MOVIE REVIEW … TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN Part 1

 

The Twilight franchise has proved the adage ‘no matter how poor a movie people will see it anyway’.  It’s understandable given how much money it has made although why audiences have turned these films into hits remains a mystery.  A win for hype over quality perhaps although the vanilla vampirism within has hardly made it a memorable series akin to other long-running franchises.  Breaking Dawn Part 1 is strictly for fans with the lovelorn supernatural romanticism enabling cash registers to ring once again.

After a long and tortuous courtship, vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and mortal Bella (Kristen Stewart) marry.  Hoping the bad times are behind them, they settle into an unusual type of domestic bliss.  With forlorn werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) watching from afar, little do they know of the trouble ahead.  When Bella falls pregnant the race is on to save her and her child from the curse Edward with which has lived.  That coupled with a cabal of wolves determined to kill them sees an eventual start to their marital lives.

The first part of the fourth instalment of the series, Breaking Dawn Part 1 lays the ground-work for the promised ‘scorching finale’.  This probably accounts for this incredibly slow moving first chapter with various incidents seemingly placed to pad out the running time.  The wedding and honeymoon sequences are filmed in suitably lush strokes although once Bella becomes pregnant events stop at a stand-still.  Whilst having the ‘threat’ to the couple mostly arising from their impetuous nature is interesting, it’s so drawn out interest soon evaporates.

As always the scripting and acting is of a poor standard with some truly awful dialogue.  A shame director Bill Condon has seen fit not to bring any energy or life with even the special effects looking shoddier than usual.  This is noticeable in the scenes involving the vengeful werewolves which ultimately add nothing to a tale limping towards its cliff-hanging conclusion.  

Breaking Dawn Part 1 is a generally dull exercise in cash grabbing with only the photography being of any note.  The best thing about it is the thought the series concludes with Part 2 next year with hopefully better franchises to be made deserving of its ‘block-buster’ status.

Movie Review Rating  2 / 10

Movie Review by Patrick Moore

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