Gordon & Barbara in Paris

Gordon & Barbara in Paris
Here's Looking at YOU

Monday, July 19, 2010

Twilight--ECLIPSE

Twilight: ECLIPSE--Directed by David Slade. With Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Gil Birmingham 1h:39m/ PG-13
(B) For starters, we decided to see this film with our eleven-year-old granddaughter, because she had been begging ANYONE in the family to be her chaperone. Her review, after viewing consisted of, “I loved it, but I liked the first one better.” I can halfway agree with her. I liked the first one better, but I didn’t really like either one of them. I didn’t like the first one enough to even see the second in the series. The problems are many. Most importantly, for me is that I was a BIG fan of the all-too-short-lived-television series, Moonlight with Alec O’Laughlin. This series combined action and an actual story with a love interest that had emotion. Eclipse had the passion and emotion of a dry turnip. Really, a love triangle with young people should not be so boring. The action with the special effects was the only redeeming factor. Sad to say, I give this one binocular and I am being generous.
(G) I have to say that I have been trying to give this saga a chance, because I know that many of my college-aged students, children and grandchildren seem to relate in some way to something, somewhere hidden, someplace in these films. I have always been a big fan of anything vampire, werewolf, or monstrous. This love goes all the way back to Lon Chaney Jr. days and reaches its pinnacle with Abbot and Costello Meets Frankenstein. Here’s what bothered me about Eclipse: You need substance to make a “saga.” Everything of interest was divulged in the first half of the first film. With Moonlight (mentioned above) we have the same basic conflict, but the story varies and new elements were added weekly. With HBO’s True Blood, we see witches, vampires and shape-shifters interacting from the unique perspective of awareness. In other words, they know each other exist and are merely trying to “get along.” With Twilight? It’s old hat, romanticism, and just not interestingly presented. Nothing ever really happens and the stylized direction makes every line spoken by the actors soporific—that means ,“tending to induce drowsiness” for those of you who want to improve your vocabulary. This one, at least had a final battle between shifters and vamps to look forward to, but it was not enough. I’ve seen all three of the Twilight films, so far and will likely see the fourth on my iPod, while walking on the elliptical machine to take my mind off of the fact that exercise hurts. If you use the films for the same purpose or are between the ages of eleven and eighteen, then there may be some redeeming value. 1 & ½ binoc.


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