'Eclipse': Most Improved Vampire Actor -- Jackson Rathbone?

Image Credit: Kimberley French

After noting in just about every Twilight Saga: Eclipse item I wrote leading up to film's release that I was pleasantly surprised to not be laughing at Jasper Cullen, I feel the need to publicly crown actor Jackson Rathbone Most Improved Vampire Actor. To be fair to him, he didn't have much to work with in the first two films, and, perhaps, we were even supposed to chuckle at the hungry look he gave Kristen Stewart in the first movie. (Did we ever decide?) Regardless, he's great in Eclipse, particularly in the flashback sequence, when we get to enjoy the Southern drawl in his voiceover and watch him make that decision to follow orders. (I kept it vague for spoiler-phobes, but you can talk freely in the comments section.)

Does he get your vote? (Nikki Reed could end up being the film's scene-stealer with Rosalie's beautifully-acted heart-to-heart with Bella, but we've known what she's been capable of since Thirteen. And Hollywood is remembering: She's just been cast as an assassin alongside True Blood's Deborah Ann Woll and Watchmen's Malin Akerman in the film Catch .44, Deadline reports.)

More 'Eclipse':

'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' Movie Review

'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse': A hater's guide