Bella (Kristen Stewart) finally chooses between Emo vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and hunky werewolf/shape-shifter Jacob (Taylor Lautner) in the third chapter of Stephenie Meyer’s
Twilight Saga. Directed by the gifted David Slade (
30 Days of Night,
Hard Candy),
Eclipse is infinitely superior to last fall’s pedestrian
Full Moon, and quite possibly the best, most stylish
Twilight to date. Although the vapid Lautner continues to be a huge drain on the series (I’ve seen better acting in middle school Christmas pageants), Slade proves that bigger can sometimes be better. This film’s more extravagant budget and improved CGI effects and production values finally give the Summit Entertainment franchise the properly epic (read:
Harry Potter-ish) feel it’s been striving for all along. I just wish that the dialogue, most of it lifted directly from Meyer’s books, wasn’t quite so tin-ear. ***
