Rated
PG-13 (Disturbing Images, Violence, Sexuality/Partial Nudity and Some Thematic Elements)
Running
Time: 1 Hour & 57 Minutes
Cast:
Kristen
Stewart-Isabella 'Bella' Swan
Robert
Pattinson-Edward Cullen
Taylor
Lautner-Jacob Black
Billy
Burke-Charlie Swan
Ashley
Greene-Alice Cullen
Jackson
Rathbone-Jasper Hale
Kellan
Lutz-Emmett Cullen
Nikki
Reed-Rosalie Hale
Peter
Facinelli-Carlisle Cullen
Elizabeth
Reaser-Esme Cullen
Christian
Camargo-Eleazar Denali
Mía
Maestro-Carmen Denali
Maggie
Grace-Irina Denali
MyAnna
Buring-Tanya Denali
Casey
LaBow-Kate Denali
Gil
Birmingham-Billy Black
Chaske
Spencer-Sam Uley
Tyson
Houseman-Quil Ateara
Alex
Meraz-Paul
Julia
Jones-Leah Clearwater
Boo
Boo Stewart-Seth Clearwater
Anna
Kendrick-Jessica Stanley
Justin
Chon-Eric Yorkie
Christian
Serratos-Angela Weber
Michael
Welch-Mike Newton
Sarah
Clarke-Renee Dwyer
Michael
Sheen-Aro
Jamie
Campbell Bower-Caius
Christopher
Heyerdahl-Marcus
Directed
by Bill Condon
 |
| Not much of a honeymoon if you spend your time playing chess. |
What
is there left to say about the “Twilight” films? With each successive
installment, it becomes increasingly clear that reviewing them is a pointless
endeavor as its hardcore teen fan-base will simply lap up Stephenie Meyer’s
work like blind, obedient dogs while the films continuously break records at
the worldwide box office. In a blatant move at money grabbing, Summit
Entertainment has opted to split the adaptation of the fourth and final novel,
“Breaking Dawn” into two films,
mimicking the situation with this past summer’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
However, the latter film at least had a creative in addition to a financial
reason for doing so but it makes little sense for “Breaking Dawn” to be split
into two films as it forces new director Bill Condon to cram the first part
with so many filler moments that have no bearing on the main story and I doubt
the pay-off in the second half will be as emotionally satisfying compared to
“Deathly Hallows.” “Breaking Dawn Part 1” still manages to muster up some small
improvements over the previous two installments but it’s all a matter of too
little too late as the glacial pacing continues to bore, the dialogue remains cringe-inducing,
and too often the cast stand around looking forlorn to the background tune of the
film’s mopey, alternative rock soundtrack instead of actually acting. Ultimately, the main problem
goes back to Meyer’s hackneyed prose.
Isabella ‘Bella’ Swan (Kristen Stewart)
and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) are about to be wed, much to the distress
of Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), who angrily transforms into his wolf form and
runs away into the woods upon receiving his invitation. The rest of the Cullen
family, Carlisle (Peter Facinelli), Esme (Elizabeth Reaser), Alice (Ashley
Greene), Emmett (Kellan Lutz), Rosalie (Nikki Reed) and Jasper Hale (Jackson
Rathbone) are keeping themselves busy preparing for the wedding. Edward makes
one last attempt to dissuade Bella by explaining to her the consequences of
becoming a vampire but she stands firm in her decision. Once the two are
finally wed, Bella is taken to the woods where she meets Jacob and they dance.
When she reveals that she plans to consummate their marriage on their
honeymoon, Jacob becomes infuriated and attempts to attack Edward but is held
back by the members of his wolf clan. Edward takes Bella to a private villa on
an island called Isle Esme off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They make
love for the first time but the next morning, Bella discovers bruises on her
body, which horrifies Edward. Against her wishes, he remarks that he will
abstain from having sex with her while she remains human. Two weeks later,
Bella discovers that she is pregnant and that the fetus is maturing at an
accelerated rate. They return to Forks, Washington where Carlisle reveals that
the vampire-human hybrid is crushing her from the inside and that she will die
before she is able to give birth. Upon seeing a sickly Bella and learning of
her pregnancy, Jacob blames Edward for ‘destroying’ her, leading to a deadly
confrontation between the Cullens and his wolf clan, who believe the hybrid to
be a monster and plan to kill it along with Bella.
