The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - Review *spoilers*

In Breaking Dawn Part 2, the Cullens and newborn vampire Bella must face the Volturi after a claim is made that Bella and Edward's daughter is an immortal child. A claim that, in the vampire world, is a very high offense punishable by death.


Let me start off by stating I am not a Twilight fan. I have seen all the movies and have read the books but I have never been a fan. I have always thought the story was bland, poorly written, and even more poorly acted. However, I decided to conclude my Twilight experience like many others and I went to see Breaking Dawn Part 2.
In my opinion, it is just as poorly acted and poorly written as the previous films but I will give credit for the fact that it is incredibly entertaining. BD Part 2 is by far the most enjoyable and entertaining of all 5 Twilight films. Yes it strayed from the book (a lot) and had awful pacing but it had humor and kept you pretty into what was going on.

You begin the film right where Breaking Dawn Part 1 left off. By "right where" I mean just that. The first part ends with Bella's transformation into a vampire and the second part begins with her red eyes opening and her first experiences as a vampire; seeing Edward for the first time as an immortal and her first hunt. In the book Bella's first hunting experience was rather dragged out and a lot more happened. In the movie it was very quick and right to the point. It's like right as she sees Edward he is like, you're thirsty let's go hunt. Right away they are running through the woods and she encounters a deer, gets distracted by a rock climber, and then jumps off a cliff and devours a mountain lion. It adds to my argument of extremely poor pacing in this film because it happened with almost no explanation and no lead in or out of the scene. It just kind of happens.
Along with that the rest of the events of the film, some in the book and some aren't, do the same thing. They just appear out of nowhere and happen and then they move onto the next event. It's like they present us with information and expect you to understand what is going on. I mean, I read the books and there were a couple moments that had me a little lost.

I don't want to spoil anything since the end of the film does have things that DID NOT happen in the book, so if you haven't seen the movie yet I would advise you to not click the jump and read ahead. I would wait until you see the movie. Just my recommendation.




Now... the ending. Let me just say that I wish this is what would have happened in the book. Basically the Cullens and their witnesses meet in a giant snowy field with the Volturi and their witnesses. They say they are not prepared for battle and Edward proves to Aro that Renesmee is not immortal and they are ready to move along their merry way and leave. That isn't until Aro decides to make an example out of Irina in front of the rest of her coven and she is killed. The Denali's try to retaliate but are stopped by Edward and the two vampires from the Amazon. But then Alice and Jasper show up and Alice tries to prove that Renesmee's existence isn't going to threaten the secret of vampires by showing Aro one of her visions. While this happens a strike is made and Carlisle becomes the first casualty and the battle begins. Yes, the battle that was teased in the book.
After Carlisle is killed many other vampires and werewolves are also killed. Bella tells Jacob to go with Renesmee and to protect her daughter. She then uses her shield powers to try and protect Edward and everyone else who knows the truth from the powers of the Volturi. Soon after Jasper is killed in front of Alice, Seth and Leah are killed, and several members of the Volturi are killed including Alec and Jane. The battle comes to a close as Edward and Bella team up to capture Aro and Bella tears his head off and then sets him on fire. And then... the shot zooms back on Aro holding Alice's hand watching her vision.
Yes... IT WAS ALL A TRICK!
They basically show Alice's vision of the Volturi's fate if they chose to strike against them and the movie essentially ends the way the story ends in the book. The Volturi run away like a bunch of cowards and the Cullen's and their witnesses move on. Renesmee is safe with Edward, Bella, and Jacob and everyone basically lives happily ever after.

Now, apart from the "umad bro" moment they pulled on the audience and the poor pacing there were aspects that I didn't like. First of all, the acting was some of the worst. It doesn't really make sense seeing that this movie was filmed simultaneously with Part 1. I might need to unfortunately watch it again but I don't remember the acting being so terrible in the first movie. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner were as bad as they always have been so it was no surprise there, but I feel like Kristen Stewart dropped the ball the most. She wasn't spectacular in any of these movies but this was by far her worst since the first Twilight. She was in no way what she should have been. Bella had a sort of collected, calm demeanor in the book despite being a vampire. In the movie she seemed very overprotective and arrogant toward the other characters. It was odd and didn't fit her whatsoever.
I also think they ruined Renesmee. In the book she grew super fast, yes, but I guess I didn't expect so much CGI to be used. The CGI baby was one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen in a movie. It wasn't enjoyable, realistic, or in any way cute. I was uncomfortable whenever Renesmee was on screen. It wasn't until Mackenzie Foy was on screen that I calmed down, but even then she was tweaked with CGI to not only look younger but I think to look more like Kristen Stewart than she actually does. I also hated how much dialogue she had. Renesmee hardly spoke in the book. I think she has like 3-4 lines of dialogue. In the movie she was much more vocal along with her mind-sharing gift. It didn't mesh well at all, imo.

The only part I liked in the film and it was just about the only part in the book I liked as well... the end with Edward and Bella in their secret spot. It was really done perfectly. Bella is able to lift her shield and allow Edward to read her mind for the first time. He is able to see her memories of him and for the first time he actually knows how much Bella loves him. They put together a nice little montage of scenes from the entire saga of films and it fit very well. I will admit that I did like that part. It was shortly ruined by the cheesy credits but that's alright. The movies are for the fans and I am not necessarily a fan so I just take it for what it is. Poorly made films for a poorly written book series. Can they be enjoyable? Sure, but that doesn't make them good.
Overall I would say that New Moon has probably been my favorite of the films with Breaking Dawn Part 2 following right after. It was entertaining and did do a nice job of wrapping up the franchise. In other words, it is what it is and it's finally over. Thank God =^D