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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
| Released |
18 November 2011 |
| Director |
Bill Condon |
Starring
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Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Gil Birmingham, Billy Burke, Sarah Clarke, Ty Olsson, Ashley Greene, Michael Sheen |
| Writer(s) |
Melissa Rosenberg |
Producer(s)
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Wyck Godfrey, Stephanie Meyer, Karen Rosenfelt, |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
117 minutes |
| Genre |
Fantasy, drama, adventure |
| Rating |
12A |
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The honeymoon is over.
Breaking Dawn begins with an ending of sorts. Finally together in the same place and without too much mortal danger lurking around the perimeter, Edward and Bella get to tie the knot. But of course, this is only a brief moment of calm before author Stephanie Meyer took her characters to some seriously strange places. Maybe as tired of the teenage moping as many critics seem to have been, Meyer decided to let loose with sex, gore and worrying love matches. Accordingly, Breaking Dawn was always going to be the biggest challenge for adaptation; specifically to do justice to its hysterical flights of fancy without pushing the age rating up to an inaccessible 15A.
Bill Condon (Dreamgirls, Gods and Monsters), taking over the reigns from David Slade (whose Eclipse still remains the series highlight) actually makes a pretty good stab at it. While it feels very much like a film of two halves, with a jarring change of gears in the middle, he handles both halves well. To begin with there is the wedding and honeymoon. Bella and Edward marry in front of friends and family before retreating to a private island, where they finally (and tastefully) consummate their relationship. Handsomely shot with some nice playful humour, it’s not exactly edge of the seat stuff but it is competently handled.
Where the film comes into its own is when Condon follows Meyer down the rabbit hole into territory that would not be out of place in a full-blooded horror film. Midway through their honeymoon, Bella discovers she is pregnant - it is unprecedented for a human and a vampire to reproduce and as Bella’s health quickly deteriorates it becomes clear that whatever the child is, it is slowly killing her from inside. The effects are startling as Kristin Stewart becomes pale (moreso than usual) and skeletal. The birth scene that follows is impressively, extravagantly gory. It all makes up for the occasional moment of laugh out loud cheesiness (the CGI werewolves for example still aren’t up to scratch).
As with any Twilight film, I must end with the proviso that if you’re not a convert to the series at this stage, then Breaking Dawn isn’t going to do much to change it. The fans though will be satisfied - this is an adaptation that shows affection for the story as well as courage to really go hell for leather with its more bizarre twists and turns. A good primer for the finale.
-
Linda O’Brien |
