Eclipse appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Though taken from a 2K source, the Dolby Vision image looked pretty terrific.
Sharpness was solid. At all times, the flick exhibited strong definition and suffered from no notable instances of softness.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and edge haloes remained absent. Grain seemed light and natural, and no print flaws materialized.
As with the first movies, this one stayed with a restricted palette. Like New Moon, Eclipse tended to be a bit warmer than the bluish Twilight, but it still didn’t exhibit a broad range of tones.
Also like its predecessors, though, the tones appeared positive within their constraints. HDR added range and impact to the colors.
Blacks felt deep and dense, while shadows seemed smooth and concise. HDR gave whites and contrast extra punch. I felt pleased with this solid presentation.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I thought the Dolby Atmos audio of Eclipse fell into line with its predecessors. Like the first two movies, much of the audio concentrated on music and general atmosphere. The score and songs displayed nice stereo presence, and the film conveyed a solid sense of place.
Also like its predecessors, Eclipse occasionally came to life for its action scenes. The movie didn’t include enough of these to make this a bold soundtrack, but when they occurred, they offered immersive material. Elements moved around the room well and meshed together to offer a good punch.
No issues with audio quality emerged. Speech remained crisp and concise, and music showed good range, as the score and songs appeared full and vibrant.
Effects worked well, so those elements seemed lively and robust, with nice low-end response to add depth. With more action material on display, the mix would’ve gotten a higher rating, but as it stood, it earned a “B”.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? The Atmos audio felt a little more expansive than its 5.1 counterpart, but it didn’t reinvent wheels.
As for the Dolby Vision image, it showed superior colors, blacks and delineation. Though the 35mm film got finished 2K, this upscaled presentation demonstrated nice growth, primarily due to the tasteful use of HDR.
On the 4K disc, we find two separate audio commentaries. The first comes from actors Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.
Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at… well, not much. They talk a little about their experiences during the shoot, but they don’t dig into too many substantial subjects.
Indeed, at times it seems like they’re more interested in discussing various fast food hamburger joints than anything else. We get a fair amount of dead air, and when Pattinson and Stewart do chat, their remarks tend to be forgettable at best, inane at worst. This ends up as a pretty useless track.
For the second commentary, we hear from author Stephenie Meyer and producer Wyck Godfrey. They sit together for a running, screen-specific discussion of story/character areas, sets and locations, cast and performances, stunts and effects, music, and comparisons with the books.
While much better than the actors’ commentary, this one never feels especially substantial. I do like the moments during which Meyer talks about changes from the novels and gets into the franchise’s mythology, and we find a decent level of information about the movie.
Nonetheless, the participants tend to joke around an awful lot and I don’t feel like the track gives us a great look at the filmmaking processes. It’s an average commentary.
The set includes two Blu-ray discs. BD One presents the feature film and the two commentaries.
BD One also brings a six-part documentary called The Making of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. It runs one hour, 28 minutes and provides notes from Godfrey, Meyer, Stewart, Pattinson, director David Slade, fight coordinator Jonathan Eusebio, visual effects supervisor Kevin Tod Haug, co-producer Bill Bannerman, production designer Paul Denham Austerberry, co-prop master Nevin Swain, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, director’s assistant Tessa Kovach, 2nd unit visual effects supervisor James Tichenor, stunt coordinator John Stoneham, Jr., Image Engine visual effects supervisor Jon Cowley, Image Engine visual effects plate supervisor Robin Hackl, Image Engine visual effects executive producer Shawn Walsh, senior VFX supervisor Phil Tippett, animation supervisor Tom Gibbons, Tippett Studios VFX supervisor Eric Leven, Tippett Studios VFX producer Ken Kokka, art director Nate Fregenburg, CG supervisor Aharon Bourland, Tippett Studios VFX reference supervisor Devin Breese, Image Engine digital production supervisor Peter Muyzers, and actors Taylor Lautner, Anna Kendrick, Xavier Samuel, Jackson Rathbone, Christian Serratos, Michael Welch, Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Elizabeth Reaser, Bryce Dallas Howard, Nikki Reed, Jack Huston, Daniel Cudmore, Julia Jones, Charlie Bewley, Jodelle Ferland, Justin Chon, Alex Meraz, Tinsel Korey, Bronson Pelletier, Tyson Houseman, Kiowa Gordon, Dakota Fanning, and Cameron Bright.
The program looks at the introduction of new director Slade and his impact on the franchise, training and stunts, sets and production design, cast and performances, character/story topics, various effects, and action sequences.
Like prior “Making of” programs on the other movies, this one alternates between useful information and fluff. It favors the former but still comes with too much of the latter, mainly when it indulges in long discussions of character elements.
While these could/should be interesting, they tend to feel like EPK fodder. Still, there’s a fair amount of good material on display here, so the show’s generally a success
Note that you can watch “Making” either on its own or as a picture-in-picture accompaniment to the movie. I chose the former, but I think it’s nice that the disc gives you the other option.
BD One includes two Deleted Scenes and six Extended Scenes. All together, these fill a total of 12 minutes, 33 seconds.
For the deleted scenes, we find “It’s Not Life or Death” (2:09) and “I Can’t Wait to See What You’re Going to Do Next” (0:53).
