Honestly, despite all the hatred for them online, I don’t particularly mind seeing a Twilight film. The reason I couldn’t tolerate reading one of the books is that the prose and dialogue is so unfathomably terrible – but the films are expensively-made and nicely-shot, so the style of the writing doesn’t affect it. The screenplay goes through several drafts from professionals and, likely, committees, so the more laughable and badly-paced parts of the novels get excised or streamlined. There are usually inadvertently funny parts, and perhaps even some advertently funny ones. And whatever criticism and hatred they get from the cruel and spiteful internet, I like the main actors. I think I say this every time I see a film, but I’ve been interested in Kristen Stewart since she was in Panic Room (and even watched her in the dire Catch That Kid when I thought she’d be forever obscure), I loved Taylor Lautner in the surreal Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3D, and having read him expressive harsh disapproval for his character and for Stephanie Meyer in interviews, I’ve even started to like Robert Pattinson.
And it’s become really fun to read Dan Bergstein’s silly blogs on Spark Notes, picking apart each book chapter-by-chapter. His opinions are usually so close to mine that he really makes me laugh, and his quotes always remind me why I don’t want to actually put myself through reading these books. Through his detailed dissections, too, I can see the most ludicrous parts of the novels that don’t make it to the screen, like when some background werewolf character decides he’s fallen in love (only in a deeper, werewolfy-soulmatey way) with a two-year-old. Uh…huh.
Anyway, Eclipse begins soon after the end of New Moon. Bella has unceremoniously dropped the likeable if short-tempered werewolf Jacob to be with melodramatic, posturing and manipulative vampire Edward. This love triangle continues in this film, while the uninteresting evil vampire from the first film sets up a big scrap to provide some action, but let’s face it, what’s central to these films is always the soap opera. The first film was a long love story, with a pointless scrap tacked on. The second was another love story completely undermined by a very artificial crisis. This one was no different: it was a love triangle, smoulderinig away, with a very low-stakes battle added at the end for the sake of a semblance of a plot, all strung together yet again by some lame plot contrivances: psychic predictions, total lies about newborns being strong (actually fodder who can’t kill a single enemy) and a weak and pointless enemy with a masterplan that must have been written in crayon, and who was dispatched with great ease.
You watch Twilight for the relationships, and I actually found myself quite interested in this one. Until Eclipse, I was convinced Meyer was a bit bizarre and thought Edward was perfect, flawless and acting in a wonderful manner that would make her swoon. But with Eclipse, I became convinced she was setting Bella up for a revelation and a new maturity.
Competition for Edward means his flaws are exposed, and she really pushes them to the fore, and it seems to me she is using the aspects of vampires that are repulsive – obsession, stalking, belonging to another world and another time – and using them to create a character Bella will finally see is being abusive. He actually disables her truck to stop her seeing the guy he’s jealous of. He forbids her seeing werewolves because they’re dangerous, but doesn’t keep her away from Jasper, who actively tried to kill her. He gets possessive to the point of locking her up against her will, but doesn’t mention how he knowingly dumped her and left her exposed to the vampires hunting her in the last film, just as a huge overreaction to Jasper’s attack. I honestly thought that the whole film was showing Bella how terrible this relationship was. I thought her scene with Jacob after the really random night in the tent (which could easily have been in some house) was not only showing Bella her blind love was clearly falling apart, but showing old-fashioned Edward that his idealized romance was forever tainted.
Turned out I was wrong, and love, even deeply unhealthy love, transcends all barriers. It isn’t a meditation on the idiocies of immature teen love, but as its detractors say, pushes forward a warped idea of what love should be.
Yet…even fans of Twilight who can somehow ignore the most ridiculous parts and the awful, awful writing clearly aren’t all buying that this relationship is perfect. The existence of a ‘Team Jacob’ suggests a sizeable portion of readers at least were hoping for Edward to get dumped. On the other hand, I don’t really understand loving the books but hating Bella. The only real possibilities for the guys to be happy is for her to be happy.
I think the next book is the last one, or there may be some side-story thing. I have heard some pretty screwed-up things will happen, and I’m assuming the Volturi will be the ultimate antagonists, despite in this film being rather lame, looking good but sounding like their intelligence network is pathetic and being laughably inconsistent by proving their oh-so-evilness by prefixing a kill with ‘The Volturi do not give second chances!’…before giving Edward another chance to turn Bella…after having given them both second chances in the last film…oh well.
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