Dillon Larson

Film Review: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1

Details

• Title: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
• Director: Bill Condon
• Studio: Summit Entertainment
• Release date: November 18, 2011
• Rating: PG-13 (MPAA) ¹
• Link: Official website

Review

Introduction

The Twilight series has always had a die-hard fandom, a fandom that was overjoyed when Summit Entertainment announced its decision to adapt Stephenie Meyer’s well-received vampire book series into a series of films. They later announced that the fourth book would be split into two films, and here we are; the first of those films has been released. Does it live up to the hype?

Plot and pace

Breaking Dawn has an extremely unfortunate handicap: its source material—in my opinion—was not very good to begin with. I was surprised to realize that one of the film’s worst aspects is that it sticks to the book so closely. This, I think, is the first time I have ever thought a film could be made better by deviating from the book upon which it was based. The Twilight series has been criticized for being a vampire romance. I don’t have any problem with that per se, but when the “romance” parts of the story heftily outweigh the “vampire” parts, my interest has been lost.

Breaking Dawn is not a good vampire story, and, sadly, it’s really not a good story at all. It’s confusing and convoluted, not characteristics of a great finale. Fans of the previous films will likely not be as disappointed; the plots of three previous films were not terribly great either. The story is about the love between Edward, a vampire, and Bella, a human, and the continuing feud between Edward’s vampire clan and the local pack of werewolves. Elements that could shape up to be a thriller—maybe even somewhat of a horror film—are wasted on a slow and extremely poorly written and acted teenage romance flick.

Characters and cast

Kristen Stewart is not a bad Bella, but Bella herself is not the strongest character. She makes questionable decisions—dating a vampire among them—and isn’t the greatest role model for girls in an era of films with strong female protagonists. Edward and his family are considerably more tolerable. As new age vampires, I think they have excelled throughout the series, even in Breaking Dawn.

The really weak points come with characters. Jacob, Bella’s best friend—he’s a werewolf, by the way—is whiny and irritating. Many characters try to tell jokes, but nearly all fail. I’m not sure if poor writing is entirely to blame, or if these characters are just incredibly dull. It’s probably a bit of both.

Visuals and audio

The opening scenes were among several that I thought were actually quite well done. In particular, I really loved the montage near the end of film. Bella’s life flashes before her as she—spoiler—begins her final human moments as her body transforms into one of a vampire. The editing on that one montage, which felt really appropriate, drew me back into the film after having been turned off by most of the rest.

The visual effects in this film—again, one that should be about vampires—are mostly garbage. The film doesn’t feel amazing or epic the way a good fantasy story should. Summit has really gotten lazy, and it shows. The sound effects, again, are pretty lackluster. The werewolves’ growls are so loud that it is impossible to actually hear their human voices. The most disturbing element to me was the loud, grating noise at the very end of the film. My experience with this film consisted mostly of me asking “What were they thinking?”

The film’s music is a mixed bag. The film sounds like the third and first films, with a depressing score interrupted by teen-flavored selections. The only film I thought sounded really nice was the second, New Moon, whose chilling tunes fit well with the haunting themes of the story.

Conclusion

To be clear, Breaking Dawn is not a worthless film. It’s likely not the worst film I’ll ever see. If you are a fan of the other films, or even of the books, you’ll probably want to see it to catch the story from a different angle. But be warned: it’s not a good angle. And this is not a good film.

Ratings

• Plot and pace: 1 out of 10
• Characters and cast: 2 out of 10
• Visuals and audio: 4 out of 10
• Overall rating: 2 out of 10

Dillon Larson

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