The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

November 19, 2011

I stopped reading the Twilight books after "Eclipse." That book bored me to death and terminated any interest of reading the last book, "Breaking Dawn." We went to watch "Breaking Dawn, Part 1" just tonight because my wife really looking forward to it. I was grateful that I had not read the book, because curiosity about how the story would turn out was the only thing that kept me watching.

The entire sequence from their wedding in the woods to their honeymoon in Brazil was maybe 45 minutes too long. They could have cut and compressed all of that hilariously cheesy stuff and maybe "Breaking Dawn" could have only been one movie, instead of two parts. As with the first three books, Bella continues to row her boat between the two rivers. Yes, even after her wedding to Edward, she continues to flirt with Jacob! Yet these two guys remain incredibly and illogically loyal to her. Anyhow, that was what Stephenie Meyer wrote, so fans of the book will be expecting that.

The part about Bella's baby and how it was born was at least suspenseful. But this part only started maybe in the last 30 minutes of the whole film. The fight scenes with the wolves and vampires were too close-up to be clearly exciting. The medical aspects of the C-section were not to be taken seriously. The artificially white faces of the vampires especially on Carlisle and Emmett were awfully distracting. However, the make-up and special visual effects on Bella's look during the pregnancy were realistically eerie. Jacob's imprinting scene was also quite well-executed.

Kristin Stewart was as bland as ever as Bella. Robert Pattinson was as cheesy as ever as Edward. Taylor Lautner does a bit better as Jacob, maybe because of how "nobly" his character had been written. Most of the other supporting characters, human, vampire and werewolf get a line or two. Memorable one-liners from Billy Burke as Bella's dad Charlie, and Anna Kendrick as Bella's friend Jessica before and during the wedding, made me laugh out loud.

This movie is strictly for the entertainment of Twilight fans who will love it. It is up to par and keeps the spirit well with the rest of the other Twilight films. For non-Twilight fans who haven't read the book though, at least this installment does manage to keep your interest. I have no idea what else is left for Part 2 to tell. It felt like they could have ended the franchise with this one already since the love story seems to have been settled (if not only for financial considerations). My wife will of course see this whole film differently though. Hehe...