Whether you are Team Edward, Team Jacob or even Team Charlie, there is something in this movie to tickle even the most hard to please cinema goer's fancy.
Edward maintains his cool, gentlemanly masculinity, with the occasional slow smile. Jacob takes his top off, again, in a humourous scene. Charlie is on top form, if a tad under-utilised, who's understated presence, when he thinks Bella is dead, is quite lovely. And Bella? As a vampire, vibrant and rippling with fresh power, she kicks ass!
Having watched and appreciated the previous 4 outings for the Twilight crew, I would not have said I was a diehard Twilight fan. Stephenie Meyer's characters and plots, converted into screen gold, spanning hours of our valuable cinema viewing time, had my interest but not my passion.
Until now.
If you haven't seen this movie, and don't want to read the following spoilers, then go away. Don't read the following spoilers. That's all the warning you are getting.
Breaking Dawn - Part 2 is awesome. It really is. It has all the characters comprising Team Twilight, as well as additional and interesting characters. It makes use of the unique cinematography delivered in the previous movies that we are now accustomed to, but has extra kick. The screen just seems to be pumped. Pumped with colour, contrast, depth, action and improved special effects. It's great.
It isn't perfect.
I thought the opening credits went on too long. After an hour of watching sweeping vistas of snow covered mountains, grand trees dusted with frost, snowflakes and ice, here, there and everywhere, it all got a little much. It did serve to build anticipation of the movie actually starting though. Also, a few of those additional characters are sadly under developed. I suppose there is only so much you can do with the time remaining after such an extended opening title. Uhhu!
So Breaking Dawn - Part 1 finished with Edward tearing Bella open to snatch the baby from her womb as she was dying. Then he delivers his vampire venom to Bella as she is slipping away, and saves her from the eternal death, by converting her to his own style of undead. Which is of course awesome.
In Breaking Dawn - Part 2 we see Bella explore her new existence, her new reality. Her senses are enhanced, she has incredible strength and demonstrates immeasurable speed. She soaks in the new delights on offer in a world that seems at once familiar and new.
She almost forgets she is now a mother. Becoming a vampire would do that. Memory problems. Sheesh! But before she can see her daughter, Edward wants her to hunt and feed, so as to not be at the mercy of her blood thirst, potentially putting her baby, Renesmee, at risk of appearing on the evening menu.
Mid-hunt she smells a silly human a great distance away, climbing up the face of a cliff. He cuts himself on the sharp rock and Bella is off! She means to drink that dude dry. It's a delight to see Bella claw herself up towards the man, who is oblivious to what is about to happen, with chunks of rock flying around her.
Edwards stops her, and we then see her feed on a mountain lion. She really has come into her own. As she says in the movie herself, she was born to be a vampire.
A few scenes in the movie don't make complete sense to me. For example, Bella could detect that silly human's scent from what may be miles away, but she has to step into within 2 ft of Jacob before she can declare that he stinks. Another scene sees her have difficulty in trying to move slowly, like a human, and without her super strength destroying furniture - only after it was suggested she may have this difficulty. Before the suggestion it hadn't seemed an issue. Perhaps those memory problems are to blame! Double sheesh! But the whole movie is played out with such warmth, humour, knowing expressions and indulgent momentum, that the audience won't really care.
We finally get to meet Renesmee, a child who is half vampire, half human. She ages at an incredible rate and has her own powers. Renesmee pushes the story forward, as she is seen by someone who believes her very existence threatens all vampires everywhere.
The Volturi are informed and assemble to investigate the threat, with the implication there will be a violent outcome. After all, the Volturi have their own dark agenda.
The Cullen's, with Alice's future sight, is prepared. They assemble their friends and witnesses for what will unfold.
Without saying too much, because, let's face it, there will be a few people still reading who don't like spoilers (I told you to go away!), there is a fantastic battle scene. With graphic violence, enough heart strings being pulled (literally & emotionally) and a beautiful twist, it's more than could have been asked for.
You'll love it!
In fact, I was left in such an emotionally unsettled place, what with the roller-coaster plot that had layer on layer of depth, and with a pleasant use of movie magic sleight of hand (you won't see it coming), when the end credits came, I discovered I was a little choked up.
Why?
Well, there were such lovely touches. As the movie ended, the audience were shown, among some flashbacks, turning pages and selected text from Meyer's books. Photographs of characters from previous movies in the Twilight saga appeared, along with the actors' names. This was, in my mind, a thank you to those characters and actors for their part in the success of the Twilight franchise. It also served to remind the audience of each person's story and how it contributed to the saga, how they, and we, got to this conclusion.
It was lovely. Sentimental and verging on maudlin? Perhaps. And yes,I'm earning my big girl points. I don't care.
The first movie, Twilight, in my opinion was technically better executed. But, on so many levels, Breaking Dawn - Part 2 is superior and an astonishingly fantastic way to celebrate the Twilight universe.
Have you seen it? If not, why the hell not?
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