Like my opinion matters... Eclipse (movie review)

While I planned on seeing Eclipse next week, I had no intentions of joining the opening day frenzy and seeing it at midnight with all the other hordes of people.. However, when I came home from work, I saw that there were tickets available for a special showing at 8:30 in the evening (a special old ladies night out!) and decided that it would be fun to go and be one of the first to see it.  It really doesn't seem right that the die-hard fans got tickets to the first showing weeks ago thinking that they would be the first to see it and then earlier shows were added even before the midnight showings...  But, right or not, I decided to take advantage of it !  A little excitement on a "work night"-- living on the edge, that's what I'm all about...Oh come on, doesn't seeing a movie on opening night AND staying up past 10:00 on a work night count a little towards living on the edge?

Because it was a special event, we had to wander around a little to try and find "Sara" who had our tickets.  We finally got directed across the parking lot to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point where the Twi-fest was going full swing.  I was more than a little amused to see that the Red Cross had one of their mobile vehicles there for donating blood at Twi-Fest.  Now that's creative thinking... I like it and so perfect for a vampire movie!  After getting our tickets from "Sara", we were concerned that it was getting close to showtime and that we would have seats right in the very front where we would have to crook our necks to see anything.  Surprisingly though, it wasn't crowded and we got our favorite seats in the first row of the back section.  The crowd wasn't quite as frenzied as the midnight crowds probably were, but everyone (and by everyone I mean primarily adult women with possibly 3 men in the theater) seemed excited.

Eclipse was my favorite of the book series--more of a love story, girl making important decisions about love and what she wanted out of life, and none of the depressing "I can't live without my man" stuff that was so prevalent in New Moon.  Plus, the build up in excitement leading to the big fight scene at the end..  I was looking forward to this movie more than the other two.  So, was I disappointed or did Eclipse live up to the hype?  It isn't often that a movie is described as "critic proof", meaning that everyone will see it regardless of what the movie critics have to say.

If I were Siskel and Ebert, I would give this movie a great big Thumbs-Up!  I really enjoyed it.  Technically, it was done better than New Moon which was light years better than Twilight.  Blockbuster status and a huge budget can improve a sequel dramatically.  The story line was good and seemed true to the book, although it's been a while since I read it.  And, there was a little more humor in this movie than in the first two...  I was glad to see that Edward made a funny comment or two this time--made him a lot more likeable in my opinion.  I always liked him in the books but had found less to like about him in the first two movies.

Some of my favorite lines from the movie... (might not be exact wording but fairly close)

Edward (about Jacob)-  "Don't you ever wear a shirt?"  Luckily for the women in the audience, he sure doesn't wear a shirt very often!

Jacob to Edward-  "You know I am hotter than you...".  (so true...)...when Bella was freezing in the tent right before the fight scene and needed someone to keep her warm.  Not that I'm a Team Jacob fan or anything... I'm still a bit neutral on that question. 

And Charlie (to himself after Bella tells him she is still a virgin).  "I'm starting to like Edward a little more". 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  I even stayed awake for the whole thing which is unusual for me in any movie and is usually a sign that the movie wasn't very good.  I fall asleep during exciting movies that I want to see and then stay wide-awake during movies that are so bad that I wish I could fall asleep.  But, this movie was well done, entertaining, and I'm glad that I went to see it on Opening Night. I think it lived up to it's hype.