Director: Bill Condon
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Billy Burke, Michael Sheen, Lee Pace, Dakota Fanning, Cameron Bright, Maggie Grace,
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Love it or hate it, everyone was happy to see this instalment find its way to the screen. It meant the fans could see what they’d read about take place on the big screen, and haters could stop having to worry about the fanatical madness that surrounds the series. TWILIGHT is a series that has generated such hate because despite the fact it’s not very good, it has reached immeasurable levels of popularity. A shame since there are hundreds of interesting, emotional, captivating, thrilling, and just damn awesome vampire stories out there begging to be discovered.
So is THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART II the worst thing ever created? Not quite! In fact, at times it is genuinely thrilling. However, there are moments that are hilariously awful. We follow Bella Swan (Stewart) who has recently been made a vampire. The opening is just comedic moment after comedic moment. Intentional? Hard to say. First we have to deal with the whole issue of Jacob (Lautner) imprinting on the child of Bella and Edward (Pattinson), which comes across as bizarrely as it sounds. It even contains the brilliant delivery of the line “You nicknamed my child after the Loch Ness monster?”. To its credit, these moments add chemistry between the characters. But it isn’t between Bella and Edward, it’s between Edward and Jacob, a pair who should have just gone off on a bromantic adventure together. These scenes are followed by Jacob stripping for Bella’s father, more comedy, and the eventual reveal of the final plot.
You see, a family member who harbours hatred towards Bella believes their child was turned, an unforgivable sin in vampire world, instead of being born. She goes and tells the Volturis (high council vampire types), who decide they will come and kill Bella, Edward and their whole family. What follows is one of the most awfully paced films I’ve ever seen. The Cullens decide they will travel the world and find witnesses to testify that the child is not dangerous, and I find it hard to make any sense of what goes on after that. Sometimes the family must travel to other parts of the globe, and other times people just show up at their house. One moment they’re in India, the next moment two Amazonian warriors just jump out of the trees. In the meantime the Volturi seem to be following the family around the globe, even though I think they are just meant to be launching an attack on the Cullens. It’s all very confusing.
The film is bewildering, as we meet Vampires with X-MEN gifts, an Indian Robert Downey Jr. and some Irish vampires that literally just stand in the background. But then something amazing happens. We are treated to an absolutely exhilarating battle sequence. Despite the superpowers used, it feels like a real vampire movie. Heads are torn off, the camera captures emotional turmoil, main characters are sacrificed, and I found myself actually caring about the outcome…and then the film commits the ultimate sin. It is storytelling suicide, and a punch in the face of the audience. I’m okay with the actual ending, but to tease like that was simply unforgivable.
The music is painful, the effects shoddy, and the only people having any fun are Michael Sheen on villainous duties and Lee Pace who isn’t given enough to do. The film touches upon some very interesting topics such as The Immortal Children (think Kirsten Dunst in INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE), and hinting that maybe Bella can’t control her thirst. But each of these interesting moments is swept aside for pointless whining and romance written by someone whose parents probably didn’t even love them, let alone a member of the opposite sex. One thing the film does have going for it is that it is essentially about protecting the child and all the protagonists are working together. The love-triangle isn’t an issue anymore and at some points the film can be quite enjoyable.
Overall, fans are going to love it and haters are going to enjoy the stupidity of the story and the incompetence of the filmmaking. Either way, make sure you are with a bunch of similarly minded friends and experience it the way you want to. Here we have a predictable romance, hilarious comedy, and Kristen Stewart finally giving us more than one expression. But in all seriousness, for 10 minutes during that immense battle, all had been forgiven. It may even be one of the best scenes of last year…had it not been for the final rug pull.
TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART II is released on DVD and Blu-ray on 11th March 2013.
cheri
Mar 7, 2013 at 2:17 pm
I loved the final installment of Twilight and so did my daughter. We thought the whole beginning of the movie was pretty funny how they interacted with each other. I wanted to watch this movie again so when I was working my shift at DISH and a co-worker told me that it was out on DVD, I made sure to add it to my Blockbuster @Home queue. With the Blockbuster @Home through DISH my movies will get shipped straight to my door when they are available. I never have to go searching for the movies at a Redbox.