Saga „Zmierzch”: Zaćmienie

A great candidate for the trash! :-)) I read the book in one breath, once, a while ago, and I know I can't read it again because I'm just not brave enough. I've seen the movie and my mind was running with phrases like "wind-up toys", "boring", "Hey, that was pretty interesting, too bad the next scene killed it", "I know those actors can act in there somewhere", "I wonder how much makeup that used up?", "Weren't the wolves prettier in the second one?" etc... I managed to get a hundred things done, I spent two days watching it, I could never have watched it in one go, I think I’d have to retire to warmer climates for my nerves. The dialogue is stupid, the way the actors say it makes it sound even stupider – it was good in a book, but as soon as someone says it out loud, you either blow your brains out or rupture your diaphragm. Bella has exactly the kind of qualities I can't stand, so I was praying the movie would change the script and kill her off – and of course that can't happen. They could also have killed Edward so he could die a virgin – it would have been such a perfectly tragic ending, ah well... A girl offers herself to you and you don't go for it? I understand you can control your hunger, but your sexual desire? Amen. But there's no point in discussing it, he's going to do it to her in the next installment anyway... :-D And unfortunately, it's not helped by the fact that I've come to loathe their brown contact lenses. Why the hell can't they finally, someday, bang something better out of this? Mission: Impossible (so I guess I'll call Tom... :-D). Btw: did you notice how, in the scene where the bad vampires come out of the water, it looks more like a zombie clan? ^^ (09.07.2010)

David Slade! A clear win and a big problem that this "emo-vampire" series has encountered. It's not a problem to spot the numerous scenes where Slade makes fun of the entire saga. Especially the cockfight over one ordinary girl is done with a detachment that even a serious parody could withstand. Then comes the perfectly "staged" action and the plus points climb high above the average. Yet when you realize that it takes up about 10% of the runtime, you are swept away by the most tragic love mating call in years. Especially in the last film, thanks to Weitz's ineptitude, you could giggle all the way through. Here, Slade’s attempt to make it serious goes severely wrong, making it all mostly an awkward and sad cramp as you sense the director being shackled by the script (or the book) and you suffer along with him. It also obviously didn't entice the fifteen people around me, as I heard an absolute minimum of amorous giggles and excited comments in the crowded movie theater. But I admit that I naively believed in it until the last moment. 2 ½. [this is the best - though at the same time the most boring - film in the series. You'll understand when you watch it in the movie theater]. (30.06.2010)

OK, David Slade is a fairly good director and he pulls the saga up in terms of execution, atmosphere and visuals, but there’s nothing he can do about the contents. Bella is a total antihero, or rather, an antihero posing as a hero. She doesn’t do anything, doesn’t want to do anything, everyone can be ripped apart around her and she just stares blankly. The fact that some young girls may take her as a model is a lot sadder and more dangerous than a boy taking Edward as a model. (29.08.2010)

I was dying of laughter for the third time. The overly serious vampires and constantly shirtless werewolves hate each other so much that they end up having a long scene where they argue about each other’s smells. Still, I appreciated that the film could laugh at itself at times, and it’s way more action-packed than the painfully awkward second one. That said, it’s still mostly about Bella loving Edward, who isn’t as dreamy as he was in the earlier films, while Edward loves her back, of course. And then there’s Jacob, who’s also in love with Bella, so they fight over her, act like idiots, and keep talking about their personal scents. Meanwhile, Jacob flexes his muscles and casually explains to Edward why he’s totally fine being half-naked in the cold. It was hilarious—I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. Honestly, I can’t believe I enjoyed the first movie back in the day. (28.11.2010)

A step forward, yet at the same time a light stepping in place. David Slade is a director who can best tame a problematic script, and thanks to excellent flashbacks and gripping action, he knows how to build anticipation for the finale. And yet he also suffers from having taken on this particular installment. Eclipse hurts in terms of plot progression. There is no crucial decision made or any action taken that would fundamentally change the situation. There is only one big battle, which is lucky to have attractive fighters on both sides. Though the third installment loses something by not having a solid face of its own (Twilight is a cold opening, Twilight: New Moon is an intimate melodrama), and in the very end it feels like a nostalgic installment with its battles in the mountains, it works great in this form. Even if Bella's doubts and decision-making sometimes get on my nerves. But I have never spit on the Twilight saga and it seems that I won't in the future either. So, we'll see each other at Twilight: Breaking Dawn. (30.11.2011)