We all knew director David Slade could take on the violence.
Fresh off his vampire slaughterfest “30 Days of Night,” Slade joined the “Twilight” franchise to orchestrate a vampire war. And, yes, he plunges us into a gripping melee of superstrong beings. The squeamish should be glad that vampires don’t bleed when their heads and limbs are severed.
But who knew that Slade would prove just as adept at the smaller, quieter, more personal scenes?
It’s a good thing, too, because “Eclipse” is, arguably, the best of Stephenie Meyer’s four “Twilight” novels, with plot strands interwoven into quite the page-turner.
There’s the deepening romance between human Everygirl Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire heartthrob, Edward Cullen (heartthrob Robert Pattinson). She wants to become a vampire, too, so they can spend a teenage eternity together, but he says she should remain human longer — at least until he can make an honest woman of her.
Marry? At her age? Ugh, she thinks, and presses her chaste, old-school hottie for more than PG-13 kisses.
In the two previous “Twilight” films, Bella and Edward seemed more uncomfortable, more distant, even, sorry Kristen Stewart, just plain bored. But this time they’re not only passionate, they’re actually enjoying each other’s company.
For Team Jacob, there’s the tension of the love triangle, thanks to Bella’s werewolf best friend, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner, bare-chested for much of the movie, leading Edward to ask, “Doesn’t he own a shirt?”).
Jacob wants Bella all for himself, vampires be damned, and she’s tempted. He ignites jealousies that go beyond your basic competition over a girl; Bella is caught in a rivalry of sworn supernatural enemies.
Lautner, too, has progressed for this third installment, gritting his teeth, clenching his fists and convincing us of his pain as he pleads for Bella to choose him, not “the bloodsucker.”
And then there’s the specter of violent death, which the studio gleefully played up in the trailers (Romance? What romance?) in hopes of luring guys to the theater. News of a murder spree in nearby Seattle has pierced Bella’s peaceful town of Forks, Wash.
Gangs? A serial killer? Worse: an army of out-of-control “newborn” vampires, recently created by the vamp Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) to avenge the death of her lover, James. (How dare those Cullens kill James in the first movie just because he was trying to murder Bella!)
Can Edward and his family save Bella (again) as well as their own alabaster skins? Can they persuade the wary werewolves to become their allies and crush the invading horde?
Slade and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg smartly go beyond the book, using scenes culled from Meyer’s new novella about a minor vampire character, “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner,” to portray the growing menace, to make us feel the tension as we see what’s coming.
And yet the night before the enemy is due to arrive, Slade deftly switches tone. As Bella sleeps, hidden away in a tent in the mountains, Edward and Jacob have a believable heart-to-heart, showing grudging respect for each other — and nuanced feelings.
In short, the film’s arsenal of action and emotion makes “Eclipse” the best “Twilight” movie yet.
‘ECLIPSE’
★★★
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