If you're reading this, you know me, and you know what an unashamed Twi-hard I am. I can promise you, however, there is more substance to this review than a discussion of pecs and abs and hair or lack thereof. I actually took a pretty critical stance on this film, and will openly admit it was a disappointment. Read on to see why...
Breaking Dawn doesn't deliver, but you'd probably suck too if you worked with this source material.
Film: Breaking Dawn (2011)
[Drama]
For months, Twilight fans have been drooling over leaked photos and teaser clips of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1, but last night, all that build-up came crashing down in an anticlimactic heap. The film is the first half of the final installment of the series based on Stephenie Meyer’s vampire-human romance novels. Now that the glittery vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and his human girlfriend Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) have survived the usual high school drama (evil vampire attacks, suicide attempts and biology tests), the couple will be entering into wedded bliss. But not so fast, this Christian-inspired romance doesn’t put out without a price, and in this case, we’re talking about teen pregnancy.
Along with their marriage, the honeymoon, pregnancy and birthing scenes have all garnered anticipation from fans and haters alike. When it was announced that Dreamgirls director Bill Condon would be interpreting the penultimate film, fans had high hopes for what is undoubtedly the messiest of saga’s novels.
Unfortunately, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1was not worth the year-and-a-half hype, and if the books are any indication of Part 2, it seems as if the series will end on a low note. To be fair, Breaking Dawn is about 100 pages of entertainment and 600 pages of every bad idea Meyer could have had for the series, so Condon started out at a loss.
But with the bulk of the saga’s most anticipated material scheduled to fill out this film, it was almost more impressive that Condon was able to make the wedding and honeymoon underwhelming. And where fans might have hoped screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg would have used creative liberty for good — such as removing the totally awkward pre-honeymoon skinny dip — they were instead offered a superfluous fight scene. The biggest thumbprint he and Rosenberg left on this installment was their exclusion of a narrator. The first three films used a voiceover to capture some of Bella’s emotion, and the first three novels are told from Bella’s perspective, but the last novel switches between hers and Jacob’s. Breaking Dawn: Part 1 could have seriously benefitted from a continuation of this technique.
Two critical scenes felt very detached: the wedding night “human minutes” and the “burning man.” Just before Edward and Bella break the bed (literally) and consummate their marriage, Meyer details Bella’s outright panic attack at exposing herself to Edward for the first time and losing her virginity, an important revelation for a character many criticize as one-dimensional. Condon chooses to “complement” this scene with the Noisette’s “Sister Rosetta,” a punky, up-beat rock song that completely alters the tone. It feels a little like applying “Wipeout” by the Surfaris to that scene in Braveheart where Mel Gibson and the gang go running across the field.
Similarly, in the book, we get a picture of Edward as a tortured man whom Jacob describes as like a victim being burned at the stake. This is the biggest display of sympathy we ever see Jacob offer toward Edward, but it is swapped in the film for an angry Edward and unyielding resentment from Jacob.
Other omissions that readers might miss include the explanation for setting the honeymoon in South America — think hot weather versus cold vampire — and the smack talk between Jacob and Rosalie, which gave readers more to think about during the pregnancy besides how idiotic Bella seems to be. But in compensation, the creepy dog portrait in Bella’s room makes a reappearance.
The award for most unintentionally funny scene in the film has to go to the werewolf powwow/ pissing contest in which all the dialogue is filtered through a distortion technique that makes all the wolves sound like Bruce Wayne when he switches into Batman mode. It’s all very cartoonish, and those who thought the shimmering vampire skin in Twilight was the abyss of CGI, think again. Homeward Bound was more believable.
The visual effects for Bella’s baby bump, however, were the best thing to come out of Condon’s efforts. Because the Franken-fetus Bella is carrying is half vampire, it begins depriving her of blood, and Bella begins to wither. In a matter of weeks, Bella wastes away to skin and bones, and that is exactly what she looks like with a sunken face, protruding shoulder bones and knobby knees, not to mention the bruises on her stomach from the baby’s superhuman kicking.
The birthing scene is just as good, and it can be argued as the one outstanding accomplishment for the film. Dealing with a broken spine, C-section by vampire teeth and reanimation by vampire venom sounds too farfetched for live-action, Condon somehow pulls it off. The sound of Bella’s bones crunching is enough to make the popcorn and Raisinets churn in weak stomachs, but the gore is completely necessary.
Anyone who has never watched the other films and is considering seeing this movie will almost certainly be confused, so do your homework and watch the others first — or ask just about any 13-year-old on the street for a detailed synopsis before you go; it’ll be about the same quality as the source material.
No comments:
Post a Comment