The beginning was great, full of suspense, everyone was on the verge of their seats, even my hubby said that is was very well done and typical DS work.
I’ll take it now in order:

Directing: good, but was expecting much much more from DS. I’m sorry, but after having seen “30 days of night” I was expecting sooo much better quality from DS. The movie is filled with close-ups of the character speaking, Bella, Edward, Jacob, Alice, Jasper, Jessica, Mike, Charlie, Riley, Victoria. Some of the close-ups are ok, some are just ridiculous and show even more the make-up and the lipstick and the weird contact lenses. They give you this feeling of claustophobia and make you cringe when the person looks all wrong. The perfect cinematic sequences of the Forks forest and lake and the mountains were great, but they are in fact the work of that Aguesarobe guy who was also on NM in charge with photography and image stuff, and not DS. Did anyone else notice how shaky the camera was in the garage with Jacob? I thought i was getting dizzy from the excitement and asked hubby if the camera is shaking, he said yes it does. What was that all about? Like some amateur filming there.
Loved the fights, especially the training sequence, just perfect!! Pity these scenes were so short compared to the length of the movie. They get us all warmed up for the BIG fight and when it happens, it’s over in 5 minutes….left me high and dry. The whole thing with vampires that get shattered like ice was original, but stupid. Vampires are like stone or marble, not cristal or glass. It was hard to swallow the diamond skin already and I finally have, but now the shattering glass thing too, Jeebus! they are not breakable, they are tough, and they can put themselves together (that was another thing they did not show at all and that bugged me)! I liked the feral, violent side of vampires finally being shown, and the back stories. It brought a bit of the darkness surrounding the vampire myth into the movie, that was perfect!

Overall the movie was really fast paced. On one side I loved this, I just hated the beginning and middle of NM that dragged on and on, on the other side I felt at times overwhelmed by all the action, and had the impression that if I blink I’ll loose something. I was craving for some scene where I could catch my breath a bit LOL.

So directing, let’s say 6 out of 10 for me. A bit above average, but not by much.

Acting – all played better than NM, you can see they feel much more at ease with their characters. Jasper was the big revelation for me, he was great, funny, loving, beautiful, the wig was great…..loved, loved, loved him.

Characters and story – oh boy, this is it, no? the big red card!!!!

Ok, I’ll start with the obvious for me: there is no chemistry between anyone in this movie. I looove the Twilight saga just as much as anyone else on this site, but I did not feel any chemistry at all, none, zero, zilch, nada. I DID saw feelings: Edward loves Bella, clear as daylight, Jacob loves Bella, blinds can see it, but you know, the CHEMISTRY was missing. That tingle from Twilight when they just look at each other and you feel butterflies in your stomach and goosebumps on your arms and your heart just goes faster…yep, it was not there. Not even in the leg hitch, and not in the proposal scene. Jacob has the hottest kiss of the movie (I will vote for best kiss for the next MTV awards) but still no chemistry! I don’t know why, can’t put my finger on it, everyone did their job well, but it wasn’t there

Second fault: Edward. He does not look 17 any more, sorry. And I always imagine Eddward as being 17. It’s me, I know, poor Rob is not to blame. In some of the scenes his make-up was again exagerated like in NM, I just hated the lipstick!!! loved him in the meadow scene at the end, much more natural ans sooo beautiful and gorgeous, *sigh*.

The only very very good interaction I felt in this movie was the conflict between Edward and Jacob. It was perfectly played, it was fun to watch, it was a natural, it was perfect. When Edward kisses Bella in front of Jacob, a guy sitting behind me said “yeah, the only thing missing now is that you piss all over her to mark your territory” and everyone laughed, because it was trully the next thing left for him to do. It was very very well played in the movie, and I looved it.

Third thing: Bella. I have no problem with Bella leaving Edward to go on the bike, or telling him “don’t”, but it was not right that she did not cry or faint or SOMETHING when Jacob was hurt. It was all wrong and made her seem cold hearted. The scene at the end was epic fail. Bella wants to become a vampire because of Edward. Then, in BD, when she becomes a vampire she realizes that she belongs in that world, that she fits into the vampire universe so much better than in her human life. But that is in BD and not Eclipse!!! MR just does not like the idea of a woman doing a sacrifice for a man, so she changed it. I am very much for girl power and I have to fight for my rights very often because I work in a type of job where man rule, but I guess this just shows that this woman is just not certain of her feminity and she’s afraid we’ll loose everything if she admits that Bella does this for Edward. Melissa, showing a bit of heart now and then won’t make you loose your power, on the contrary! you can be feminine and be in charge of your life.

ok, last part, the worst for me, the most horrible thing of the movie and it made me cringe and wish it was over faster….oh god, you’ll just hate me hon, but please please don’t, I feel already so bad about it…well, it was the proposal. Or much more edward’s refusal to make love to her before marriage. the whole “drinking ice tea and I would have stolen a kiss and asked your hand from your father bla bla”. Oh dear Jeebus, have mercy! they did not do that in 1918, let’s be serious. Maybe they did it in 1866 before the Secession war or something, but come on, in 1918 things were getting pretty loose….or even if it’s not the case, it was just awful. First I had the impression Edward was gay or impotent (Bella wants to make love and he stops just like that, come on, girls, let’s be honest, who would stop???), then when he was ranting on about the marriage I had the impression he was from some sect or cult and trying to persuade Bella to join in. I hated the whole scene, it was horrible…I have read the books and yes, it went pretty much that way, but I pictured it so lmuch different in my head…

Ok, last thing I would like to observ about the movie, is the way the Quileutes are depicted. If someone who has not read the Twilight books watches this movie he will understand that the Indians are poor, have no clothes, live in some shabby barracks and don’t have much education (Seth is having private lessons or something at home). while the Cullens go to school, have lots of money, drive the best cars, have the most elegant clothes and a dream house. If I would be a native American I would definitely complain about it.

Probably now you are thinking, did she like anything at all?
yes, I liked the Jacob/edward scenes, the tent scene was perfect! I loved the J/B kiss, hot. I fell in love with Jasper. I found alice/Jasper very cute and sweet. I loved the back stoires and the training a lot. The music was mind blowing and all songs put in the right places. When Jacob first appears on screen in front of the school, that music just gave me the feeling that I have to jump up from my seat and clap my hands. Howard Shore – epic!! The music from the J/B kiss and jacob on the bed, fitted like a glove! Edward was great in some scenes, hot as hell (snif not all). I liked this movie more than NM, but not more than Twilight. I guess the first one will always stay my favourite. I will go watch it again, maybe things will change after a second view.

I do hope you’ll not be mad at me or sad about my comments. I’m sorry if I was rude sometimes, I just got so pi***ed off at some point…..I know the movie is not the same as the book, but some things were so much changed it was not even Twilight saga anymore…*cough Bella at the end decaration “it’s not about you”*

So hon, how was it for you? what did you like, what did you not like? was it better than TL? than NM? tell me all about it!