Monday, July 5, 2010

"Eclipse", a humdrum crowd-pleaser?

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
There's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart

Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart


Having switched side to Team Jacob after New Moon, I felt very much touched by the excruciating pain Jacob feels all through the movie. I have read the story and listened to the audiobook more than twice, and felt deeply attached with the emotion. The song ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, is in my opinion depicts how Jacob feels.

***
I’ve just seen the third installment of the Twilight Saga and despite many people’s accusation of the movie being overtly-publicized and mundane, I’d have to say I quite enjoyed the movie and you could say my being inevitably subjective is due to my infatuation towards the saga book and, most of all, the fictional character Jacob Black. Eclipse is by far, like what Aini wrote in her blackberry status, is the most watchable saga.. .

My husband, who very much dismayed having to see the movie when the quarter final of World Cup between Argentina – Germany was on, like many non-Twilight viewers, could not understand why the movie was a big success worldwide. So, I’d like to defend what he and many friends of mine have accused of this far from 5-star rating movie. I’ve got to admit that the movie is not top-notch and the excitement cannot be compared to Avatar or Harry Potter, nor has it superior cinematic elements that deserve appraisal from critics. Just like the previous two, it’s just – another hyped teen cult movie with a bunch of muscular guys and not so (oops...) handsome vampires, watched mostly by fanatical readers (and their boyfriends – or in my case, husband) to quench their infatuation towards Edward or Jacob. But guys, the movie couldn’t get any better than that! I mean, you should have blamed Stephenie Meyer for what you call a dreary movie, as the movie plot is exactly like the one in the book. Ok, with some deleted details, but it’s all based on the book.

The very essence of Twilight Saga, is an intense, transcreature love story, presented in stunningly appealing first-person point of view (and thus with a lot of monologues) despite the rather flat plotlines. So, if you find the movie boring, the blame should be administered to the author, instead of to the film maker. The movie couldn’t get any better! Tributes must be paid to scriptwriter Mellisa Rosenberg and director David Slade, who have done exquisite jobs for spicing up the movie with witty dialogues (“Everybody knows, I’m hotter than you,” is after all my favorite line.) and good special effects (especially the fighting scenes between the new-borns and allied forces of the Cullens and the werewolves).

What comes to my mind after watching Eclipse is: How are they going to set the mental fighting scene between the Volturi and Carlisle’s coven in Breaking Dawn without making it ridiculous? We Twilight Saga readers are deeply spellbound as our hearts throb hard reading the scene, but really, the last chapters of the fourth book is about mental fight scrupulously described in, again, Bella’s monologue. I doubt whether ‘the non-readers’ would actually get it. Let’s just see. As for the meantime, I’m looking forward to seeing the movie again.