Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Directed by David Slade and starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse has received a good review in Variety (subscription required to access the review), where Peter Debruge opines that "the pleasant surprise this time around is that the result finally feels more like the blockbuster this top-earning franchise deserves."
Debruge goes on to praise Slade, for he "clearly understands how to work with actors while also demonstrating a welcome competence in the action and melodrama departments."
Yet, the commentary contains no mention of the effectiveness of any particular performer. In fact, there’s no mention at all of Stewart, Pattinson, or Lautner, apart from having their names in parentheses next to those of the characters they play.
Author Stephenie Meyer gets put down a couple of times (e.g., "not much happens for the first 300 pages of Meyer’s novel"; "the poor scribe exhausts herself trying to find synonyms for ‘perfection’"), but screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg is commended for coming up with good moments not found in the "somewhat simple-minded source."
The special effects and Javier Aguirresarobe’s cinematography also receive kudos, whereas the "bad makeup, lifeless wigs and creepy contacts [are] the elements that disrupt the fantasy."
But wait. Aren’t those eyes supposed to be "creepy"?
Debruge concludes his first-paragraph summary with the following: "Summer release should reap Summit’s biggest yield yet." (Curiously — and perhaps fortunately — the cliche about action scenes bringing in more guys into theaters is left unmentioned.)
Eclipse opens in the United States and about a dozen other countries on June 30.
Also in the Eclipse cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Kellan Lutz, Xavier Samuel, Dakota Fanning, Peter Facinelli, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Ashley Greene, Elizabeth Reaser, Billy Burke, Daniel Cudmore, Anna Kendrick, and Jodelle Ferland.
In addition to: Charlie Bewley, Gil Birmingham, Kirsten Prout, Sarah Clarke, Christian Serratos, Chaske Spencer, Booboo Stewart, Julia Jones, Michael Welch, Kiowa Gordon, Bronson Pelletier, Alex Meraz, Tyson Houseman, Cameron Bright, and Catalina Sandino Moreno.
Photo: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (Kimberley French / Summit Entertainment)