The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011) – 4/5

What joy!

Here we have „Breaking Dawn – Part 1“, the penultimate chapter from the Twilight film series or I could also say it is the first half of the final chapter as they split the final book in two if I see it correctly here, in two movies that is. This one here is from 2011 and the second film then is from 2012 and calling these halves is pretty accurate because they also almost have the same running time and both last for slightly under two hours and this first part is even minimally longer. I will not focus too much on the very final chapter now, we shall do that later, but for now let’s keep an eye on this movie here. Just like the three previous films, I got to watch this one on the occasion of a vampire-themed movie series and I think they initially only wanted to show the first Twilight film, but the reception was so overwhelming that they decided to show them all, one per month and these two last installments were shown on the same evening as the series had already pretty much ended before that. There was a crucial change in direction here as the Oscar winning filmmaker Bill Condon („Chicago“, „Dreamgirls“) took over. He is also known in a way for writing the screenplays for his movie and this is what he won an Oscar for even, but here the writing stayed with the people who were also in charge with the previous films: Stephenie Meyer was in charge of the base material obviously and the screenplay once again came from Melissa Rosenberg. There were also no major changes in the cast. The vast majority of characters you have come across on the previous Twilight films already and this includes the trifecta of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner too who are at the center of the story here once again. But also the two/three protagonists‘ friends family members are back or I should say the people who portray them. Kendrick is one example.

If you look at the awards recognition for this film, you will find a colorful mix of awards bodies for younger audiences, but also the Razzies, even if the film did not win any of its eight nominations there. I think the ensemble cast nomination is a bit off because we have performers in here who did a really good job and at least what Stewart and Pattinson did since then during their careers has been pretty impressive too, but yeah you always have to keep in mind who this film or the entire franchise was made for, namely mostly young (female) audiences and as you can see from my rating, the entertainment factor is as high as it gets. There’s a reason why Twilight is still filling big movie theaters to an extent where almost every seat is booked. A few more words on the cast: I absolutely have to mention Billy Burke. He was already strong in the previous films and same is true here again. He is giving really the perfect approach to the franchise and gave us some amazing laughs. No matter if he makes it very clear what happens if Pattinson’s character treats his daughter poorly or if he calls his ex-wife old with a connection to a bridal custom (that was hilarious!), he always steals the scene when he is on the screen. Nicely done! I could come up with at least half a dozen other examples where his presence makes it a better movie. Back then, this movie wanted to be taken mostly seriously, but all the people who came now to watch it (again) did so to have a great laugh as well with how the film is the epitome of a film lacking subtlety. It was awesome to watch. The words I chose as the title here are from a supporting character who is one of the most influential figures from the Volturi and he was hilarious how he was talking. Everybody was laughing. Michael Sheen is of course the actor who leads this group of ancient very skilled vampires, but he got to shine more in the final installment then.

This one here is about the wedding between Edward and Bella early on. They actually built up to this for a long time in the previous film(s), so it was almost surprising how quickly it was over and that only the first third or quarter or probably less really dealt with this celebration. Another aspect that was crucial in the previous films was the idea of Bella wanting to be turned into a vampire as well and here all of a sudden she realizes that life as a human is not that bad, so they are doing away with this idea quickly too. Surely bizarre. The who is not happy about all this is Jacob (Lautner), who already has a meltdown early on when he gets the invitation for the wedding. As usual, first thing he does is tear his shirt off, next thing is run away in anger. These werewolves do run a lot for sure. But eventually he agrees to come to the wedding and even has a little dance with Bella. It does not take long though until it all escalates again when he finds out that Bella will not get turned into a vampire and that she will be a human on her honeymoon with Edward and Jacob fears that he will kill her with his sexual desires and violence coming with it. This then also turns into a crucial factor during the honeymoon itself, but actually Bella ends up „only“ with a few bruises during their first sex and Edward is still hesitant to sleep with her again because he does not want to hurt the love of his life any further, even when she wears a really hit outfit. The moment when they are making out in bed again and Bella literally begs Edward to have sex with her stays very much in the mind. I think it was even twice that she did. But this situation once again resulted in comedy too, well not the act itself, but when they arrive there in Brazil and see the place and see the bed and how they are acting there, especially how Edward’s face expression. It was surely a bit bizarre how Pattinson was standing in the room doing nothing on a few occasions in this film, not just there in Brazil, and resulted in some solid laughs from the audience without a doubt. Oh yeah, and the sex the second and third time and all that follows wors out better then apparently. No more bruises.

But a new surprise is in store: Bella’s period is not happening and boom she is indeed pregnant and the little creature inside her is quite something. I remember the moment when we hear about Bella’s ideas how to name the baby, there was also a lot of laughing going on in the crowd. Of course, these names had to be spectacular. This extremely exaggerating franchise could not have gone for traditional names there obviously. The for me funniest moment of the entire film was maybe when the vampire gang fed Bella some blood as her condition was getting worse and worse and they realize the baby demands it and Bella happily takes it and even enjoys the flavor although she was not yet a vampire herself at that point. But with favorite reaction there I mean of course the way Jacob reacted here. He was so appalled and disgusted by everything that was going on there with the blood and you could see in his face that he felt like being part of a huge freakshow. Speaking of freakshow, the crowd in my screening absolutely adored the newborn baby’s looks, like not because of how cute it was, but because of how funny the animation looked. They did not take a real baby there. I actually remember this being an oddity from the point where I watched the film the first time briefly after they came out. Not sure what they were thinking there. Oh and then there is the awkward highlight of the film, namely Jacob imprinting on the newborn. I mean, even if there is absolutely no sexual component to this in theory and it also could have happened if the baby had been a boy, it still felt fairly awkward. Not gonna lie. But if we look closer, then it is an act that saves the baby’s life perhaps even as Jacob’s wolf brothers are ready to attack and kill the baby and they are in a way the main antagonists in this film, but eventually they are not allowed because it is the highest rule for the tribe that nobody may be hurt or even killed that one of the wolves has imprinted on.

Speaking of the wolf gang, there is a lot of elaboration on them too. We see them all in wolf form and see how Jacob (as a wolf) talks to the leader of the pack, the alpha wolf, and stands up to him and says that he will not take orders from anybody. The talking there and how it sounded was also a bit bizarre. There were definitely people giggling about this too. One aspect where I have to say it was pretty positive is how the makeup and how they changed Stewart’s looks here as her health was declining during her pregnancy, how she had almost died in the end, but being turned into a vampire by Edward then really „saved her life“. I spoke about Stewart and several other cast members already, but also people who were part of the production in other areas deserve a mention. Carter Burwell is one of Hollywood’s most successful composers and his soundtrack added a lot as well here. Speaking of the music, we then hear a song I really adore and find beautiful during the closing credits and apparently I was not the only one because the song was picked as well for the final chapter where it got played even more loudly during an utterly crucial sequence from the film. But yeah, this is not this one here, but it still means something without a doubt that the song was picked for two movies. Props to Christina Perri and I would have loved to see (and hear) the song being nominated for an Academy Award. Wasn’t meant to be. There are more aspects and inclusions I could elaborate on here without a doubt, but I will leave it at that. I am probably also not unbiased because I just like Stewart a lot and don’t mind Pattinson and some other cast members either, but seeing the film again in the company of so many loud fans was a special occasion and it is impossible to not be entertained by the outcome I would say. The cliffhanger then with Stewart’s character rising as a vampire was also a good as it gets. So yeah, this one is among the best Twilight films. I highly recommend it.