The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 Movie Discussion

The last movie of the series is released this Thursday night. The first two reviews are now up.

http://moviecitynews.com/2012/11/twilight-bd-part-ii-premiere-review-ish/

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117948738/

 

I saw the movie this afternoon. I thought it was easily the second best movie in the series. The third movie only beats it since it was a more complete story, this one really needs to be seen with all of the past movies to be fully appreciated.

Some things I liked:
They did a great job showing Bella first waking up as a new vampire and showing off some of her powers. It was nice seeing her kick some ass. We got many neat scenes showing off the powers of the new vampires in the movie. The Volturi finally do something besides standing around and making threatening remarks. The final twist of the movie was something I expected since I had read the book, but I was glad it was there. If they had completely followed the book there would have many pissed off people in the audience. The action was good if a little too bloodless. The final part of the movie showing the entire cast in black and white was probably one of the highlights for all the Twihards. I also loved the music during it.


Things I had problems with:
The CGI scenes with young Renesmee was very distracting since it wasn't good at all, but thankfully it got much better once they stopped using it for the actress and just let her act. Jacob had almost nothing to do in this movie, but I guess that was a problem already from the books. Also barely any Alice, but I guess she was good at the scenes she was in.

I had a good time. This movie isn't for people that suddenly decided to watch out of the blue, but for those that have been watching the series as it had went along.

 

AHEM

 

My topic was started a day before yours.

Maybe a MOD could merge the two topics?

 

Huh, apparently it was.

I didn't see it when I looked for it the other night when I made mine.

 

Maybe now we can finally put the Twilight crap-fest down once and for all...

 

I've only seen the first Twilight movie; I can't say it was my cup of tea so I'm not that fussed about seeing any of the others.


But from looking at my facebook this weekend, from peoples status' I can see why these movies break a lot of box office records. ie there seems to be a lot of annoyed/bored boyfriends getting dragged to the cinema this weekend
(This is a good time to be single)

 

Weren't there rumors a little while ago that they were going to do a TV series?
I watched the first movie a few months back when I first started getting into the urban fantasy stuff, and I actually enjoyed it. It wasn't the greatest thing I've ever seen, but I liked it enough that I plan on watching the rest of the series, and maybe checking out the books.

 

What I posted in the thread I started Wednesday night, not knowing this one existed:

I got a ticket to a free screening of it [Wednesday night] so I went ahead and went, long-ass line at the "sold out" theater but managed to get a decent seat.

I've been harsh on the Twilight Movies given the dubious source material and the sappiness of them (not to mention dubious romantic plot.) I do own the movies on DVD but only for Rifftrax enjoyment. The first two movies were mostly bogged down with the melodrama and the "love triangle" in it between two supernatural creatures and the blandest girl on the planet but the last two movies picked up the action a bit and seemed a bit sharply directed, still weighted down with the action plot.

Probably to compete with the Harry Potter Books/Movies the last book of the Twilight series was broken into two movies, the first movie certainly felt padded. This movie doesn't seem to suffer from that quite as much but can drag at parts. (re: any part with Bella and Edward looking into each other.)

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn (Part 2)

My Grade: B

The movie picks up right where the last one left off following a nightmarish impromptu c-section delivering her half-human/half-vampire baby that resulted in the shattering of Bella's spine and having her abdomen ripped open. In desperate attempt to save her Edward injects Bella with a syringe full of his venom as well as bitting her multiple times; at the end of the previous movie we see Bella's frail, broken, form fill out, heal itself and her blood-red eyes awaken.

As Bella fully comes to she's engorged by the enhanced senses of being a vampire and finds her new "powers" as one difficult to manage, as well as controlling her blood-thirst which poses a problem in dealing with her "alive" daughter, Renesmee. Renesmee's hybrid status makes her alive but also has granted her the random "vampire power" as well as accelerated aging.

Believing the child to be mortal one turned to a vampire a member of the Cullen family reports this "crime" to the higher-ups of the vampire coven. (Child vampires are powerful, very difficult to control and perceived as a threat to the coven.) The Volturi decide to to pay a visit to the Cullen family and potentially kill the child. Knowing that child IS growing and poses no threat the Cullens call upon the aid of other vampire friends from around the world as well as their werewolf truce to convince the Volturi the child is no threat.

