The Twilight Saga: Eclipse [Blu-Ray]

The wait is over. Twi-hearts everywhere can now enjoy Eclipse, the third instalment of The Twilight Saga, in the comfort of their own home with the options to pause, rewind and replay any Robert Pattinson scene of their choice as often as they like. Based on the third, and arguably best, novel in the series by author Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse finds heroine Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) finally making a clear-cut choice between vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (Pattinson) and werewolf maybe-more-than-just-a-friend Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). This ignites even more friction between the natural enemies, but they must put their differences aside, as Bella is in the most danger she's ever been in. Nearby Seattle is being plagued by disappearing people and inexplicable killings. Victoria (now played by Bryce Dallas Howard) is building an army of newborn vampires in order to finish Bella off and enact her revenge for Edward's killing of her James, "mate for mate." As the newborn vampire army approaches, Edward and Jacob join forces to save Bella, culminating in one hell of an epic battle. The special effects are stellar ― the wolf pack look even more terrifyingly gigantic as they fight alongside the Cullens to decimate the newborn vampires, who shatter as if they were made of marble, an attribute of vampires described many times in Meyer's books. While remaining true to the plot of the novel, director David Slade also provides more of a glimpse into Victoria's creation of her vampire army, giving more of a well-rounded perspective, rather than just the Bella perspective we are accustomed to in the books. Also, the flashback scenes of how Edward's adopted siblings, Jasper (Jackson Rathbone) and Rosalie (Nikki Reed), became vampires are excellent. Rosalie's flashback offers more insight into why she's been such a bitch towards Bella this whole time, but it's Jasper's past that parallels current events. Because he was involved in creating a similar army, he plays a key role in the film, as he's the only one who knows how to defeat the newborns. Eclipse definitely presents a challenge for the next film in The Twilight Saga, as the story that's been building since the first instalment reaches its climax here. Supplementary features on the special edition Blu-Ray disc include audio commentaries with Pattinson and Stewart, as well as Meyer and producer Wyck Godfrey. Also included is a six-part documentary, deleted and extended scenes, photo gallery and music videos from Muse and Metric.