“Breaking Dawn Part 1”
features a threadbare plot stretched to two hours as director Bill Condon is
forced to shove in pointless scenes full of angst-ridden drivel and immature
characters. As expected, Taylor Lautner opens the film by tearing off his shirt
in the rain but the wedding scenes are actually competent and handled well,
although keep in mind the bar has been set incredibly low so this isn’t exactly
an accomplishment to celebrate. For the first time, I believed that Bella and
Edward were in love and there are several moments of levity from Anna
Kendrick’s Jessica Stanley and Billy Burke’s Charlie Swan. Unfortunately, the
film goes downhill from there as the pacing slows to a painful crawl in order
to meet the necessary running time. The much advertised love scene between
Bella and Edward has been sanitized to a fault in order to garner a PG-13 as an
R rating would’ve been financially disastrous for Summit Entertainment. Condon’s
handling of Renesmee’s birth is by using frenetic editing, close-up reaction
shots of Bella and a blurred first-person perspective and despite the
financially-imposed censorship, it largely works as there’s a visceral urgency
to it and there are cuts to a bloody aftermath. However, thanks to Meyer mucking
around with vampire lore, I’m still not entirely sure how Edward is able to impregnate Bella considering that he’s not
considered living and that vampires cannot have children. The film even breaks
its own logic as Edward seemingly runs around in broad daylight without fear of
being discovered. Another concept that’s poorly explained is the process of
imprinting. From what I understand (and I actually tried to), it’s when a shape-shifter finds his or her soul-mate by staring
intently at the other person. I kid
you not as this is what happens when Jacob sees Bella’s baby minutes after
she’s born and ‘imprints’ on her. The whole scene is laughable, ridiculous, and
simply all kinds of wrong as a grown man becomes attracted to the child of the
woman who has continuously rejected him. Maybe he sees Renesmee as his rebound?
In fact, scenes like this occur throughout the film, such as when Jacob has a
dramatic confrontation with the rest of his clan by telepathically
communicating with each other in their werewolf form but we’re unable to take
it seriously because the CG looks amateurish and the size inconsistencies of
the wolves from shot-to-shot are distracting. In contrast, the work done on
making Bella appear sickly thin is frighteningly effective, the one element
that I can praise without any reservations.
Ultimately, what really kills the
film (and the franchise) is that none the three main characters ever mature and
their angst-filled behavior grows tiresome to watch. Edward is controlling and
mentally abusive, Jacob is all jealous rage and unable to move on, and Bella is
without any real hopes and dreams as her world revolves entirely around the two
men in her life who continuously fight over like a piece of raw meat which
seems to get all those squealing girls quivering in their nether regions. It’s
like they’re trapped in some vicious cycle and are unable to escape with
endless declarations of love but no attempt to pierce deeper at what that
actually means. The use of depressing
alternative rock music is exasperating because one crops up every ten minutes
when the cast just gets lazy and refuses to do their job. The acting remains
emotionally inert as Kristen Stewart, while managing something resembling a
performance in the first half-hour, devolves into her sleepwalking mode. Stewart
can act and has proven this numerous
times but the “Twilight” films have always hamstrung her talents. Robert
Pattinson continues to look like a constipated James Dean in need of Metamucil
and Taylor Lautner butchers every law of acting every time he opens his whiny,
little mouth. The supporting cast consists of the same attractive faces devoid
of any real personality and looking like bleached wax figures.
Released on
November 18, 2011, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1” has received overwhelmingly
negative reviews with 29% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics called it ‘slow, joyless,
and loaded with unintentionally humorous moments, [the film] may satisfy the Twilight faithful, but it's strictly for
fans of the franchise.’ In other words: same old, same old. As expected, the
fans were out in force during opening weekend as it debuted with a gargantuan
$138 million, just shy of the $142 million of 2009’s “New Moon.” The film will likely
top out at $300 million domestically, although it appears that it will continue
to reign supreme over Thanksgiving weekend as none of the new releases were
able to make a significant dent in its earnings. “Twilight” has always been
about pleasing the fans rather than creating actually good films and “Breaking
Dawn Part 1” continues in that tradition for better and for worse. The final
film will arrive next November and I doubt much will change. Fans: enjoy it
while it lasts as I for one am glad that this whole madness will soon be
over…until Meyer comes up with another idiotic concept.
Final
Rating: 2 out of 5
“Childhood
is not birth to a certain age, where at a certain age the child is grown and
puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.”
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