Born Movie Reviews

Movie Review written by: Born Movie Reviews

RT Critics Rating: 5.1/10

Born Movie Reviews' Rating: 7/10

I cannot believe this. I simply cannot believe this.

Finally, the time has come, and Bill Condon is back with Breaking Dawn Part 2, the epic finale that will live forever.

Breaking Dawn Part 2 revolves around Bella (Kristen Stewart), who begins her new life as a vampire newborn, wife of Edward (Robert Pattinson), and mother of their daughter Renesmee. However, after Renesmee was mistakenly thought to be an immortal child, a human infant transformed into a vampire, the Volturi sets out to destroy the Cullens. Knowing that Bella gave birth to Renesmee when she was still human, the Cullens begin to gather foreign vampire clans to stand together as witnesses against the Volturi. Assisting the vampires is the Wolf Pack and Bella's faithful friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner).

Beginning right where Part 1 left off, Part 2 starts with Bella's experiences as a newborn vampire. She can see all the details in the world, no matter the size or distance. She can finally run with great speed. She later becomes the strongest member of the family, even stronger than Emmett. For Kristen Stewart, it seems like the film attempted to give her more scenes where she could be expressive. Sometimes, they seem contrived. Sometimes, they are tolerable, but the key here is that Stewart's interior-ness finally communicates through to the audience. Thus, in a way, Breaking Dawn Part 2 is Kristen Stewart's best performance out of the entire saga. In fact, it is extremely ironic that Stewart had to be "dead" in order to make her acting have a form of life.

After the impression of the trio made by Part 1, I hoped that the vampire couple and the werewolf will become some form of a screen trio that I actually have interest to follow. To my greatest surprise, the script pulled it off. Despite Jacob giving many cheesy lines throughout the film, they are not to the point of being labored. And guess what? You only see his six-pack once, and it is the only one in the whole movie. In summary, Breaking Dawn Part 2 is proof that the screenwriters are truly unskilled when it comes to dialogue in romantic conflicts. When Bella, Edward, and Jacob went from love triangle to friendship triangle where two of them make a couple, the script exposes less of its flaws. They might still be there, but it is much easier to let them pass by this time around.

Unlike all four predecessors, Breaking Dawn Part 2 has the strongest characterization, where it touches on several of the foreign vampire clans, each of their powers, and each of their personalities. After having all of these diverse vampires unite, the film uses this as an advantage to have us care for them as a large group. This is a group of rebels fighting back against the Volturi, the over-dominating coven. They are not just fighting for family, but they are fighting for who they are and who they want to be. This then transitions to another strength of Breaking Dawn Part 2.

The film efficiently builds the tension of the Volturi's imminent arrival. The running time is almost two hours long, and it spends a good half of the movie making this buildup. Everything that happens in the narrative was designed to lead to the climatic final battle. You will find yourself wondering when will the Volturi actually arrive, and the minute they march out of the fog, hearts will start pounding.

Breaking Dawn Part 2 is the finale of the series. So what does a finale of a series like Twilight need? A climatic final battle. If you liked the battle in Eclipse, this film will make Victoria's army battle look like a cat fight. The scale is inevitably larger, having all of the vampire clans gather as well as the Wolf Pack showing their teeth. The visual effects here are sometimes impressive, sometimes fake. However, I approve of the CGI looking fake at times. If they looked realistic, this might have gotten an R rating from the MPAA. All in all, the last thirty minutes of the movie is the most enjoyable. The best part about this as well as the entire movie is that you can actually notice some of Bill Condon's directing techniques in here. Yes, they actually took a cinematic approach to this. Even though the quality of the filmmaking is often pulled down by the humorous dialogue, the uneven editing, and the visuals, Breaking Dawn Part 2 efficiently delivers a solid conclusion, the best that the Twi-hards can ever ask for. Yes, there is a lot of substance in this film for fans to sink their teeth into.

Looking at the film as a whole, the core factor that made this work was the climax and the buildup towards the climax. It knows that it is the finale, and thus the filmmakers and screenwriters readjusted it away from the novel a bit, turning Breaking Dawn Part 2 into an ingenious showdown. For me, with my expectations set really low, especially from the impression Part 1 left me with, I was legitimately rewarded with a film that I always wanted the Twilight saga to go towards: A film that attempted true cinematic filmmaking.

In conclusion, Breaking Dawn Part 2 is indeed the finale that the filmmakers have promised, this time with Bill Condon able to show his talents as a director. It may have been tripped once in a while by cheesy dialogue or editing that needed tweaking, but the movie actually attempted the true cinematic approach, pulling off a conclusion that legitimately had me satisfied, making Breaking Dawn Part 2 undoubtedly the best film in the saga.