The Philippine Online Chronicles

The latest installment of the phenomenal Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse, has finally arrived. Like thousands of Twi-hard fans who even camped out for days to catch the red carpet premiere of the film in Los Angeles, Pinoy fans braved Tuesday night’s monstrous traffic jams in Metro Manila and trooped to various cinemas to catch its midnight opening.

Eclipse picks up where its prequel New Moon left off, with Bella Swan and Edward Cullen facing the challenges of a love story between a mortal and a vampire as Bella counts down the days to her transformation. With her decision to change into a vampire set after her graduation from high school, Bella now has to contend with her impeding separation from her human family, as well as the other man in her life, Jacob Black. Edward's dislike for Jacob runs deeper than their rivalry for Bella: he is a part of the werewolf pack, archrivals with the Cold Ones.

In not-so-distant Seattle, a series of unexplained disappearances and deaths baffle policemen, including that of a Forks local, Riley Biers. While the authorities are at a loss, the Cullen family becomes acutely aware that a breed of newborn vampires is behind it all. What they cannot figure out, however, is who made them and for what reason. However, after Alice has a vision that reveals their purpose, which is to hunt down Bella, the Edward and Jacob must put aside their differences to protect the woman they both love.

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Fire and Ice

In the story, Bella has to choose between the warmth of fire, or life as a warm-blooded human being, and the coldness of ice, or life as a vampire, frozen in time forever with the love of her life, Edward Cullen. Bringing the character to life is Kristen Stewart. While she has starred in many other Hollywood films, such as Panic Room, The Messengers, and Adventureland,  her role as Bella Swan has been her biggest break. She won the MTV Movie Awards twice for Best Female Performance and shared the Best Kiss honors with her on-screen partner and off-screen boyfriend, Robert Pattinson.

Now considered a pop icon, Stewart admits that she still often finds herself bewildered by the attention she receives. In an article, she complained about how her every move is often monitored via popular social networking site Twitter. Because of her candid nature, Stewart found her foot in her mouth recently with comments she made likening the media intrusion in her life to a sexual assault. She has since then apologized for what she recognizes were “stupid” and “insensitive” comments.

Robert Pattinson returns to the big screen as Edward Cullen, the immortal vampire who falls in love with Bella. Off-screen, Rob Patts, as he is fondly known, finally admitted to the world that he and Stewart were dating in a recent interview with the Queen of Talk, Oprah Winfrey. Prior to the revelation, the pair vehemently denied their off-screen involvement, despite evidence proving otherwise. He still admits to struggling with the fame and notoriety playing Edward Cullen brings, but he is finding ways to cope with the transition from obscurity to being one of the most recognizable faces worldwide.

In an article, Rob Patts talks about what makes Twilight such an enthralling series for many of its fans. He highlights the fact that despite the intense relationship Bella and Edward have, they remain chaste and share no more than kisses in the series, as he put it, “The success of the Twilight books comes from the fact that fans can lust after Edward and yet, certainly in the first book, there’s no actual sexual contact between him and the series heroine. Twilight is a big metaphor for sexual abstinence…”

Completing the love triangle is Taylor Lautner, who plays the half-man, half-werewolf Jacob. After Twilight, rumors swirled as to whether Lautner would be asked to reprise his role or not, mainly because of his lackluster physique. However, fans were amazed by the transformation he went through, from a typical boy-next-door to a strong and buff wolf-man, which was no easy feat. “I trained a lot for about a year. I was in the gym five days a week. The main thing I couldn’t do was overwork myself. Because when I started, I was in the gym seven days a week. I realized I was losing weight and that’s not exactly what I was trying to do. Eating was the most difficult part,” he said.

While he and Edward are arch-enemies on screen, Lautner said in an interview that it is difficult to feel animosity towards Pattinson. "I can't look at him in the eyes and hate him...he's such a funny, nice guy."

The bloodsuckers

The Cullen clan is no ordinary vampire coven. Next to the Volturi, they are the largest and most powerful coven of vampires. However, unlike bloodsucking vampires, they boast of being “vegetarians,” feeding only on animal blood rather than humans. Leading the coven is Carlisle, played by Peter Facinelli. Accompanied by his wife, Esme, played by Elizabeth Reaser, they try to keep the façade of a typical family together with their children Edward, Emmett (played by Kellan Lutz), and Alice (Ashley Greene), as well as Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) and Rosalie Hale (Nikki Reed), their adopted children.

Reprising her role as Jane, a member of the Volturi clan, is widely acclaimed young actress Dakota Fanning.  While she had only one major scene in the film, Fanning expressed her excitement about being part of such a phenomenal series. “This is the first time I’ve ever gotten to play the same character in a different film. It was really great. I love playing this character, it’s such a fun character to get to play and being a part of all that is Twilight is such an honor and still kind of surreal for me. I feel so lucky to be a part of it,” said Fanning in an interview.

Playing the newborn vampire Riley is Xavier Samuel. Being a new addition to the cast was a bit intimidating for Samuel. He said in an interview that while it was so, he was “grateful to be accepted so warmly into the whole family. Everyone was extremely down-to-earth.”

One of the major changes in Eclipse was the recasting of the role of Victoria, which was initially played by Rachelle Lefevre in the first two installments. Fellow cast-mates Facinelli and Rathbone expressed sadness about the move to recast Victoria, but welcomed Bryce Dallas Howard to the fold as well. Herself a Twi-hard, Howard was thrilled to be part of the Twilight franchise.

Lefevre lost her role in the franchise due to scheduling conflicts which, according to reports, left her unable to peform her role as Victoria.

Breaking Dawn

While "Eclipse" is set to be one of this year’s biggest box office hits, the future for some of the Twilight Saga cast is unsure. Earlier this month, Summit Entertainment officially announced that Breaking Dawn, the final installment of the saga, will be released in two separate films, the first of which is slated for release in November 2011. However, pay disputes as early as now have caused delays in the production of the franchise. Reports indicate that Kellan Lutz and Ashley Greene are asking for a bigger paycheck for these last two films. Currently, they are under contract for only four films, not five.  While the support cast may be uncertain at this time, the main cast is set to close their respective deals for Breaking Dawn.

Eclipse is directed by David Slade and distributed by Summit Entertainment.

Photo screencap from clevvertv.