A Total Eclipse...of the Heart

Finally. June 30 came at long last. And with it the third installment of the Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

Elizabeth bought online tickets the first day they were available on Fandango--not just for Eclipse but also for Twilight and New Moon as well--a triple feature all in the same theatre. We arrived at 6:10 PM, after eating in the mall and stopping by Hot Topic for Elizabeth to buy Eclipse merchandise (pins and bookmarks) and by WalMart for snacks. Outside the theatre we met up with a local Facebook friend who "friended" me from Sarah's New Zealand blog and her daughter. We walked in past the hall filled with people who started waiting at 11 AM just fifteen minutes before Twilight began at 6:30. We found excellent seats 3/4 of the way up the theatre and stayed there for the whole evening. There was a 20-minute intermission between Twilight and New Moon, and almost an hour between New Moon and Eclipse. But we were in the comfortable theatre seats the whole time, and able to come and go between films as much as we wanted. It was so lovely--so much better than sitting on concrete for over twelve hours.

And Eclipse was everything it was billed to be. Full of action and romance, it followed the book very closely and was very well-acted--by Pattinson and Lautner, anyway. Stewart still gets on my nerves for mumbling too much. Eclipse is my favorite of the four books in the series, having read it at least a dozen times (as I have all of them), and I was totally satisfied with it. More than satisfied.

But I think I might still prefer New Moon over Eclipse. Hmm....it's a close call. Perhaps after I've seen Eclipse a few more times it may surpass New Moon, but New Moon grabbed me--even haunted me--in a way that Twilight never had...mostly because much of Twilight sucked (both the writing and the acting). But better directors are doing more with the original actors, thank goodness.

Eclipse is full of great themes of family, self-sacrificial love, and no sex before marriage--at Edward's insistence. Those are some wonderful lessons for teens of our time. The love triangle of Bella-Edward-Jacob is dynamic, and we learn the backstories of the Quileute tribe, Rosalie, and Jasper. I was impressed by how much of the book was translated into the film, especially my favorite tent scene which was reshot just a few months ago and is a real standout in the film. And the action...WOW.

So...at first glance, I loved Eclipse. But whether it measures up to New Moon is still to be seen. But it might. It just might. I'll let you know for sure after I see it again next week with my daughter and my mom...whom we've also converted into a Twi-Grand-Mum.

If you wonder how a Christian can enjoy a tale about vampires and werewolves, please see my post on "Should Christians Read Twilight?"

Writing in the Twilight,