Movie Review - Eclipse

Whew - it did take a while! The latest of the vampire series was released in the last week of July and took its own sweet time reaching Thiruvananthapuram.

For those not in the know - Eclipse is the third in the series of movies based on the vampire series of books by Stephenie Meyer. It centres on a high-school student Bella Swan who moves to the rainy town of Forks in Washington to be with her father for a while. She meets and falls in love with Edward Cullen fully knowing that he is a vampire. To make things interesting, there is another love angle with the werewolf/shapeshifter Jacob Black and different vampire covens who try to kill Bella periodically if her clumsy self does not do the job first.

If you plan to watch the movie, be prepared to read the books first or at least watch Twilight and New Moon in that order. Otherwise you might find yourself wholly muddled by the plot.

As a movie, Eclipse does a good job of editing down the endless, agonising mind chatter of Bella down to action-packed sequences. Contrary to the book, the love scenes detract from the movie being conducted mostly sotto voce and leaving the audience straining to catch the dialogues - I was personally wishing for subtitles! The actions scenes and the locales are great and the climax is all that I could ask for. Dakota Fanning makes a wonderful Jane and her red eyes and calm face make a lasting impression. Kristen Stewart's body language is so tailor-made for the role of Bella that I was surprised she could be anything else in other movies of hers.

What has intrigued me the most about this particular series of vampire books and movies? I think it is the portrayal of the Cullen family who are a bunch of superheroes who ditch the diet of ordinary vampires to become "vegetarians" (drinking only animal blood - please don't tell Maneka Gandhi). They also differ from Dracula in that they don't turn into dust at the touch of a sunbeam and are not scared by a crucifix. I believe the vampires and becoming the vampire is the culmination of our fascination with makeovers - and we have come a long way since Cinderella. Becoming a vampire is the extremest makeover! Imagine not having to dye your hair, gulp down all those antioxidants and never having to have botox injections or facelifts - it could well be the ultimate Western dream makeover!It's funny that Ms. Meyer does not mention what happens to slighly obese people who become vampires - do they become automatically sleek? Anyway, I could take being a vampire like the Cullens - especially when I think that I won't have to worry about cooking and how my vampire speed will take care of house cleaning in a jiffy. Not having to sleep would be good too...

Would you like to be turned into such a vampire???