The extended segments cover “Just Keep the Window Closed” (0:45), “From Now On I’m Switzerland” (1:15), “Someone’s Creating an Army” (2:05), “Bella, I Envy You” (2:01), “What Did I Say About a Low Profile?” (1:20) and “Jacob’s Thoughts Are Pretty Loud” (1:12).
The two deleted scenes are moderately interesting, if just because they give some supporting characters a little more screentime. They don’t really deliver much in terms of story, though. As for the extended bits, they offer minor additions that feel unnecessary.
We can view these with or without commentary from Slade. This option adds other footage of the director that pads the total to 14:29.
He provides some insights about the shoot and why he eliminated the sequences. Slade proves to be insightful and interesting, so it’s too bad he didn’t record a full commentary for the movie itself.
An unusual “chapter search”-style feature called Jump to… gives fans additional options. It lets you skip ahead to scenes that focus on different characters/circumstances.
You can “jump to” segments with Edward, Jacob, the love triangle, the Cullens, the wolfpack, the humans, Victoria’s army and/or action sequences. I don’t know how much use this will get, but it’s an interesting concept.
A Photo Gallery provides a mix of stills. We find 51 images from the shoot here, and they can be accessed in two different ways.
If left on their own, they’ll run as a slideshow, so in addition, you can flip among thumbnail images at the top of the screen and select the shot you want there. None of the photos seems particularly interesting to me, but I like the format.
Finally, we get two Music Videos. We find Muse’s “Neutron Star Collision” and Metric’s “Eclipse (All Yours)”.
“Collision” offers another Muse song that sounds exactly like a Queen outtake. The video’s a mix of lip-synch bits and movie clips, though it’s more stylish than most.
“Eclipse” also includes shots from the flick, but it tries harder to tell a story with its artist-specific shots. The tune itself is unmemorable, but at least the video is less by the numbers.
On a second Blu-ray, we get a slew of additional materials. These all originally appeared as a bonus in a 2013 five-film boxed set called “Twilight Forever”.
Twilight FAN-omenon runs 35 minutes, 32 seconds. It presents remarks from Pattinson, Lautner, Stewart, Godfrey, Maestro, Bannerman, Rathbone, Facinelli, Meyer, Reaser, Howard, Slade, Reed, Lutz, Jones, Greene, filmmakers Catherine Hardwicke, Chris Weitz and Bill Condon, musician Stevie Nicks, actors Mia Maestro, Anna Kendrick, Edi Gathegi, Rachel Lefevre, Noot Seear, and Michael Sheen, and a mix of Twilight fans.
Going into this program, I feared it would offer nothing more than gushing praise. And you know what? I was right.
Oh, we get some perspectives on why fans like the books and movies, but these largely remain superficial. Instead, we get a long pat on the back to tell fans how amazing they are, so it’s essentially a waste of time.
Next comes Breaking Character, an eight-minute, 24-second featurette. It gives us a collection of outtakes from the entire franchise that leans toward blooper reel territory. It manifests some amusement, though.
A Cast Retrospective spans one hour, five minutes, 49 seconds. Here we get info from Godfrey, Stewart, Meyer, Facinelli, Hardwicke, Pattinson, Greene, Rathbone, Reed, Lautner, Weitz, Jones, Pelletier, Meraz, Bewley, Cudmore, Condon, and actors Gil Birmingham, Patrick Brennan, Casey LeBow, Mackenzie Foy, MyAnna Buring, Tracey Heggins, Chaske Spencer, Booboo Stewart and Billy Burke.
Compiled after the release of the fifth and final film, “Retrospective” indeed offers a look back at the franchise. We get notes about all the movies, the characters, and cast/crew.
I figured “Retrospective” would provide a panel of actors or at least a coherent collection of interviews shot specifically for the program. Instead, we get a slew of random clips from over the years packaged together.
This makes “Retrospective” less focused than I would prefer, and it also leans far too heavily on happy talk. We do get some good insights and behind the scenes elements, but “Retrospective” fails to use its length well.
Two similar programs finish the disc: Edward’s Saga (1:49:03) and Jacob’s Saga (1:44:03). Essentially these act as “highlight reels for those two characters.
This means both display significant scenes from Edward and Jacob in their respective “Sagas”. I actually think that versions of the Twilight movies from the perspectives of Edward or Jacob would be interesting.
These compilations don’t quite achieve that, of course, as Bella remains our focal point. Nonetheless, the two “Saga” collections allow us to see a simulation of that concept and they seem kind of cool.
2010’s Eclipse kept the Twilight train rolling, as the franchise continued to earn megabucks at the box office. I suspect this flick delighted established fans of the series, but I fail to think it did much for less dedicated partisans. The 4K UHD provides very good picture and audio along with a mostly strong collection of supplements; only a meandering commentary from the lead actors misfires. Eclipse rebounds from the dull New Moon, but it’s still too slow and draggy to be a real success.
Note that as of December 2023, this 4K of Eclipse can be purchased only as part of a Best Buy-exclusive 15th anniversary steelbook collection that provides 4K UHD renditions of the first movie and the other three Twilight sequels as well.
To rate this film, visit the prior review of ECLIPSE
