Tuesday, June 12, 2012

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 - Movie Review

(That's one long blog post title!)  Spoilers ahead if you're one of the few people out there who haven't seen this movie yet and would be upset with knowing the ending.

When Stephen and I started dating we both had Netflix which was silly because we were basically living in the same house.  When I did move in we decided that we only need one full subscription to Netflix so I kept the 2 disc delivery plan and Stephen got the streaming plan.  When I was living along I had streaming and discs.  Late last week I sent back a movie that was mailed to me in December.  Obviously I'm not watching movies as frequently as I used to.  There are rarely nights when both of us or even one of us can just sit and watch a movie.

Last night I was in a grumpy mood and needed some alone time.  I had two movies on the table from Netflix and chose The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1.  Yes, I read all four books and I was upset when they split the last one into two separate movies.  (Let me state it in writing, I'm 100% happy that Book 7 of the Harry Potter series was split into two movies, the book was packed with information and one movie never could have coved it.)  I didn't think that the Twilight books had enough content to make movies as long as they did in the first place.  But this isn't a review of the books, it's a review of the movie.

This film starts off days before Bella and Edward's wedding.  I still can't get over how much teenage girls love this movie about a girl their age who is willing to give up her LIFE for a man.  She doesn't want to go to college.  She doesn't want kids.  She doesn't really care that she can't see her parents again in case they see the change in her after she turns.  Anyway.  The wedding is beautiful and I'm obsessed with the shoes she wore only to walk down the aisle.  The leave for their honeymoon immediately after the reception so they are traveling at night and Edward can be among humans.  They head to Brazil and then boat off to a private island where they can be alone.  They didn't tell her parents where they were going - did that strike anyone else as weird?  If I were getting married at 18, my dad sure as Hell would have wanted to know where I was jetting off to with my new husband, so is assumed to also be only 18.

There is a lot of sex on the honeymoon after Edward gets over himself and listens to his new wife.  Of course, she ends up pregnant but nobody knows what kind of baby it will be.  The newly weds head back to the Cullen house because the "baby" is obviously growing fast.  Bella is showing and she's only been pregnant less than 2 weeks.

The "baby" continues to grow fast and drains Bella of nutrients and apparently all muscle.  She is a bag of bones by the time it's time to deliver.  Of course Jacob is angry that she's dying for this "baby" of Edwards who he blames for killing her.  It takes two to tango, Jacob.

When it's time to deliver, the baby begins breaking Bella's bones as it tries to break out of the sac.  The movie walked the line between being gross and explaining the situation pretty well in my opinion.  KStew isn't the best actress and I think not focusing on her 100% during this scene was for the best.  When the baby is delivered, it's a little girl and she gets to see her for the first time, right before dying.  The plan has always been for Edward to turn her at the last possible moment so that she then gets her wish to be a vampire like the rest of the family.

In a weird turn, Jacob "imprints" on the new baby, who looks to be 4 months old, and that prevents the pack of werewolves from attacking and killing it.  Kinda weird that he's forever in love with an infant when he's in high school, but the director did a good job trying to make us forget how young she is right now with a dream sequence to the future when the baby is grown.  Why did they use a computer generated young woman?????  I'm sure they could have found an actual person.  Random.

The movie ends with Bella waking up from her 3 days turning into a vampire.  Part 2 will be the last part of the story to protect their baby from the vampires of Italy who rule over all vampires.  That's the part of the story that will make a really lame movie.  There is a huge build up to a massive fight scene after the Cullen's bring in all the vampires they know to show them the baby to prove that it's not a monster and then nothing happens.  There is never a battle, more of a stand off.  Lame.

All in all, the movie wasn't too bad.  It followed the book from what I remember so the bad plot line and plot holes can't be blamed on the movie itself.  Any scene with a wolf was pretty horribly done, especially when they talk to one another.  Was like watching a Saturday morning cartoon with a high production budget.  The acting was bad, but that's what you get with this cast.  I know RPattz can act, I've seen him in other movies, but there is a reason that there isn't a top tier actor anywhere in the cast.

Will I see the final movie?  Probably, but only because I spent time reading the book and I want to see how it's brought to life.  Two hours isn't that bad, especially since that two hours would most likely otherwise be spent watching dumb reality TV or reading a magazine. And I'm sure I'll have a grumpy day in the next year when I need some alone time with a cheesy movie.  Will I be going to see the movie in the theater - not a chance in Hell.  I'll probably even wait a few months to move it up on my Netflix queue.

I give the move 3 stars.  It stuck to the plot it was given and it was beautifully filmed.  The reduction in 2 stars comes from the bad acting and cheesy effects with the wolves.

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