The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I [Blu-ray]
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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
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I [Blu-ray]
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Above and Beyond Expectations,
Being a huge fan of the books and a pretty big fan of the movies, I was blown away at what a great job they did with this movie installment. I loved the visual and audio parallels they drew between the original movie, Twilight, and this movie. For instance (Spoiler Alerts throughout): I loved how they played Flightless Bird during the wedding ceremony and the way the camera circled them kissing in the same manner the camera circled E & B kissing at Prom at the very end of Twilight. It was a subtle, yet stunning way to visually tie the two movies together and really made more of an emotional impact than if they had just shot them straight on and plugged in a different song. That was genius. And that dress…gorgeous. Just as it was described in the book.
I also loved that rather than having one continuous honeymoon “consummation” scene, they broke it up with Bella thinking about certain moments the next morning after looking in the mirror for the first time, where she’s no longer a virgin. It was all done so tastefully. The way one’s first time should be at that age. Not at some house party or in the back of some guy’s car. For those who read the books and knew how Edward did everything he could to exhaust Bella with activities on their honeymoon so she’d be too tired to “try again”, you have to admit that Bill Condon did such a great job showing you visually all the things they were doing without either character having to come out and say, I’m/you’re trying to exhaust you/me. And it was adorable with KS put on her little nightgown and leaned against the wall…I got married when I was 19 and I felt the exact same way when I put on lingerie for the first time and dreaded walking into the bedroom with my little gown on. I felt like a child playing dress-up, much like it came off Bella felt.
I was also very impressed by the manner with which Bill Condon allowed us to see through the eyes of Jacob for the first time and hear what he hears with regard to the internal dialog between him and the pack. That scene where the wolves were running to the lumber yard and their voices echoed in Jacob’s mind…that was so perfectly done. AND, I loved loved loved the way the Sam and Jacob had their battle for alpha. It was as if you, the person watching the movie, was in the mind of a wolf who is being forced into submission by it’s Alpha. The CGI team did a great job because I forgot I was watching computer generated wolves and the intensity of the scene felt like I was there witnessing the true dynamic of a wolf pack.
I thought the birth scene was beyond intense. The scene almost mirroring that as it’s written in the book. I think they showed just the right amount of Bella’s internal agony during her transformation. For those of us who read the books, to say she had a prolonged bout of suffering during her transformation would be an understatement. However, if they had shown more of that in the movie, it would have taken from the torture that Edward was going through thinking he had lost Bella, and Jacob’s malevolence towards Renesmee prior to imprinting on her. That whole scene allowed for each character’s state of mind to be both seen, visually, and felt, emotionally. Powerfully shot and brilliantly executed.
I imagine the imprinting scene was a difficult one to translate from paper to screen. They did a great job in this as well. Not in any way cheesy, but sweet and breathless…if that makes any sense. The only thing I did not love about it was that the girl/teenager Jacob sees as an older Renesmee appeared to be CGI. They used an actual young girl to play the younger Renesmee, why not use a real person for the older Renesmee too? I’m sure Hollywood has a few young actresses that would have auditioned for the part???
I loved the fight between the wolves and the Cullens at the very end of the movie. In the books, you go from Jacob’s perspective where he witnesses Bella’s death and then walks into the living room to kill Renesmee, only to imprint on her. And then you go immediately back to Bella’s perspective where she’s riving in pain while she’s transforming into a vampire. I feel Melissa Rosenburg had a stroke of brilliance when she decided to add this scene so that the audience could see what could have happened in the books, but did happen in the movie, during the time period between Jacob imprinting on Renesmee and Bella awakening for the first time as a vampire. Another unexpected and totally welcomed brilliant surprise of this movie.
Another welcome surprise for me was while Bella was at the very end of her transformation. I thought it was a touching visual moment that just before her heart beat for the very last time, we witnessed Bella’s memories in a somewhat reverse chronological order, ending with her very first human memory as a baby in the arms of her parents bouncing her in front of a mirror.
But what was not a surprise…
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|A very tasty story about love and death dancing with wolves, mixing happiness and sadness, despair and hope – and sex and blood!,
I just saw “Breaking Dawn” part 1, and I was VERY impressed, even if as a man I am probably not the most typical fan of “Twilight” series. I rather liked all the “Twilight” movies until now and this one is, to my personnal taste, as good as the previous ones – and even in one aspect a little bit better, as Edward and Bella finally become lovers. Below, you will find a short description of what I believe are the best elements of this film, with very limited SPOILERS:
1. Actors. All actors evolved as the serie continued and I believe they all got better with time. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are both excellent, but – in my humble opinion – it is Kristen Stewart who in this movie shines the most. Quite a lot of people frequently criticized her actorship claiming that she simply can not play at all and has a very limited assortment of expressions in her tool box. But for me, after reading “Twilight” books, this is how the character of Bella should be. I can hardly picture her wide smiling with all her teeth bared or doing any other highly extraverted things like that. In fact I believe that either by design or by accident Kristen Stewart got the things right about this character – her minimalistic approach to facial expressions actually makes (for me) Bella very believable and also quite likeable. In this part of the story, Bella takes a more dynamic approach to life by taking her destiny firmly under control. She makes important decisions and takes extreme risks, stubbornly resisting the opposite advice of all her family and friends – all of that in a deceptively unassuming way… And Kristen Stewart acted in the movie exactly as I pictured Bella did it, when I read the books. A very good job!
Other actors are also great, with Ashley Greene and Billy Burke being as usual the pillars – but amongst the supporting roles it is Nikki Reed who really gets the most praise from me. She has a much bigger role in this film and she is perfect in it! The one (little) disappointment is Jackson Rathbone, who changed comletely his haircut for this film and as a result his character, Jasper, seems much less impressive, which is a pity. He also seems to appear very little in the “first line”, almost as if the director preferred to hide him a little…
2. Visual aspects. As usual, the images of state of Washington are great, but the tropical island where Bella and Edward spend their honey moon is also very pleasantly showed. Dark forests filled with (were)wolves are very much present here and they are a great background for the story.
3. Music. As usual in those series, music and songs have been selected very carefully and with a great taste.
4. The (were)wolf pack. The Quileute wolves are shown here even more and better than in the previous part. The scene of their war council, when they are all in the werewolf form, is absolutely great! The scene when Sam (the alpha male) asserts and confirms his power over the pack is excellent – as good as the description of Jacob’s defiance and its consequences.
5. The wedding. A very nice and moving scene with some humour elements, especially when the guests make speeches offering toasts. Emmett, Jessica and Bella’s father give here a great show. In the same time Mike Newton obsesses on vampire bridesmaids from the Denali clan, to the point of drooling (and I TOTALLY understand him!). Bella’s mum and, suprprise surprise, Rosalie (!) are also real treasures in wedding scenes.
6. Quileute wolves vs. Cullen coven confrontation. This heartbreaking, tense and at moments violent conflict in which both sides are trapped against their will is a great moment in the Twilight saga – and its final resolution is even better! Finally it is true what the Beatles were singing – all you need is love! Babies help too…
7. The fight for Bella’s life, Renesmee’s bloody birth and Bella’s fate – excellent! Those were moments very difficult to film – but the challenge was met succesfully! Nothing more about it to avoid more spoilers, but I was very impressed!
Conclusion: it is an excellent movie which I watched with great pleasure. My wife, who usually is a much harder person to please, loved it too and she is going to see it again with some girlfriends. And we will certainly both wait with great expectations for the “Breaking dawn” part 2. If it was done as well as that one, it will be certainly worth waiting one year to see it…
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