The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn - Part 1 delivers
strongly for the rabid fan
base who have catapulted the
young adult novel series and
subsequent movie adaptations
to the worldwide phenomenon
that it's become, but it
alienates a broader audience
with a lack of any real
action. Similar to the tone of
Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows: Part 1, the first
film of the two-part Twilight
conclusion is heavy on
romance, love, and turmoil but
light on fight scenes and
gruesome battles. The movie
doesn't waste any time getting
to the goods and opens with
Bella and Edward's much-hyped
wedding scene. It works--the
vows are efficient and
first-time franchise director
Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) moves
the party along quickly and
amusingly with a well-edited
toast scene and some
surprisingly moving moments
between Bella and her father,
cast standout Billy Burke. The
honeymoon plays as a slightly
awkward soft-focus made-for-TV
movie, with a lot of long
moments spent staring in the
mirror and some love scenes
that feel at once overly
intimate and completely
passionless. It's a relief
when Bella retches on a bite
of chicken she's cooked
herself and quickly concludes
she's pregnant with a
potentially demonic baby. From
bliss to horror, the Cullens
return to Forks, where Bella
spends the second half of the
movie wasting away and Edward
and Jacob are aligned in their
anger and frustration over her
decision. Throw in some
over-the-top scenes with Jacob
and his pack--including a
strange showdown where the
wolves communicate in their
canine form by having a
passionate nonverbal fight in
their minds (a plot point that
works much better in print,
it's portrayed in the film via
aggressive voice-over)--and
the film overshoots intensity
and goes straight to silly.
The birth scene is horrific,
but not as gruesome as in the
book, and by the end, Bella
has of course survived, though
is much altered. The final
scene features a delightfully
campy Michael Sheen as Volturi
leader Aro and makes it clear
that the action and fun in
Breaking Dawn, Part 1 is ready
to start. Fans will just have
to wait until Part 2 to get
it. --Kira Canny
