Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Ashley Greene, Mackenzie Foy, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Billy Burke
Director: Bill Condon
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Rating: C+
I take back my earlier proclamation of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse being my favourite movie in this series. Having now seen them all, I can say without a doubt that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 is my favourite. It's the most dramatic, the best acted, and really the most solid film in the series. There's still a lot that's a bit ridiculous, but it's solid. You can also kind of tell that they've really put a lot of money into this one, especially in regards to the special effects. The cast really don't look like they're covered in pancake makeup anymore, the wigs look better, and so on. I do question some of the outfits - and how turning into a vampire gave Kristen Stewart fake eyelashes - but it's a lot better than the earlier films.
Breaking Dawn opens with Bella (Stewart) having changed into a vampire and going on her first hunt with husband Edward (Pattinson). Bella must adapt to being a vampire and the pair must adapt to being parents (while also still being newlyweds), to their human-vampire hybrid daughter, Renesmee, nicknamed Nessie (played first by a creepy CGI baby, then by Mackenzie Foy). Early problems that arise are werewolf Jacob (Lautner) having imprinted on Nessie, Bella's feeding, all the sex that they can now have, Nessie's rapid aging and the potential consequences of it, and what to tell Bella's father, Charlie (Burke). Then fellow vampire Irina (Maggie Grace) sees Renesmee and, assuming that she is an immortal child, tells the Volturi that the Cullens have broken the vampire law. Alice (Greene) sees a vision of the Volturi coming to punish the Cullens, setting them on the path to trying to stop them. The family head travel throughout the world in an attempt to gather up enough witnesses to prevent the Volturi from simply massacring them all. Then Alice and her lover Jasper (Rathbone) disappear, leading the Cullens to believe that it means that they are doomed to die. The question is, whether or not they can survive the meeting with the Volturi.
So, yeah. A lot of the earlier cheese of the films is gone. The general problems have been resolved, and things that are silly have either been largely dropped or so accepted so as to no longer really be an issue. One of the things that I liked most about this film was that Edward really chilled out here. There's no conflict between him and Bella, there's no whining about her being a human (because she isn't), or about him needing to protect her (because he doesn't), or what how. For the first time the two are treated as equals. There's also absolutely no conflict between Edward and Jacob; the two are completely on the same side, which is great. It makes the plot so much less annoying.
The cheese that does remain is funny. Bella as a vampire? Funny. Bella learning that Jacob imprinted on Renesme and nicknamed her Nessie? Hilarious. There's more to it than just that, and it's all great. This movie is probably the funniest of the series, and intentionally so. The many other vampires that they introduce here are far better than the ones that we've gotten used to over the course of the series. There are so many, it's hard to pick a favourite - I think the Russians, Vladimir (Noel Fisher) and Stefan (Guri Weinberg), although Lee Pace's Garret is also great.
Another thing that I really liked is the opening and closing credits. I thought the opening credits were really well done in general, and nicely fit the theme for the series. In particular, I enjoyed how the cast names changed from red - representing the human - to white - representing the vampire. I thought it was a cool touch. For the closing credits I actually really enjoyed how they credited people from all five movies - Bella's human family and friends, the Cullens and their vampire friends and family, the Volturi, the Pack and other Quileute people. I thought it was a nice touch, a "these are the people that helped us get to this point."
The rest of this contains spoilers. My absolute favourite part of the movie, and my least favourite part, is the actual face off with the Volturi. Michael Sheen is probably one of the best actors that has appeared in this series, which says a lot because really there are some good actors here. The ending in the books is kind of lame. There's a point in the conflict when Alice returns and shows Aro a vision, then Aro and the Volturi back down and the conflict is resolved. There's no fighting, no deaths, no nothing. In the movie, however, we see Alice's vision, without realizing that it's a vision. As a result, there's this epic battle full of great fight sequences and a lot of deaths. There's a lot more emotion in this one scene than in the rest of the series. The thing that got me about the Twilight books is that it never made me cry. There was no sacrifice in the books. This apparent ending, however, is so drastically different from the books that as people start dying I realized just how emotionally invested I had become and how attached I was to the characters. There was also a moment when it happened that I couldn't help but think that the ending of the movie was going to be a giant fuck you to author Stephenie Meyer, who has said (about The Host) that she's not sure how she feels about killing off characters. There's a lot about these movies, especially in the promotions for it, that make it rather apparent that the cast don't really like the books or movies themselves and for a moment I really felt like this was the cast and crew's way of really vocalizing that thought. It ended up not being that, but for a moment as we see Alice's vision and don't realize that's what it is I was thinking that this ending was so much better than the one Stephenie Meyer wrote. It didn't end up being the ending, but it was fun while it lasted.
