The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Series reviews: Twilight (2008), The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part I (2011), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II (2012)

In the third installment of the hugely successful Twilight Saga series, we find Victoria plotting to avenge her mate’s death by assembling a massive army of newborn vampires from the rainy streets of Seattle. With the ever-increasing number of deaths and mysterious disappearances, the Cullens soon realize Victoria’s intentions and become determined to protect Bella at all costs.

Even while the war of vengeance closes in around her, Bella has her own emotional turmoil in choosing between Edward Cullen and Jacob Black. Both young men deeply love her and refuse to easily surrender her to the other.

With a third director at the helm, David Spade does a good job in creating a well-paced movie. Thankfully, he calmed down the pale makeup of the vampires and did not make the movie overly violent, though he easily could have. While most of the cast returns, Taylor Lautner steals the show this time around, with the other two leads looking slightly bored on screen.

The film isn’t made for newcomers, as they’d likely be confused or even bored. Not much background information is given on the Quileute wolves. However, on a pleasant note, Rosalie’s and Jasper’s background stories are told with provided flashback, giving more personality to their characters.

Objectionable Content

The violence and sensuality have increased in the third installment. While some might consider them mild by today’s standards, it’s important to note—especially considering the film’s target audience is primarily within the teen demographics.

Violence: Due to the building of the newborn vampire army, there are more instances of violence. Near the end of the film, there is battle scene between the newly born and the joined forces of the Cullens and the Quileute wolves. There are several snappings of necks, a few decapitations, and, in one scene, a vampire’s arms are ripped off. The Quileute wolves aggressively attack vampires by biting them and dragging them off. During the battle, the Cullens show mercy on an innocent girl who had been with the newborn vampires. However, she’s soon executed; she screams as the screen fades away. One person stabs herself to serve as a sacrifice.

In one scene, the newly converted vampires are shown around a body, implying they’re draining the victim. Several characters scream and writhe in pain. One vampire corpse is set on fire. With all this said, director David Slade kept it relatively tame in turning the camera away, leaving the killings mostly to the imagination. Since the vampires have no fluids, there’s very little blood shown with their dead bodies—appearing more like shattered statutes.

Sensuality: In the novels, Bella and Edward share much more attraction than portrayed in the first two films. However, in this most recent installment, Edward and Bella’s sensual tension heavily increases. Bella and Edward share extra kisses, though they mostly remain sweet, except for one which occurs in Edward’s bedroom. Alice arranges for the young couple to spend the night alone at the Cullen’s house. When Bella remains speechless, Alice mischievously smiles and says, “You’re welcome!”. That night Bella begins to kiss Edward on the bed, unbuttoning his shirt. Eventually he stops her, stating that he wants to wait until marriage. She tells Edward that she wants him and thought he wanted her to have every human experience.

While he does reveal he wants to, he feels sex would be too dangerous. While he reminisces about what his era considered appropriate standards, it’s stated or at least heavily implied that the idea of waiting until marriage to have sex is considered to be “ancient” and “not modern.”

While they do remain sexually abstinent, it’s mostly credited to Edward’s chivalry in denying Bella’s advances. If he hadn’t stopped their kissing, it would’ve likely led to their having sex. While stopping is commendable, parents should discuss with their children that all sexual immorality, even hints of it, should be completely avoided. In Thessalonians 4:3, Paul wrote:

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality.”

While it’s important to avoid too much plot revelation, some potential spoilers will be made in this paragraph, for those who have never read the books. Throughout the film, Jacob remains mostly shirtless. In one scene, Jacob forcibly tries to kiss Bella, and she punches him. On a positive note, he confesses this to Bella’s father. While hiding in the snowy mountains, Bella begins to shiver uncontrollably. Since Edward is ice cold himself, he reluctantly allows Jacob to lie down next to Bella and cuddle her. She briefly lies against his chest, and he jokingly states that it could go a lot faster if she took off her clothes. She then falls asleep next to him. Before going off to battle, Bella and Jacob share a rather passionate kiss. Victoria, also, shares an aggressive kiss with the newly converted vampire Riley.

Other potentially objectionable content: Rosalie speaks of her past and how she got attacked. In the flashback, one sees her drunk fiancée and his friends. He briefly puts her hand underneath her collar. However, it never mentions the word rape or shows any scenes of the attack. And when she mentions she got her revenge on her attackers, it only shows her evilly smiling at her ex-fiancee in a wedding dress. While speaking of his past, Jasper is shown snapping a young boy’s neck.

Marriage is discussed multiple times throughout the film. While Edward views marriage in a positive light, he’s the only one. Bella states it is simply a piece of paper and two-thirds of people end in divorce. She says getting married at her young age might mean that she got “knocked up.” When she asks her dad if he still sees value in marriage, he says he does and assumes she might be pregnant. He then tells her to be “careful” while being physically intimate. He feels awkwardly relieved, when she states that Edward is old-fashioned and that she’s still a virgin.

Language: There are about seven instances of cursing with the milder profanities such as hell and d*mn.

On a positive note, Bella’s parents make several remarks about how unhealthy their daughter’s relationship with Edward is. Charlie encourages her to spend time with her other friends, and her mother states that the two are like magnets.

While lower in objectionable content than the average movie, “Eclipse” is still much more violent and sensual than its two predecessors. Parents should heed the PG-13 rating. Considering the squeals, giggles, and applause which emerged from the theatre’s female audience, one can make the safe assumption that this movie can definitely be influential on a teen’s perception of an ideal relationship, especially with the thought of two handsome guys fighting over a girl. Parents should take the time to speak with their children about the good and bad of the relationships portrayed in the film.

Violence: Heavy to extreme / Profanity: Mild / Sex/Nudity: Moderate

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

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