The Twilight Saga – Breaking Dawn Part 2 – A Movie Review (and upcoming movies that look awesome!)

November 16, 2012

I have a confession to make.

I am a closet Twilight fan.

I didn’t read the books until the year the last one (Breaking Dawn) was released, but after I borrowed the first one from a friend, I got online and promptly bought the entire series because I had to know what happened.

These books are not the epitome of literature (and I’m not going to go into all the other issues that others have raised about the books), but the point of a good story is to enrapture an audience, and Stephenie Meyer has managed just that. Even if it hasn’t appealed to every audience, it has certainly captivated an impressive one!

Spoiler Alert! (just, ya know, to be safe)

First off, this is the final installment of the Twilight Saga, so if you haven’t seen any of the other movies, spoilers will abound!

The first two movies (Twilight and New Moon) sucked, from a critical perspective. The third was better.

Breaking Dawn Part 1 was like watching a movie with the same characters, but a completely different perspective. The directing was GOOD. The special effects were amazing.

Breaking Dawn Part 2 holds up to (and perhaps blows out of the park) Part 1.

The intro sequence was amazing – I don’t even know how to describe it. Except that if I had this movie on DVD, I would probably just watch the intro sequence over and over and over. It consisted of amazing scenery shots interspersed with close-up shots of ice crystals forming. So gorgeous!

And the intro scenes to Bella as a vampire (or a blood-sucking fairy, as my husband likes to call them) and the way her senses have changed is very well done. There are advantages to putting this on the big screen that Stephenie Meyer couldn’t quite capture with text on a page – the incredible sensory detail that Bella is actually able to process in her new form becomes real. If you’ve never experienced it, it’s hard to imagine they way it works from just reading the books. But if you watch this movie, it truly comes to life.

The story itself was very well adapted to screen, but my one complaint is that for Renesmee being the reason for the entire plot, she felt like too much of a minor character. I would have loved to see more interaction, especially between her and Bella and her and Charlie.

Charlie is one of my favorite characters between both the books and the movies, and while he plays a semi-major part in the Breaking Dawn book, it felt like he was strangely absent from the final movie. That made me sad.

For the most part, this movie also sticks true to the books. While some plot points had to be brushed over due to time (such as the significance of the wedding gift Bella receives from the Volturi, and the lack of an explanation as to why Jacob won’t age later in life), the essence of it all is there.

And then they throw you for a loop. Honestly and truly. I was . . . about to go up in arms, honestly.

But it works so well.

And that’s really all I can say without spoiling it all :D.

So, if you’re a fan of the books, this movie is an absolute must-see.

Spoilers Over!

And lastly . . . the trailers alone were with the ticket.

Oh, the trailers were awesome.

They were for:

Oz the Great and Powerful

I can’t even tell you how much I’m looking forward to this movie. I devoured all of the Oz books as a child, and I can see so much they’re going to pull from them in the trailer! I’m looking ridiculously forward to the porcelain doll village . . .

The Hobbit

Do I have to explain my love for The Hobbit and all things Lord of the Rings? I’ve already got my midnight showing tickets for the premiere. The only thing that could have made this trailer more perfect is if the dwarves sang in it. But no, they couldn’t show that one on the big screen *pouty sigh*.

World War Z

I’m not much of one for horror movies, but this one looks fantastic! As long as I watch it in the middle of the day.

Safe Haven

A girl on the run from a stalker, hiding in a small town, and falling in love. Very cliché plot, yes, but the trailer looks really good!

Playing for Keeps

This has the potential to be a really awesome family movie – especially if things go the way it looks they might in the trailer, and the main character might reconcile with his ex-wife. In this day of “disposable relationships”, it would be really awesome to see a movie where a relationship is saved.