I've seen all the movies, I know how bad they can be. It's not about good acting or about making sense (we know vampire babies make no sense). We all know Twilight cannot win an Oscar. It's not happening. Ever. But that's not why we love Twilight. They only way to understand is to read the books or fall in love with a vampire.
The film opens with the much anticipated wedding. Finally we get to see the happy couple finally be happy and one of the longest wedding kisses on film. The film starts well heading into the honeymoon where the couple finally consummate their love. Twilight has been littered with themes of forbidden love and intense passion, it's the whole point of the books. So when it finally came down to it, the intimacy was short and sweet. Fan's didn't get the pay off they wanted all for the sake of keeping it PG-13. But saying that it was tastefully done with only a little bit of side boob (always important). And then nothing for awhile. The film takes a turn down the boring side as we watch Edward distract Bella with exciting, on-the-edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting games of chess. Yeah. Chess.
I was really impressed with the acting quality of this film. Kristen Stewart mumbled a lot less, in fact she seemed a lot happier in this one (maybe because it's almost over). Rob Pattison was solid and I have to say Taylor Lautner proved he was more than a 6 pack giving a great performance. I really think Bill Condon has done the best job so far with his cast. None of it was embarrassing to watch, except for the were wolves' pack meeting where the Alpha Sam sounded a lot like James Earl Jones's Mufasa from "The Lion King".
The movie's plot explores the consequences of Bella and Edward's honeymoon surprise pregnancy and also details Jacob taking his rightful place as an Alpha male in his own small wolf pack. The film sticks very close to the main events in the book, but gladly it splits focus well between wolf pack and vampires. The film condenses chapters in the book dedicated to Jacob and gets it all out in a nice neat way.
Truthfully, breaking dawn is my favorite book, but I skip the Jacob parts because I found him painfully annoying. Taylor Lautner isn't. Taylor doesn't let Jacob wallow in self-pity in this film, he's trying to move on and we can see that with his own wolf pack. Don't get me wrong, he's still impulsive and smarmy with a strong sense of righteousness - but I'd rather watch Jacob than read Jacob.
Bella is a bitch. Let's be honest. She is selfish. She forces Jacob to hang around even though he's still in love with her. All his actions so far have been because of her. It's even because of her that he imprints, her "death" leads him in that direction. There were some great effects on Kristen, apparently the skeleton effects on her body were all CG and were used to great effect. Also the birth scene was the highlight of the film, cleverly cutting shots together so we don't see everything but we know from Bella's view what's happening to her.
The film feels very short unlike the other Twilight films. But I think that's because if you think about it, not a lot happens. It's all build up to the birthing scene and to Jacob's imprinting (which was a little cheesy). Overall Breaking Dawn Part 1 is a good addition to the film franchise, it won't win over any new fans or an Oscar, but it will satisfy fans until part two is released. If your a fan you'll love it no matter what anyone says about it.
3/5