As a side detail Jacob has "imprinted" on the child, meaning he has an undying love and devotion to her as is Werewolf Law.

The movie is a bit quicker paced and full of surprises than the other ones and I left the theater actually pretty impressed with what occurred in it which I can't get too much into without delving into spoilers. Having not read the books and only having vague knowledge of them I'm not sure how well what happens in the movie lines up with the book.

Anyway, I'm sure "Twilight" fans will enjoy the movie no matter what, "Twilight Pure Haters" won't go see it no matter what but if you're like me and sort-of "tolerate" the Twilight movies and can "enjoy" them for what they are you might be pleasantly surprised.

If you want to know the ending I'll share it in spoiler code, but only read it if you absolutely DO NOT care if you know the ending. I'd almost say this is "Sixth Sense" or "The Usual Suspects" level of "the spoiler will ruin the movie" but not quite that extreme.

Spoiler: BIG TIME SPOILERS!!!!!!

When the Volturi arrive at the "battle ground" between the Cullen Clan/Werewolf Pack, Alice (whose "vampire power" allows her to see the future) talks to the lead Volturi (whose "vampire power" allows him to see into the mind of anyone whose hand he touches) she quickly realizes no matter what the Volturi intended to kill and destroy those who stand with the Cullens as they perceive the child as a potential threat (even knowing her true nature.)

A large brawl begins between the groups resulting in the deaths of Carlisle, Jasper and others of the Cullen family as well as the Volturi. Jacob takes off with Renesmee who has a backpack with faked passports for both her and Jacob; hopefully allowing them to get to safety and live out their lives together.

The brawl escalates leading to the death of the leader of the Volturi as Edward and Bella work together to break off his head (the only way to "kill" a Twilight vampire.) As the camera pulls form his eyes in a burning fire we snap back in time to before the fight, it all being a vision of what Alice currently sees as the "future."

Realizing the battle will only end in his own "death" and needless bloodshed the head Volturi decides to leave the Cullens alone as the child poses no threat which is further helped by the testimony of another human/vampire found by Alice. He states that he aged for a few months before reaching the permanent age of someone in their late teens, where he has been for over 100 years thus further proving hybrids pose no threat to the Volturi or the "secrecy" of Vampires.

 

Just saw it today myself. Trekker is pretty much on target with that review. And

Spoiler: Comment on Spoilers

I like how they decided to go with that - if only to see Alice literally feed Jane to the wolves.

 

Because I'm a good husband I took my wife to this today

This thing was beyond terrible. There were Irish Vampires and they were Red headed sterotypes and the end battle was the biggiest copout in cinema history. Imagine the end of Return of the Jedi. Luke and Vader are fighting there's a huge space battle, Ewoks are being slaughtered then someone nudges the Emperor who's just been day dreaming the whole thing and he just gives up and the movie ends.

 

You have to understand the ending in light of the way it is written in the book. From that perspective, it actually makes a lot of sense, because, without giving it away what you see onscreen is vastly different from the book - so the producer/directors are actually throwing a curve to the fans who are there who have read the books. From that perspective, no it wasn't a "copout" at all.

 

Indeed, many book fans were very angry when it was leaked out the ending of the movie was changed from the book (where they just talk and the Volturi say, "Meh, whatever." and leave.) So this is almost, and I hate to go this far but here it is, like the "Death of Spock" thing. Where it got leaked so they had the "death scene" in the simulator in order to cover-up the true death at the end.

The makers of BD2 played the reverse of that card, essentially, playing on the potential leaks in order to hide their twist ending. (I believe Stephanie Myer was even "in on" the changed ending stunt they were pulling.)

I was very surprised by the ending and actually loved it, thought it was very well done. It served a good climatic battle that resulted in the death of characters that I actually liked (Carlisle, Jasper, pretty much anyone who isn't Bella or Edward) while also delivering the real ending of the book (which doesn't have all of those deaths) with a fun twist.

