REVIEW: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Jul - 01 | By: Josh Nelson | no comments.

After the disastrous New Moon, which took turgid tween melodrama to heretofore-unseen depths, David Slade’s Eclipse, the third instalment of the Twilight franchise was always going to benefit from lowered expectations. While the end result mightn’t inspire rapturous applause, it is a minor improvement.

The key problem with Eclipse, as with its predecessor, is that the film eschews any kind of character development in preference of repetitiously staged angst-ridden scenes of romantic confusion between Bella (Kristen Stewart), her vampire beau Edward (Robert Pattinson) and werewolf ‘friend’ Jacob (Taylor Lautner).

As a consequence, the drama that may otherwise have resulted from the impending attack of a ‘newborn’ vampire army on their small town is repeatedly offset by the film’s uninspired love triangle. Add to that a regressive gender subtext in which female sexuality is a constant source of anxiety and Eclipse begins to seem more like a highly conservative educational video than a salacious supernatural tale.

It’s perhaps for this reason why, in the midst of all the heated fan debate over whether Bella should ultimately ally herself with ‘Team Jacob’ or ‘Team Edward’, there isn’t even the slightest mention of her going for herself. And that’s more the shame.