breaking down breaking dawn, part 1
Before I criticize this movie within an inch of its life, I must give credit where credit is due. The climax of Breaking Dawn, Part 1 is arguably the franchise's most exciting, most tense, and goriest scene. It's good horror stuff - the back snapping, the blood, the horror movie vibe. I loved it. Bella's gruesome birth scene is exactly what I was looking for in a good vampire story. Nothing is pretty and everything hurts.
Also, I liked the Jacob-Seth-Leah tag team. They seemed like the only sane people in the movie (before the whole imprinting-on-some-baby thing). Also, they have the best lines.
The wedding speeches part, before Esme's and Edward's turns (which were sappy), was also fun. I loved how Alice, Charlie, and the very underused Jessica went on these crazy tangents while "congratulating" the couple. I wish there was more snarking and cloudcuckoolanding.
The love scene was tastefully done. It hinted at everything and showed just enough to titillate the audience - thankfully not Robert Pattinson's deformed chest. My cousin was shocked that Kristen Stewart was actually topless. After all, we Filipinos have our sensibilities about cinematic nudity. But I've seen worse. I've seen Game of Thrones.
Alas, these are the only good things in BD. The rest of the movie before the birth scene is mostly filler. The part afterwards is a combination of squicky pedophilia and sheer wish fulfillment.
This has to be said - the movie should never have been split in two. The split hurt the pacing. We spend an eternity getting past the wedding extravaganza, and what seems like forever watching Bella get more and more emaciated by the second as everyone worries. The honeymoon montage with the preppy pop music was mercifully... not as long, but it only highlighted the fact that Bella and Edward's marriage is not a partnership, but more of an old-curmudgeon-taking-care-of-girl-toy thing.
What really ruined the movie for me (aside from the whole senseless plot issue and the fact that I tend to view Twilight as a sort of joke material) was that Bella didn't seem happy with her marriage. While I wasn't expecting a compelling love story where the couple get their well-deserved happy ending after ages of hardship, I at least expected that I'd get the pseudo-love-obsession feel that I've been seeing for the last three films. I get the pre-wedding jitters, and I get that Bella didn't want to get married at eighteen in the first place. In fact Breaking Dawn would've been better if it milked all the drama out of the forced marriage thing. But no, both the movie and the book present this as some sort of fairytale ending. While the latter did show Bella being happy to be with Edward as she walked the the aisle, I got nothing but abject misery from the former.
I don't know if this is Kristen Stewart's fault, or the director's, or the scriptwriter's. Kristen Stewart certainly couldn't act if her life depended on it, but grimacing while marrying your one true love? Or maybe that was an attempt to smile? Was that Bella's attempt to be the radiant blushing bride while otherwise haggard-looking, or was that Stewart's (failed) attempt at smiling?
And then there was that bloody pre-wedding nightmare. Girl clearly dreads getting married. And yet she does. It seems to me that during the first third of the movie, all of Bella's actions are intended to humor Edward even though she's not happy about it. Fine, her attempts to seduce Edward was mildly amusing, but this cannot erase the impression that she was unhappy about the marriage.
The acting, aside from Bella's pitiful attempt at cheerfulness, was same-same, as in so-so. Other than brilliant snarking from Jake, Charlie, and Jessica, and Leah's vulnerability underneath the snark and strength, this movie has no other shining moment of acting. Kristen Stewart looking drawn and haggard while carrying the monster child was very convincing, but then that's her usual expression. She looked prety much the same during the wedding, only healthier-looking and with more make-up. She stills fails to convey any expression aside from listlessness and passivity. Robert Pattinson still tries and fails to be the brooding romantic hero. In fact, only Taylor Lautner does any sort of real acting among the leads. It's too bad SMeyer derailed his character into some sort of pedo, which we see happen at the end of the movie.
The movie suffers from soundtrack dissonance. While I did like the songs I heard and downloaded the ost for my listening pleasure, these songs seemed inappropriate for the scenes they accompanied. For example, the cheery pop tune after the wham!ending with Bella turned a vampire. Then there's this creepy and haunting track while Bella and Edward skinny-dipped. I've enjoyed Alexandra Patsavas's previous work in Gossip Girl and Chuck, but the retro-indie feel of the Breaking Dawn soundtrack was at odds with the tone of the movie, ruining emotional moments and diffusing tension and suspense.
The CG was... adequate. Not on par with, say, Harry Potter, or even LotR ten years ago, but adequate. Even if the wolves looked like larger, hairier askals. The weird CGI for the venom-spreading scene was less forgivable. I felt like I was watching a documentary on Discovery.
The ending manages to be more wish-fulfillment-y than that part in the book. I had no idea vampire venom restores pounds lost during illness. Or that it turns lips a fabulous shade of pink complete with a nice satin sheen. There should be a Twilight-themed lipstick with that shade, probably called Vampire Venom. Or Sparklepire Venom. Or Edward's Bite.
All in all, Breaking Dawn part 1 was a so-so movie, with the brilliant parts overshadowed by dullness and slow pacing. Still, it's the best in the Twilight film franchise thus far, because there are more good moments than the rest of the films put together.
That said, I have no hopes for part 2. I've read the book. I know what happens. The birth scene, while disturbing, was the only interesting thing to happen in the book. The climax for the next movie will be some sort of staring contest, unless they change that. Unfortunately, the movies hew close to the books. Normally, I would treat this as a good thing. In the case of the Twilight movies, faithfulness to the source material does more harm than good.
At least they didn't honeymoon on the west coast of Brazil.