I hated the final book of the Twilight Saga, I could write books about how much I hated it, but writing a book (or collection of books) about hating another book seems redundant.
No offense to Ms. Meyer. I love the first three. I love the characters you created, but the finale was tedious and unsatisfying.
It took me months to read the thing, because I got a few chapters in and had to put it down out of frustration.
The only reason I picked it up again, was out of respect for the preceding three guilty pleasure speed reads, and it seemed only fair to judge the work as a whole. I still hated it.
Stories with humans and vampires are not supposed to end well. Just ask Buffy.
Needless to say what my reaction was when they announced they were splitting it into two movies.
However, this is not a review of the final book. It is a review of the not final movie.
There’s a saying, that I’m sure I’m about to butcher, about being granted the serenity to accept the things you cannot change and having the wisdom to know the difference. I’ll give it my best shot.
You may recall that Eclipse ended with an accepted proposal, so it only makes sense that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1 would begin with a wedding.
Of course, Kristen Stewart is back as the human: Bella, Robert Pattinson as the vampire: Edward, and Taylor Lautner as the werewolf: Jacob.
The wedding, is absolutely gorgeous. But with the beautiful setting of the Pacific Northwest, and the cast of equally beautiful actors they’ve assembled, how could it not be?
It’s a potentially bittersweet start to our story, as we know that Bella will never again see her family and friends (at least not as a living, breathing human being). In fact, she’s going to have fake her own death, so that she can live with Edward as a vampire forever.
This could be heavy stuff, but it’s glossed over with close-ups and brief glances. There are attempts to show Bella’s torn emotions, but she never says them aloud and their impact is lost. Aside from a heated discussion with Jacob, the subject is barely broached at this point.
As has been the case in all of the films, this scene is ultimately stolen by Bella’s father, Charlie (Billy Burke) with his sentimental, yet threatening toast (Team Charlie!). He gets some help from Bella’s human friend, the always snarky, Jessica (Anna Kendrick) who generally says what we’re all thinking.
Then comes the honeymoon.
Edward can no longer control his vampire urges and in a moment of weakness savagely devours Bella. Just kidding.
Basically, what generally happens on honeymoons, happens. That’s the end of anything remotely normal occurring in this movie. Two weeks later, Bella is several months pregnant.
The remainder of the almost two-hour movie is a series of discussions and arguments over what needs to be done. There are vampires and werewolves and lies told to humans, and generally nothing happens. Until something does, but I won’t ruin it for you.
Although these characters are now a far cry from their literary incarnations (Bella, you could have been brilliant), the actors have settled into them. There are even a few touching, well acted moments.
Although glossed over at the onset, they do revisit Bella’s emotions as she finally faces her own mortality. It’s an improvement.
About an hour into the movie Jacob tells Bella, ”I know how this ends, and I’m not sticking around to watch.” I admit, if I was the kind of person who made snide remarks aloud during movies I may have said something akin to, “I know how it ends too. Please take me with you!”
It’s predictable, it’s hormonal, it’s exactly what we knew it would be, it is what it is, and for that I can’t fault it.
All snarky comments and previous opinions of the book aside, fans of the series, and the final book, are probably very pleased with this latest installment. Out of all of the films, it stays the most true to the plot of its book, thus far.
In conclusion, I will say this. It’s not groundbreaking cinema, it will win little praise, and few awards (outside of MTV). However, it is a series beloved by many, many hordes of screaming tweens, and serves as a guilty pleasure for many, many more, and on that count it hits its mark.
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