Book 2 Film 2

Bella Swan: Dear Alice, I wish I had your real address. I wish I could tell you about Jake. He makes me feel better. I mean, he makes me feel alive. The hole in my chest... well, when I'm with Jake it's like it's almost healed for a while. But even Jake can't keep the dreams away

After Edward leaves her because of a freak accident that nearly took her life, Bella isn’t sure what life is anymore. She is lost without Edward, and she feels like locking herself in her room is what she needs to do. She then realized during a night out that an adrenaline rush is what can help her see a vision of Edward. Bella comes up with a plan in which she asks Jacob to help her build a dirt bike. Yes Bella uses Jacob just to get a vision of poor pale faced Edward Cullen who left her. Jacob then reveals that he can’t be with Bella for fear that he will hurt her. It seems like everyman she chooses could kill her at any moment. Finally Bella is able to see Jacob for what he truly is, a werewolf who kills vampires, but cannot kill the Cullen’s do to some treaty. Then Alice returns and tells Bella that Edward Cullen has gone to the Volturi and is going to reveal himself because he thinks that she died. Bella is keen on rushing to his side even against the warnings from Jacob that Edward wasn’t there for her when she needed him.

Ok, now to actually talk about the film. I can honestly say I didn’t expect much, and anything that went right was a pleasant surprise. All though I will also state that not much went right with this film. Bella was moody, and Stewart was terrible, she had the same annoying expression the entire time Edward was gone. She did a terrible job of flirting with Jacob, she would pull away, lure him in, scowl terribly and then smile, lean in for a lip lock and scowl again. Terrible, I mean Kristen is a talented actor, she has shown the entire world that when she did Into the Wild, but I don’t think Bella Swan is the role she should have taken. I don’t think doing Twilight was the right career choice for any of these actors.

Jacob Black: It's because of him, isn't it? Look, I know what he did to you. But Bella, I would never, ever do that. I won't ever hurt you. I promise. I won't let you down. You can count on me.

When I read Twilight I liked the character of Jacob Black and I actually liked the way Lautner approached playing the character. He did an alright job with what he was given in Twilight. Then they talked about replacing him for New Moon because he wasn’t buff enough. He gained almost 30 pounds of muscle and took on the challenge of having a bigger part in a film that many young girls were really excited to see. I don’t want to say that Lautner is a good actor, because I’m afraid Twilight won’t be able to showcase his talent. I do believe that down the road, given the right role, given a few years to grow up he will be a good actor. You can see it in him. Jacob unlike Edward in the books and films originally comes of as sincere. Edward is constantly and relentlessly trying to push her away, but Jacob wants to be close to her, he wants her to rely on him, and as much as he thinks he should stay away he shows that he is human and that he can’t. You see S. Meyer is trying to give us a realistic love between Edward and Bella but by making him push her away she ultimately shows the audience that Jacob is the better of the two male leads. As far as male’s perspective goes, you can almost feel sorry for Jacob because any male who tries to win the affection of a girl and is rejected as felt his pain. Some may say yeah he is Taylor Lautner, big buff 17 year old any girl would be happy to date Jacob, but clearly from watching this film you can see Jacob feels pain just like any average Joe who walks the street. That is why Taylors performance was the most enjoyable in a film franchise that really needs to get better acting.

Edward didn’t play a major part in the film, he appeared mostly through flashbacks and that allowed Robert Pattinson sit back and take it easy. When Twilight was all said and done, everyone was in love with Pattinson but now that New Moon has come out, and Lautner was given his chance to shine, I really feel as though Pattinson can’t act at all. I gave him credit after Twilight, but after New Moon he just seems to be a lazy actor.

The CGI wolves were good, and many people knew they would be. With a bigger budget and fans really wanting to a see a good revealing of Jacob as a werewolf we knew they would put the effort into it. I just didn’t think they would look as cool as they did. The wolves were huge, bigger then an average animal, and they didn’t overdo the action, they only used it when they needed to.

I was impressed to some degree with Lautner but as film and as series these films are just average. There is no reason people are talking about Eclipse becoming the best film ever at the box office. As I did enjoy Lautners performance his performance was nowhere near the performances featured in the box office weekend champ The Dark Knight. Lautner, will never match Bale or Ledger, and for fans of Twilight to expect there precious Eclipse to be considered good because it could win box office is an understatement. The Dark Knight is the best film of the decade and Twilight is nowhere near as awesome or thought provoking. Twilight will remain slightly above average, New Moon slightly better than Twilight, and perhaps Eclipse could be the same. but Breaking Dawn will bomb at the box office if they don’t R rate it. They are going to cut the major scenes necessary for that film to be anywhere close to the book.

You see Twilight fans, you might be impressed that Taylor and Rob get half naked but really is that what going to the cinema should be all about. I have heard girls state that they won’t compare either Twilight or New Moon to their novel companions for fear of having to admit they are bad films or average films. I will give this film a 3/5 because of Lautner, and my liking for the character of Jacob Black, not because Lautner can take his shirt off, but because that doesn’t make the acting good. You see fans, try and identify something with these characters other than the fact that the leading male actors are constantly walking in the rain half naked.

A decent film, nothing more nothing less, take it face value and stop praising it for something it isn’t.


5/10