"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse"
Richard's review: 3 ½ stars
Werewolves, Newborns and Vampires. Oh my. The second to last of The Twilight Saga, "Eclipse," is jam packed with supernatural creatures, a revenge plot, a love triangle and teen angst. At a solid two hours, it's filled to overflowing with the deep, dark gothic romance that made these movies a must-see for every teenager on the planet. It's also the most cinematically satisfying instalment of the franchise so far.
Love is complicated but particularly when you are a human in love with a vampire and a werewolf. Part three of the saga finds Bela (Kristen Stewart) forced to make a decision between her love for Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and her deep friendship—and possibly love—for Jacob. Meanwhile the flame haired vampire Victoria wants to avenge the death of her lover James at the hands of Edward, so she puts together a vicious army of newborn vampires to seek out and destroy not only the Cullen family, but Bela as well. War is waged, declarations of love are made and the climax is something the Twihards have been anticipating for some time.
Unlike Harry Potter, another teen oriented literary adaptation, the Twilight story is mostly self contained—there is a back story, but the movies pretty much stand on their own. There are some odd moments and a reference or two to the Volturi that might leave non-Twihards scratching their heads but then again, very few of the unfaithful will probably ever see this movie.
Like Harry Potter, Twilight begins and ends with its characters and luckily for us the characters are evolving as the story continues. Not to worry Twihards, brooding is still the main sentiment on display, but for the first time Edward and Jacob make self aware jokes! As Bela and Eddie approach a half naked Jacob the vampire says, "Doesn't he own a shirt?" OK, it's not a great joke, but given the amount of press Taylor Lautner's abs gets, it raises a smile. Later when Jacob throws down the double entendre, "Let's face it, I'm hotter than you," Team Edward may not laugh, but it is a funny line.
The guys may have lightened up a tad, but Bela still embodies the spirit of the Twilight story. When she says, "I've always felt out of step," she's speaking for every teenager in the theatre suffering from a bad case of the terrible teens. That one line explains much of the popularity of these stories. Teens, and in some cases people who remember what it was like being a teen, know how raging hormones can make you feel misunderstood, like an outsider. It's one of the keys to the success of the series; it understands its audience.
It is also one of the few teen oriented films with a prudish attitude toward sex and sexuality. It's about romance, and something else you don't hear about very often these days, chastity. Turns out Edward is old fashioned, which I guess comes with being over one hundred years old, and refuses to have sex with Bela before marriage. It's too late for his soul, he says, but he can protect hers by NOT taking her virtue. It's a quaint idea, one probably more at home in a Victorian novel than a popular 21st century entertainment, but it strengthens the romance aspect of the story.
"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" is a bit talky—these characters talk about everything before they actually act—but nonetheless is the near perfect mix of teen angst, romance and crazy supernatural action.
"The Last Airbender": 0 stars
M. Night Shyamalan has said "The Last Airbender," in theatres this weekend, will be the first of a trilogy. A mix of action and spiritualism it will be, he says, his "Lord of the Rings." I'm here to tell you, this ain't no "LOTR." It's barely "Police Academy" standard, let alone anything that could be compared to Peter Jackson's richly layered epic.
The story begins with the discovery of Aang (Noah Ringer) a young boy with a distinctive tattoo marking his head and back. He's been frozen in a block of ice for one hundred years and is unaware that the evil Fire Nation has waged a war on his home, the Earth Kingdom. Along with his new companions, Katara (Nicola Peltz), her brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), he flies around on a large creature that looks like a "Where the Wild Things Are" reject, fighting for the land and trying to stay one step ahead of Prince Zuko (Dev Patel) a disgraced royal who thinks capturing the boy will restore his honour. You see, Aang is the last of his kind. He's the Avatar, the only person alive with the ability to "bend" all four elements. Unfrozen Avatar boy would be an asset to the Fire Nation army, but it is his destiny to supply order to his war torn world.
Based on an animated television series, "The Last Airbender" struggles to wedge three seasons worth of "bender" mythology into a ninety minute movie. To bring the audience up to speed Shyamalan provides endless exposition. In fact, there is very little dialogue in the first hour that isn't setting up the history, motives and abilities of the characters. Conversational it isn't. It's a lot of "What is the spirit world grandma?" and "Aren't there spirits here?" followed by long winded explanations delivered with a gravitas that wouldn't be out of place in a community theatre production of "Sweeney Todd." Add some narration and location intertitles to the questions and exposition and its obvious Shyamalan has broken the golden rule of filmmaking—show me don't tell me. He shows us plenty, but unfortunately tells us even more.
He isn't aided in the storytelling by a wooden cast of young actors who seem to have been hired more for their athletic ability than their acting chops. Even Dev Patel, such a winning presence in "Slumdog Millionaire," is reduced to spending most of the movie simply screeching and glowering. When the other acrobatic actors aren't over emoting they spend their time engaged in an elaborate game of Rock, Paper, Scissors battling with earth, wind and fire, the elements, not the funk band, to win control of the Earth Kingdom.
Even the murky 3D doesn't add much, once again proving that stereoscopic images cannot rescue a weak story or mask poor acting.
"The Last Airbender" is my first seatbelt movie of the season -- that's a movie so misguided, so off the mark, you need a seatbelt to keep you in your chair for the entire movie. Shyamalan really should have released the movie at Thanksgiving because it's a turkey -- but you won't want a second helping.
