Twilight Eclipsed
The Twilight Saga excitement has been eclipsed a bit for me, by motherhood. I discovered the Saga the first time Sara Ellen spent the night away from me, three years ago. That week I was pretty obsessed, but Sara Ellen did just fine. She either played by herself, at the playground while I read, or snuggled up next to me. Since I’ve reread the books many times, discussed it with other grown women on the TwilightMOMs forum and kept up with movie news. I’ve cut back on these activities, since mothering two girls but also as my opinions have changed.
With the Eclipse movie, I saw the trailer and a behind the scenes video, but neither read nor watched anything else discussing the movie. I wanted to be surprised as much as possible. I reread the books about every six months. I don’t plan it, it get an itch to return to the story. And now we have Breaking Dawn Part 1 coming. I am excited about it but more as an fun event with friends.
Many have said that Eclipse is the best of the three Twilight movies so far. Do they say this as a reflection of better directing? If so, I don’t think it’s true. Eclipse is a different story than New Moon. Chris Weitz did a wonderful job showing with the sorrow and despair. David Slade did a fantastic job showing us the energy of the battle going on and the moments of conflict and joy with Jacob and Edward.
Many of the “new” scenes are those Bella hears about but doesn’t experience. Mr. Slade showed us those scenes faithfully and they were even realistically done. The Cullen’s didn’t look goofy running fast, they just did it. There was a bit of a new scene, we saw Riley attacked. I actually found it quite moving, terrifying, perhaps even heartbreaking to watch. And while I was sad to see Rachelle leave, Bryce did a great job as Victoria. I may actually have enjoyed the new stuff more than the main story and I think this has to do with the main actors.
I suppose every reader has a personal perspective of the story, understands characters a certain way, and differences bring disappointment. I see glimmers of Bella in Stewart, but much of the time I find her to be too gritty and often a little dull, not the gentle but stubborn, surprising and slightly infuriating girl I could see myself befriending. I don’t see enough of the joy they experience in their first love. The newness of this kind of relationship changed their individual perspectives on life which is integral to the story as is the influence of his not being human and the effect on his behavior.
The bonfire scene would be one of my favorites but the vampire couple doesn’t look at all like the beautiful creatures we’re used to. They are pretty creepy actually, more like the gruesome old movies types. The flashbacks are great, as is the training scene. I like Rosalie’s and Jasper’s changes, and their storytelling. As in the book, it’s nice to finally get a little more from characters who usually remain on the periphery. We see that Rose does “have a heart” and the joy that Alice brought into Jasper’s life. As we’ve come to expect, Charlie steals his scenes, he might be the most faithful to his character. The addition of Riley is great, because his change is so recent, you can see how the manipulation has turned him into a monster. Graduation and the party were fun, but how did Jessica come to be valedictorian??
Another movie, another director. More new hair styles, and vampire makeup I’m sure. More additional fighting. More grit and moodiness. I recently started watching Moonlight, the one-season-only tv show. Yet another about vampires, but from what I’ve seen, much better. The mythology is different but I think Mick St. John is a better creature than the Twilight movie creatures. Two months to go.
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