during the aftermath. The aftermath is spent between her and Jacob and Edward. 

One thing that also stood out to me this time around... the scene with Bella and her mom. That was really well written and offered a sweet moment amidst all the crazyness. Her mom talks to her about Edward, talking about how she moves around him like they're magnets and to make sure she's making the right choice for herself. At the end of it, she gives her a quilt made from all the T-shirts they got from traveling. That wasn't in the book, but it was such a nice touch that added more to their relationship. It just made me wish Stephenie wrote a prequel novella or something that talked about Bella's relationship with her mom when they were growing up as well as what she was like in school. When she says she was awkard and none of the guys ever asked her out because they saw her go through all those awkward adolescent stages. It might explain that low-key part of her personality, the introverted part. Or maybe I'm just trying to find even more connection with her as a character. I feel like my own personality is a little off beat because I don't know how to act around people unless I know them well enough.

...I'm sure there's something I missed, cuz I often do... but I think this is as far as I'll go with this.