Sweet lord almighty it did not disappoint. To me at least, this was easily the funniest film of the series so far, because while Bella and Edward in the first film was funny, and Bella and Jacob in the second was much less so, somehow all three of them together are absolute fireworks.

Not because they suddenly have chemistry or anything, Bella is still dryer than the corpses of the whole Cullen family, Edward is still awkward and looks like he never wants to be there, and Jacob is now looking at a restraining order and a few years behind bars.

And yet again nothing happens for the first half of it...and yet, these two things are it's greatest strengths. The first half of the film desperately trying to come up with any reason it can to make some people think Bella will ever get with Jacob is hysterical, and when all three of them are in a scene together, hoo boy. Some of the most glorious casting ever, methinks.

Other than that, there is also some baffling directing and sound effects, the kind where you really have to wonder how it was even possible for something to be intentionally directed like that, the CGI is atrocious, the dialogue is as horrendous as ever, and basically, it's more Twilight. If that's what you want after the first two, then great.

And believe me, I did want more, cause I am genuinely having a blast with these abominations. Bring on Breaking Dawn.

It's been billed as the biggest film of the year and perhaps it will be, but it has some stiff competition from the likes of Harry Potter coming this winter, so let's see if Eclipse really deserves that prestigious title.

The vampire and werewolf love saga has been bitterly disappointing so far with a dull first instalment and a hideously depressing second. Add to this some excruciatingly painful running times of over two hours and you have death by celluloid.

But perhaps I'm being a little unfair; this third instalment has been based on perhaps the most exciting book of the four in the series so it already has a good starting point and some convincing performances from the actors really do make this film a huge leap ahead of what preceded it.

The storyline to this film is pretty much non-existent but director David Slade does a good job of turning zilch into another depressing, but well made two hour love fest. Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen),Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) and Taylor Lautner (Jacob) return as the three main leads and their love triangle becomes even more confusing this time around, with frowning faces and awkward kisses galore. Add to this an army of newborn vampires ready to rip the very flesh of Bella Swan's bones and it's getting pretty tense down in Forks.

Sadly, even with a whole army of vampires and werewolves fighting in the finale, this small increase in action doesn't take away from the fact that the film drags in more than one place with blocks of dialogue that feel as if they're going to last a lifetime. It's unfortunate as the action pieces look excellent and the CGI, especially in the werewolves has improved leaps and bounds between New Moon and Eclipse. This shamefully vain dialogue with unnecessary close-ups of Robert Pattinson's face, Kristen Stewart's eyelashes and Taylor Lautner's chest are surely there just to appeal to the female fans and do nothing to progress the story.

It is these main three characters that hinder the film; their stilted dialogue and mediocre acting overshadow the rest of the cast who are all superb. Newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard playing red head vampire Victoria is seriously underused along with the whole Cullen flock who are not given enough room to breathe between the heavy central dialogue. Their acting is fantastic, why not use them more? Thankfully, it isn't all tears before bedtime with some well-timed comic humour from Bella's dad, Charlie. Played by Billy Burke, he is the only character of the used variety that leaps off the screen and he does so well, playing to his strengths as an actor.

Overall, Eclipse moves the game on but only very slowly. David Slade has crafted a beautifully shot movie with some excellent action pieces; but it still remains dull as ditch water because of bland performances from the lead cast and chunky dialogue. It's bound to please fans but biggest film of the year? I think we'll be seeing a certain boy wizard holding that honour for 2010.

I don't hate the Twilight movies as much as others do, but I don't care for them either. The first was average, the second was pretty poor and the worst so far and while Eclipse is the best yet that isn't saying much. I haven't read the books the movies are based on, apart from a couple of pages of one which didn't spark my interest in reading the rest, but my sister has and likes the books and movies, though she says she likes the books more.

Eclipse does look good. I think the scenery in general is splendid and the cinematography and editing is much better too. The special effects are also an improvement, they don't feel as rushed here. The score is also very nice, courtesy of Howard Shore it is probably the best score in any of the Twilight movies. David Slade also does an above serviceable job directing, Eclipse is by far the best directed movie of the Twilight saga as of now.

However, Eclipse still has the same major problems as the first two did, but not quite as bad. The dialogue is still very clunky, Pattinson and his family have some pretty good lines but Stewart and Lautner's dialogue are quite awkward and in general the delivery is too. The story is more involving than in New Moon, which was not only sluggish but almost a non-event in terms of story, but there is the odd disjointed part particularly in the middle act and in the more "romantic" bits. Stewart and Pattinson have a decent chemistry, but Stewart still looks awkward with Lautner, while the action scenes felt rushed and the pace is still incredibly sluggish especially in the middle.

The acting is very mixed. Pattinson and his family I was fine with this time around, and Bryce Dallas Howard is a welcome addition to the cast as Victoria. Billy Burke while somewhat underused is decent as Charlie as well. Conversely, there are some weak links too. Taylor Lautner does little more than take his shirt off and say some clunky lines, while Kristen Stewart while better than she was in New Moon with a marginally more expressive face gives a rather lacklustre performance as Bella as she does have a whiny delivery here and there are still the awkward pauses between each line.

So overall, it has its strengths but also its weaknesses, but it is watchable and while it could have been a lot better with better scripting and pacing Eclipse is the best so far of the saga. 5/10 Bethany Cox