I finally gave in. I did the morally unthinkable. I left behind all of my ideals of strong movie-making and stellar writing skills. I watched the third movie in the Twilight series: Eclipse.
Why did I do it? I have to admit, peer pressure when it comes to summer blockbusters is extremely influential in my movie-watching decisions. And as someone who loves to watch the movie remakes of novels, I thought it would be worthwhile to get this one out of the way. As I had expected, the third movie was only a slight notch better than the previous remakes, and contained just as much of the sappy, lovey dovey, cheesy lines of love that only tweens would swoon over.
The one thing that I did appreciate, however, was the heightened attention to the direction of the film. The fight scenes were actually a bit exciting and a lot of the camera angles provided for much more comfortable viewing. Of course, as good as the direction could get, the acting would stick it right back down to its mediocre level. The close-to-sex scenes were unbearable to watch; the wincing scenes of opening up about inner feelings were literally uncomfortable.
But, I can admit that I chose to see the movie–mostly out forgetfulness–much later than it’s opening weekend, so the theater was much smaller, the audience was much less engaged, and the screen was a few feet shorter than the size needed to really pull you into the scenes. As with all opening day screenings, I’m sure that the excitement in the theater would have brought about much different viewing sensations that I paid $10.00 for today. To give the series as much credit as possible, I’ll promise myself now to try to suck it up and stand in line among the annoying tweens of today to experience the movie at its potentially best.