And I've never read the books so at first I was confused because the ending contrasted with what I thought the ending was from what I've read ABOUT the books, and somewhat cared about the character deaths then BAM I'm hit with that twist. It was really awesome.

I can't believe I just said that.

I'll come out and admit it, I'm a slight fan of these movies. They're not good movies by any stretch and they're FILLED with flaws but there's a level of enjoyment in there, I think. Especially with the third one and now this final one. (The previous one I can go either way on.)

This final movie I enjoyed. There were some good moments in it and becoming a vampire actually made Bella a slightly more interesting character as it allowed Stewart to unhinge herself a bit and show more emotion than "Dull... Line?" (But, I also think that's consistent with the book.)

Though I think the movie should have dealt more with Bella's transition to vampire-dom. (Though I suspect that got lost in padding out the first part of the book for last year's movie in order to make Bella's transition to vampire the cliff-hanger ending for the more interesting second part of the book.)

Bella seems to pretty easily learn to shrug off craving for human blood and taking on the "vegetarian" vampire lifestyle of the Cullens (who only consume blood from animals, a process they describe as being living off tofu, you can do it but it leaves you unsatisfied.)

Also the girl who plays the older version of Renessme in the future visions was hot. We should've gotten more of her too rather than glimpses of her we get in Jacob's visions in the previous movie and the "flash forward" we get in this movie.

I liked the "curtain call" of all of the previous actors from the movies over the end credits sequence. I did notice Anna Kendrick in the opening credits but she wasn't in this movie, was she?

 

Exactly! I went because I had read the book - it was the only one of them I had read, and it turned out that I really enjoyed it. I expected it to follow the book (which it did for the most part), and I had no idea about any of the talk about the movie going into it. So, when the battle began and Carlisle bit it, I, along with a lot of others who obviously had read it, was totally shocked - and it wasn't just a quick sequence, the battle was prolonged. Sure, it plays out as one of Alice's visions, but it's not at all a vision that's without detail and unclear - it's extremely clear and marvelously detailed. I had seen the other movies, and really felt sorta "Meh" about them for the most part, but this served as a real payoff for me - not a "copout" at all; not be a longshot.

 

And, well, I have to toss this out there because it made me laugh.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iGz9F1sQOPU[/yt]

Yeah, the ending wasn't cop-out and not at all analogous to the "Emperor having a day dream" thing posted above. Essentially this was the movie being able to have it's cake and eat it too, it was able to have a big climatic battle that was exciting and action-packed (something you need in a movie) and also have the "true ending" of the movies at the same time. And I think they did it very, very well. The movie also has plenty of tongue-in-cheek moments in it where it's obviously playing with itself in being self-aware of what it is. (The director of this movie and the last one is no slouch by any means.) The scene between Jacob and Mustache-Dad where Jacob reveals himself was hilarious and playing with the "shirtless hot boy" trope the movie's become known for when it comes to fan-girls and Twilight Moms.

Actually a fun, surprising, movie.

 

I am a fan of the books. Don't ask me why. They appeal to the 15 year old buried inside me I guess. I was unsatisfied with the end of the book so I'm glad they changed it for the movie. I also have to say I don't think it was wrong of them to split the book into two. Really, it should have been 2 books. Hoping to see the movie next week.

 

Just because the filmmakers felt beholden to the source material (and maybe, contractually speaking, they were; who knows) doesn't mean the ending twist wasn't a copout.

 

You can't criticise Twilight when you have an Autobot logo under your name !

My wife loves Twilight and my son is a Transformers fanatic. I'm not fond of either, but I enjoyed Twilight 3 and 1 was OK. Which is more than I can say for any of the Transformers films or cartoons...

 

As much money as these things made, I can't imagein there won't be sequels and that make me want to put a shotgun in my mouth

 

I thought the final battle in the movie was awesome. I'm sure Meyer wished that she could have thought it her herself when she wrote the last book.

The final 'battle' in the novel would have been impossible to put on scene and not have it come off as ridicious. I'm just glad Meyer seemed to not have any problem with the changes. I'm sure as producer and author of the books, she could have told them no on the big action scene.