Despite their overwhelming popularity among female readers, the “Twilight” books are not very good — and neither are the films — but “Breaking Dawn Part 1” will please fans, and it will make millions, and that will please those involved with the film. Everyone wins!
And for the casual older viewer, this time around the series finally delivers: There’s sex, there’s more violence, there’s an appropriately bloody labor scene that mimics the iconic one in “Rosemary’s Baby.” Tweens may have read Stephenie Meyer’s books, but “Breaking Dawn” is decidedly grownup, with more mature themes and intense scenes than previous films “Twilight,” “New Moon” and “Eclipse.” As the culmination of Bella’s and Edward’s relationship, “Breaking Dawn Part 1” will appease Twihards for its accurate adaptation of the book, the final one in Meyer’s series, and its marked shift in tone is better for everyone. (“Breaking Dawn Part 2” will be released on November 16, 2012.) No more twinkling, glittery vampires — this movie is a bloodier, sexier affair, and after all that waiting, its well deserved.
But of course, this is still a Meyer creation, which means main character Bella (Kristen Stewart) is stuck between two guys, vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner), who try to assert their masculinity by alternately fighting over her and making her every decision. It’s a dangerous dynamic for young girls to see, and it’s up to you whether the feminism-squashing themes of the books are appropriate for your children. In “Breaking Dawn,” that issue still lingers, and is combined with a discussion about a woman’s right to choose — but here Bella is rampantly pro-life, rebelling against Edward’s and Jacob’s suggestion that she abort a baby that could kill her.
Seriously. It’s not a movie for children.
“Breaking Dawn” picks up after all this: After Bella and Edward met in high school, she figured out he was a vampire and he saved her life from another one itching to eat her (“Twilight”). They begin a relationship only for Edward to realize his presence in Bella’s life may cause her unforeseen dangers, causing him to leave her behind and ask for death at the hands of a vampire council, the Volturi. Bella develops a death wish without Edward in her life, but grows closer to werewolf Jacob, and eventually Edward returns to her (“New Moon”). And though she feels torn about her love for both men, eventually Bella realizes she belongs with Edward, and the two decide to get married after high school graduation, with Bella proclaiming she wants to be turned into a vampire so she can spend eternity with Edward (“Eclipse”).
So “Breaking Dawn” begins with an opulent, wonderful wedding — because Edward and his family of vampire brethren, the Cullens, are fantastically rich — where Bella and Edward pledge to spend their lives together. She’s worried by a vision of them soaked in blood, with their relatives and friends all dead around them, but eventually overcomes her fear to walk down the aisle and into Edward’s kiss. Then there’s a party, where Jacob shows up, mopes and is shocked to learn that Bella plans to stay human during her honeymoon with Edward. Sex with a powerful vampire could kill her, Jacob warns, and then he howls at the moon to signify his sadness. So sad!
But Bella and Edward go on their honeymoon anyway, and very tastefully swim nude in the waters surrounding their private island, and then make love for the first time (in an incredibly controlled scene that reportedly was cut from a more intense, passionate version that would have given the film a R rating). And then, barely two weeks later, Bella discovers she’s pregnant, with a half-vampire, half-human baby that is gestating at a rapid rate, sapping Bella of her strength. Within a month, she resembles a gaunt, barely alive corpse, and the film’s main conflict revolves around whether Bella should be able to keep her baby, even though it may kill her during childbirth. Bella wants to carry the child to term, and supportive vampire Rosalie (Nikki Reed) snaps at anyone who calls it a “fetus.” Edward and Jacob, meanwhile, care for Bella more than whatever is in her womb, urging her to get an abortion to save herself. It’s somewhat heavy-handed, of course, but the film sticks with Bella’s decision — and since it’s one of the only ones the character has ever made, more power to her!
Overall, though, the film is just building up to “Breaking Dawn Part 2” (much like the final “Harry Potter” book, which was split into two movies), so much of it is pleasant but slow-moving. The film finds welcome moments of humor, like the awkward speeches at Bella’s and Edward’s wedding reception and her anxious actions before their first night together (she brushes her teeth, shaves her legs, sorts through lingerie, etc.). And Stewart and Pattinson, playing devoted lovers for years now, truly make us feel their emotion during their wedding kiss and honeymoon — he breaks the bed, teehee! — and of course it must help that they’re dating in real life. But ultimately there’s something magnetic about the pair that makes the film’s focus on them feel intimate and affectionate.
Nevertheless, “Breaking Dawn” has its own host of flaws, from ones common to the series (the fights are always shot too dark, so you can’t see anything really happening between the vampires and werewolves) to others specific to this film, like corny elevator music playing throughout important scenes, native women who can tell Edward is a vampire and hammily warn Bella of “death,” and clumsy acting from Lautner, who looks good shirtless but never seems to infuse any emotion into his lines. At this point, the series has a strict formula, and director Bill Condon unfortunately sticks with all of it.
It’s impossible to deny that “Breaking Dawn Part 1” gives viewers what they want, and does so in a way that is at times incredibly genuine. Stewart and Pattinson are loving, Lautner is half-nude and the film fully conveys Meyer’s Mormon values. Love or hate “Twilight,” at least it’s almost over.
