As I told my friend Rob, "Knight and Day" is one of those movies that is slowly but surely chipping away at my desire to see movies. It's not that it was a bad movie. It's not that it was without it's moments of humor or action. It's fault was that it was bland. It is a poor copy of what has already been done. I hesitate to recommend the following, because it has faults of its own, but "Grosse Pointe Blank" is the king of this genre. The everyday guy who is really something different and the innocent woman who is in love with the everyday guy, or is she in love with the bad boy? They're both the same guy so it doesn't matter, right? Anyways, "Grosse Pointe Blank" truly understands what is interesting about this pairing, and the relationship is the focus of the film. Here in "Knight and Day", plot devices, action scenes and a poor attempt at witty dialogue are all we're really given. Sure the action was good. Sure Tom Cruise is a smooth action hero, one of a kind. But I want "Mission Impossible 4", not some generic genre retread to hold me over. Have you ever noticed that when I spend most of the time talking about another movie, most likely it's because I don't want to talk about the movie I'm supposed to be writing about?
There is nothing I can compare last night's experience to. As I looked around, I could count the number of men in the crowd with my fingers (on one hand). A Taylor Lautner cell phone screen saver to my right. A small group of women huddled around a laptop screening of "New Moon" one row ahead of me. Excitement in the air. "Do you know what trailer we get to see before the movie starts?" I hear from a couple rows away, and then oohs and ahhs as the questioner reveals "the new Harry Potter!" Of course conversation then turned to the travesty over splitting one book into two movies, which of course led to the a conversation over the far deeper travesty of splitting the final "Twilight" into two movies. Yes, there I was waiting for the midnight showing of "Twilight: Eclipse" My sister Jill and her friend fit right into the faithful fans waiting for the movie to finally begin. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I prepared for this moment a while back by watching the previous two films on DVD. I will admit to you, and not easily, that I actually liked "Eclipse". First let me say that I am fully aware that the energy of a midnight crowd and viewing the movie in a theater are automatically going to give any movie and advantage. The added fact that I was with my sister, and I knew how excited she was must also be considered. All of that aside, I believe that I am able to achieve some level of objectivity when watching any movie, and I can say without any hesitation that I did like the movie and it was by far the best of the three. One of my main complaints about the previous two movies was an apparent lack of self awareness. What I mean by that is that the subject matter is pretty far fetched, and even withing the context of the legends it deals with, it has broken quite a few rules. Some may feel that "Twilight" is "redefining" what vampires and werewolves are, but I am of the opinion that "watering-down" is a better way of stating that point. Finally this move acknowledged that vampires don't have blood pumping through their veins, they are cold, lifeless creatures. The exchanges between the main vampire Edward and the werewolf "Jacob" finally seemed real, instead of controlled by the plot. Even Bella's explanation for her stubborn position felt understandable to me. Instead of just being a girl who wants to be a vampire, I finally got the sense that this is a decision that she has made for herself. Everyone around her knows that it is the wrong decision, but with the limited perspective on life that she has, it is right in her mind. On top of those previous points being addressed, I also liked that the film makers took the time to explain some of the side characters and their motivations a bit more. The last movie especially was so bogged down in back and forth territorial bickering, that having everyone "get along" for the most part was a nice change. I will also say that the special effects, although distractingly PG-13 were significantly better in this installment. At one point Bella gets to pet a wolf, a pretty big wolf, and I personally couldn't spot the line between real and effect. So in conclusion, if some girl tries to get you to see this movie with her, of course you'll want to say "Please, not another chick flick!" "Can't we rent a musical or something?" But when you're sitting there in the dark, you can secretly enjoy it, while at the same time earning brownie points for when the next Tarantino movie comes out...
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