30 Days of Night director David Slade oversees the penultimate installment of the supernatural saga and, though considerably restrained in comparison to his previous work, Eclipse benefits tremendously from Slade’s perspective. As sullen teenager Bella (now on the cusp of adulthood and still deeply in love with the equally sullen Edward) considers her impending initiation yet another threat to her security presents itself, forcing love rivals Edward and Jacob to form an uneasy alliance. Perhaps the main draw of the entire franchise is its conservative conception of love but the strange intensity of the relationship between Edward and Bella is often quite troubling. Their many professions of all-consuming love and grand romantic gestures may be difficult to stomach at times but Slade and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg’s adaption of Eclipse is at least brave and willing enough to explore the darker aspects of Meyer’s novel, and even makes the occasional quip at its own expense.
Words: Aoife O’Regan
