Movie review: “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1″
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman. 2 1/2 of 4 stars.
Movie review: ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1’
Director Bill Condon gives “Twi-hard” fans the extravagant wedding and romantic honeymoon they’ve been longing to see but fails to deliver true terror or high-stakes drama in the birthing room or on the battlefield with the penultimate film in the blockbuster franchise.
Director Bill Condon gives “Twi-hard” fans the extravagant wedding and romantic honeymoon they’ve been longing to see with “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1.”
Unfortunately, the Oscar winner fails to deliver true terror or high-stakes drama in the birthing room or on the battlefield in the first of his two-movie finale in the blockbuster film franchise based on Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling paranormal romance novels.
Summit Entertainment takes a page from the Harry Potter movies with “Breaking Dawn,” Meyer’s 750-page fourth and final book in the saga, which Condon and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg divided into two movies that were filmed at the same time. Although it would be easy to dismiss the split decision as a mere cash grab, — the previous three “Twilight” films made $1.8 billion, after all — Meyer’s book provides ample action for two movies, plus a natural breaking point between the two parts.
Still, a full year seems a long time to wait for “Breaking Dawn: Part 2,” which isn’t due in theaters until Nov. 16, 2012. If you’re going to borrow a chapter from Potter, why not aim for a summer release for the final installment?
The first part opens with the big moment the saga’s fervent fans have been eagerly awaiting since the book came out in 2008: Human heroine Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) marries her chivalrous vampire fiancé Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) in a lavish ceremony that gives face time to all the series’ periphery characters, from Bella’s high school frenemy Jessica (Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick) and her dad and mom (Billy Burke and Sarah Clarke) to the various members of the Cullen clan and the fellow human blood-eschewing vampires in the Denali coven.
Calling the wedding a “moment” might be an understatement, since Condon spends a solid half-hour on the nuptials. But considering the anticipation among “Twi-hards” and the furor over April’s royal wedding, it’s hard to fault the filmmakers for milking it.
Hot-tempered werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), Bella’s best friend and spurned suitor, shows up at the reception to give his best wishes to the happy couple. But he quickly retracts his blessing and nearly starts a vampire-lycanthrope throwdown when he learns that Bella and Edward are going to attempt to have a typical honeymoon before the bride’s transformation into a vampire. Considering Edward’s predatory instincts and superhuman strength, Jacob fears a human Bella might not make it through her wedding night in one piece.
Once Edward whisks Bella off to a secluded tropical paradise, Condon again takes his time and fulfills fan fantasies with the honeymoon. He takes the PG-13 rating as far as he can, conveying genuine passion and even some humor in the couple’s long-awaited consummation.
Their marital bliss is short-lived. Bella soon learns that she is pregnant, and the half-human, half-vampire baby quickly proves that it is both super-strong and fast-growing. Edward hauls his bride back home to Forks, Wash., vowing to get “that thing” out of her, but Bella is determined to protect her unborn baby.
As the fetus saps Bella of her vitality, prevents her from eating normal food and develops at an astounding rate, the Cullens wonder if even an emergency vampire conversion will be enough to save the determined mom-to-be.
While Jacob is enraged to see the girl he loves bruised and emaciated from carrying “that monster,” werewolf alpha male Sam Uley (Tahlequah-born Chaske Spencer) has an even more dramatic reaction. The pack leader decides Bella’s baby poses an unacceptable threat to the community and declares war on the Cullens, forcing Jacob to make a difficult choice.
The first half of “Breaking Dawn: Part 1” moves slowly, but at least it taps into the appropriate emotions. The second half zips along rapidly but remains alarmingly flat and lifeless. In particular, Jacob’s heart-wrenching decision is made so quickly that its import seems lost, and the pivotal birthing scene, so compelling in the book, comes across as devoid of any real desperation, danger or life-and-death consequences. Even the addition of a few fight sequences fails to generate any real excitement.
Still the final moments of “Breaking Dawn: Part 1” live up to the hype, offering a crimson-hued glimmer of hope that the polarizing conclusion of “The Twilight Saga” will make for interesting viewing.
— BAM
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