How Eclipse got me interested

The inaugural ceremonies for President Noynoy Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay last Wednesday was almost eclipsed by a Hollywood movie that had to be titled, well, Eclipse. Yes, like every moviegoer anywhere in the world knows, this is the third installment of The Twilight Saga and it opened in Metro Manila theaters right on the day Noynoy was sworn in as the new leader of this nation.

I never had a bandwagon mentality — choosing usually the path less taken — but I myself felt the Eclipse fever on the eve of its opening day, June 30 (which, good for the film’s local distributors, was declared a holiday).

Last Tuesday night, simultaneous Eclipse premiere nights were held from north to south of the metropolis. The biggest event, however, was held at the Block of SM North EDSA: A celebrity premiere that featured kapuso artists walking down the red carpet of SM Cinema 4. Since SM Cinemas now has a tie-up with GMA 7, the staff of Startalk was tasked with putting up the show that preceded the screening. Assigned to host the short program was this writer and among my chores was raffling off Eclipse shirts, courtesy of Anti-Fit and Devant. To provide moral support to that evening’s affair, GMA Films president Annette Gozon and GMA 7 program boss Joey Abacan made a trip to SM Cinema even if it rained hard shortly before the screening. I asked lawyer Annette if she was for Team Edward or Team Jacob. Well, she’s for Team Edward — like most other female celebrities I asked during this star-studded affair. That’s all right, Jacob — you have the nice abs anyway.

Outside the cinema was a buffet spread prepared by Gerry’s Grill in SM North EDSA and I thought it was wonderful to rediscover its food since I was among its earliest patrons when it first opened in Tomas Morato — when the place didn’t even have air-conditioning (now it has several branches).

To keep myself off the Gerry’s Grill buffet table (the bread used for the club sandwich is the tastiest) since heaven knows I should really be counting calories by now, I decided to keep busy by ambushing the celebrities who attended the premiere night and I discovered who was dating who. During those interviews, I stumbled on the fact that a possible romance could bloom between a beauty queen and a Brazilian hunk. I also found out who among the StarStruck survivors are dating and those they had already dumped. Most shocking was this seemingly May-December affair (more like July-December since the age gap isn’t that wide) between a female showbiz talk show host and a young StarStruck finalist. To find out their identities, you have to tune in to Startalk this afternoon where you will see how some of them had turned red being assaulted on TV regarding their budding romances (with a couple already almost in full bloom).

Originally, I had no plans of watching Eclipse since I didn’t think it was created for people of my generation. At least, that was how I felt when I watched Twilight and I only sat through it as part of my job as film reviewer. The sequel New Moon — I totally passed up.

However, since the Eclipse fever was so intense, I became curious and decided to watch it anyway — and so that I don’t feel left out since everyone’s talking about it.

The setting is still in the Washington state, which I’ve always found so clean and picturesque and so that to me was already a bonus in terms of visual delight. I also appreciate the back stories that accompanied some of the characters supporting lead actors Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen) and Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black).

Of course, I still find the romantic angle a bit sappy, but that’s just me since I’m not particularly a fan of love stories. The love triangle surely helped get me interested in it — if only because of the new dimension it offers (I like the confusion in the head and heart of Bella).

But I definitely appreciate this new Eclipse edition of The Twilight Saga because of there are more action scenes and those fight scenes between the vampires and those huge werewolves are totally exciting and would keep you at the edge of your seat. Those suspenseful moments featured in this new film will be appreciated by all types of audiences, especially those who like excitement in their movies.

With this new installment the Twilight creators had added another generation of followers to include mine. So when will they finish Breaking Dawn? Even the old folks are now waiting.