I take back my earlier proclamation of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse being my favourite movie in this series. Having now seen them all, I can say without a doubt that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 is my favourite. It's the most dramatic, the best acted, and really the most solid film in the series. There's still a lot that's a bit ridiculous, but it's solid. You can also kind of tell that they've really put a lot of money into this one, especially in regards to the special effects. The cast really don't look like they're covered in pancake makeup anymore, the wigs look better, and so on. I do question some of the outfits - and how turning into a vampire gave Kristen Stewart fake eyelashes - but it's a lot better than the earlier films.
Breaking Dawn opens with Bella (Stewart) having changed into a vampire and going on her first hunt with husband Edward (Pattinson). Bella must adapt to being a vampire and the pair must adapt to being parents (while also still being newlyweds), to their human-vampire hybrid daughter, Renesmee, nicknamed Nessie (played first by a creepy CGI baby, then by Mackenzie Foy). Early problems that arise are werewolf Jacob (Lautner) having imprinted on Nessie, Bella's feeding, all the sex that they can now have, Nessie's rapid aging and the potential consequences of it, and what to tell Bella's father, Charlie (Burke). Then fellow vampire Irina (Maggie Grace) sees Renesmee and, assuming that she is an immortal child, tells the Volturi that the Cullens have broken the vampire law. Alice (Greene) sees a vision of the Volturi coming to punish the Cullens, setting them on the path to trying to stop them. The family head travel throughout the world in an attempt to gather up enough witnesses to prevent the Volturi from simply massacring them all. Then Alice and her lover Jasper (Rathbone) disappear, leading the Cullens to believe that it means that they are doomed to die. The question is, whether or not they can survive the meeting with the Volturi.
So, yeah. A lot of the earlier cheese of the films is gone. The general problems have been resolved, and things that are silly have either been largely dropped or so accepted so as to no longer really be an issue. One of the things that I liked most about this film was that Edward really chilled out here. There's no conflict between him and Bella, there's no whining about her being a human (because she isn't), or about him needing to protect her (because he doesn't), or what how. For the first time the two are treated as equals. There's also absolutely no conflict between Edward and Jacob; the two are completely on the same side, which is great. It makes the plot so much less annoying.
The cheese that does remain is funny. Bella as a vampire? Funny. Bella learning that Jacob imprinted on Renesme and nicknamed her Nessie? Hilarious. There's more to it than just that, and it's all great. This movie is probably the funniest of the series, and intentionally so. The many other vampires that they introduce here are far better than the ones that we've gotten used to over the course of the series. There are so many, it's hard to pick a favourite - I think the Russians, Vladimir (Noel Fisher) and Stefan (Guri Weinberg), although Lee Pace's Garret is also great.
Another thing that I really liked is the opening and closing credits. I thought the opening credits were really well done in general, and nicely fit the theme for the series. In particular, I enjoyed how the cast names changed from red - representing the human - to white - representing the vampire. I thought it was a cool touch. For the closing credits I actually really enjoyed how they credited people from all five movies - Bella's human family and friends, the Cullens and their vampire friends and family, the Volturi, the Pack and other Quileute people. I thought it was a nice touch, a "these are the people that helped us get to this point."
The rest of this contains spoilers. My absolute favourite part of the movie, and my least favourite part, is the actual face off with the Volturi. Michael Sheen is probably one of the best actors that has appeared in this series, which says a lot because really there are some good actors here. The ending in the books is kind of lame. There's a point in the conflict when Alice returns and shows Aro a vision, then Aro and the Volturi back down and the conflict is resolved. There's no fighting, no deaths, no nothing. In the movie, however, we see Alice's vision, without realizing that it's a vision. As a result, there's this epic battle full of great fight sequences and a lot of deaths. There's a lot more emotion in this one scene than in the rest of the series. The thing that got me about the Twilight books is that it never made me cry. There was no sacrifice in the books. This apparent ending, however, is so drastically different from the books that as people start dying I realized just how emotionally invested I had become and how attached I was to the characters. There was also a moment when it happened that I couldn't help but think that the ending of the movie was going to be a giant fuck you to author Stephenie Meyer, who has said (about The Host) that she's not sure how she feels about killing off characters. There's a lot about these movies, especially in the promotions for it, that make it rather apparent that the cast don't really like the books or movies themselves and for a moment I really felt like this was the cast and crew's way of really vocalizing that thought. It ended up not being that, but for a moment as we see Alice's vision and don't realize that's what it is I was thinking that this ending was so much better than the one Stephenie Meyer wrote. It didn't end up being the ending, but it was fun while it lasted.
