Movie Info
Movie Name: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1
Studio: Temple Hill Entertainment
Genre(s): Romance/Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Release Date(s): November 18, 2011
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Bella, we’re teenagers let’s get married and then you can die…
It is time for Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson). The day of their wedding has arrived and Bella’s impending death is soon to follow. While Bella tries to enjoy the last moments of her life on their South American honeymoon, the newlyweds find that a night of passion has led to an inhuman child growing within Bella. Bella’s decision to keep the baby could cost her life since the baby could kill her before she is turned. The unnatural child also has started a war with the wolves who are intent to kill the baby…with Jacob (Taylor Lautner) caught in the middle.
Acting is hard.
Directed by Bill Condon, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 is the adaptation of the first half of the final novel Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. The novel (simply called Breaking Dawn) was published in 2008 and already a monumental success when it was published. Following The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in 2010, this movie likewise was met by record numbers and so-so reviews. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 was nominated for Razzies for Worst Actor (Taylor Lautner), Worst Actress (Kristen Stewart), Worst Director (Bill Condon), Worst Ensemble, Worst Picture, Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel, Worst Screen Couple (Kristen Stewart and/or Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson), and Worst Screenplay (fortunately the world hated Jack and Jill more than this movie).
The movie with more talking animals than the Chronicles of Narnia!
I continue to be dumbfounded by Twilight and its popularity at this point as the series crawls to its conclusion. The slow series which has been stretched to five films starts to have a bit of meat this movie with a wedding, sex, death, and a baby…which almost equals out for the previous three movies which had nothing going on.
The reason I can’t figure out these movies is that I can’t believe people really like the theme of the films. The whole “Team Jacob”/“Team Edward” thing is non-existent since Bella was never into Jacob, and the film is encouraging marriage among teenagers (which essentially means one of the characters committing suicide), giving up college, and having a kid…way to liberate the female character. Bella has been weak throughout this series and she is only matched by the weak Jacob and Edward…plus Edward and Jacob’s families who are rapidly becoming less interesting. Also, we learn that Jacob has imprinted on Edward and Bella’s child Renesmee which kind of gives a strange message since it is just a baby.
Bella…you’ve looked a little better…a little…
It would be one thing if the movie(s) poor plot(s) were balanced out by good actors, but Pattinson, Stewart, and Lautner all struggle. Stewart and Pattison are very unappealing. Stewart drones on with a monotone voice through most of the movie and Pattison continues to moan and sulk like a teenager despite being an old vampire. Stewart and Pattinson are bad and lifeless (which is ironic), but Lautner is really bad as the wolf Jacob…a great example of this can be seen on the beach scene with his family (who also can’t act so it must be a genetic trait of wolves).
The movie where even baby looks fake!
The Twilight Saga also continues to not be very visually appealing. One thing you can say about the Harry Potter films (past the Christopher Columbus ones) is that they looked fantastic. They had texture and feeling and the animated characters were as real as they could be. Here, everything is overly computer generated and loses any human feel…much like the acting and story.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 at least shows that there is an ending in sight. The movie moves a bit quicker than some of the previous films but starts out at a crawl with the wedding and honeymoon. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 is followed by the final film in the series The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2 in 2012.
Related Links:
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
