November 30, 2011

  • Breaking Dawn

    SPOILERS!

    After 3 viewings and a few scattered review readings, I've finally come to the point where I can contribute my own thoughts on that latest Twilight movie.  Of course, like the other movies, there's good, bad, and ugly. But in this one's case, there's way too much good for the bad or ugly to have an effect on my opinion of the movie.  In fact, I'd dare to say there's some "fantastic-ness" in this one.  All in all, I was extremely satisfied.  Maybe a little TOO satisfied, because if I wasn't, this post would have been submitted no later than a day after my initial viewing of the movie.  Despite all the insurmountable mess of horrid reviews that would inevitably follow such a big movie, I was most pleased.  But let me put this out there that YES, I so wish there was more in the movie.  OF COURSE, I wish there was more. There was a lot missing that made no sense to leave out, especially seeing as how one book split into two movies, so there shouldn't be much excuse to leave much out.  Some of the facts in a few negative reviews I've read totally make sense, and I even agree with them. But as for me, just bearing in mind the feelings I had from the other 3 films as opposed to the feeling that THIS one left me with? There's no comparison.  This is definitley one that did it for me, one that made me really appreciate the franchise and my participation with it.  I didn't leave this movie being so pissed off at what was left out, or what wasn't. I left this one feeling fulfilled. 

    And I will also say this much in regards to all the negative reviewers out there.  While everyone has a right to their opinions, the only people who have a right to voice that opinion as a contribution to the overall movie are those who've either seen all the films or read all the books.  Whether you loved them or hated them is irrelevant.  It's so obvious that many of the negative reviews are that much simply because they're being voiced by people who haven't the slightest idea what the hell's going on due to their lack of interest or participation in the franchise, or people who are only intent on hating what they see simply becase they're already not fans of the franchise.  It's downright laughable knowing that many of the reviews out there are being submitted by people who have only just begun to watch Twilight movies, starting with "Breaking Dawn," or are reviewers who pick on the movie for having certain elements when those elements are supposed to be there anyway, seeing as how this is derived from an already existing story IN A BOOK. It's a big duh.  It's like saying you hate Jacob for being a wolf, even though he's been a wolf since Stephenie Meyer wrote him that way.  To say you hate that element of the story if fine, but to hate a movie because it has that element is just a little ridiculous.  Are you kidding me?  And your opinion is supposed to be legitimate?  Shut up and get out of the way of those who have actually seen all the films or read all the books.  Only those people have opinions that matter in the end, whether they're for the movie or against it.   

    That said, here's my general thoughts.  In my opinion, this one was the most loyal to the book.  Still, it's amazing how many different opinions there are of that. I can't tell you how many reviews I've read of those who claim they're huge Twilight fans who think it strays too far from the book.  At worst, it's not the book in entirety, which is unfortunate because...good grief, you're splitting the dang thing into TWO flippin' movies. Is it really so difficult to include EVERYTHING?  Make the dang thing more than 2 hours long. Heck, make it three. You'd be catering the most to the fans of the franchise, and you know they'll be contributing tons of money to its success anyway, so why not make them happy?  But to say it doesn't follow the book at all would be a blatant lie, I think. Because entirety or not, there's still soooooo much from the book found in the the movie this time around, from scenery to dialogue.  In fact, I'll even dare to say that a good chunk of the movie laid out the book's scenes almost accurately. What it has included is, in my best opinion, VERY geared towards the fans and readers of the books, even if there's a lot still missing.  Sucks to be a non-book fan, I guess, but whatever.  Read them!

     THE PERFECT:

    THE WEDDING:  Event number one to NOT screw up when translating the book to screen.  Extremely perfect.  The pages were spilled out in very vivid detail right before my eyes.  From the panic on her face to the ooey, gooeyness of the new couple.  The anxiety and then relief and then the wallowing in the decision to marry him. It actually felt I was watching a real wedding.  It fit together so incredibly well.  The decorations, the ditziness of mom, the awkwardness of Charlie.  Perfect.  Eh, the dedication speeches during the reception were a bit lame, but still cute and funny.  And the altercation with Jacob outside? Is there a better word than "perfect?" Because I've already used it too many times. Jacob and Bella were practically lifted out of the pages it felt like.  And their interaction was so genuine and cute.  And my gosh, Kristen showed her first signs of emotion! Now after Jake got angry, it would have been better to see the wolves pushing him back in wolf form as in the books instead of the human forms in the movie, but it was forgivable.  The dialogue was there and that's what counts.

     THE HONEYMOON: Event number two to NOT screw up.  Again, the scene was laid out perfectly, almost page by page. I mean dang, they even remembered to include Jacob's wolf howl when Bella was leaving on her honeymoon with Edward. And everything else just fell so much into place.  Carrying her over the threshold, the ocean with a moonlit view, Bella's "human minutes" filled to the brim with more of her panic over the sharp change her life was about to take.  Even if her new husband wasn't a vampire, the entire scene was just so spot-on in portraying what a number of new virgin brides are bound to feel emotionally on their honeymoon night.  I just can't believe they included almost everything from this very pivotal scene. For a moment, I thought they had no intention to include a bruised Bella, seeing as how it was seemingly implied that she and Edward made love multiple times before they found bruises.  But after my second viewing, it became clear that, JUST LIKE THE BOOK, she was merely wallowing in the memory of making love for the first time. And like the book, the scene was merely Bella playing over and over again the moment her mind from how it began to how it ended.  She was letting the awe of her happiness be the most important fact on her mind before the bruises became a factor. Just as the book describes. I just can't believe I didn't notice it at first.  Too be THAT close to the book? Amazing. And of course the breaking of the headboard, which gave us a visual image of it occurring instead of it being an afterthought we had to imagine.  All in all, it was a very well-done honeymoon scene.  

    THE PREGNANCY AND BIRTH:  Event number 3 to NOT screw up. Though a few scenes leading up to the discovery of her pregnancy (as well as her connection to the baby) felt a little rushed and off, the actual physical pregnancy itself was damn good.  What the scene got right was Bella's puking of chicken, her pensive moment over her unused tampons, and Edward's shock that she could be pregnant with his baby. What it got wrong was her not eating like crazy every morning. Minor, yeah, but I think it would have made it fit together more.  Back to the physical pregnancy though. Whoa.  That bruised up belly and Bella's concave face and bony body were make-up jobs so well done.  She was flippin' hideous. Craggled.  Just like book Bella.  Now the birth? Oh my.  Despite the underuse of blood, it was extremely good. I do understand the need to keep this movie PG-13, but come on, they couldn't use a LITTLE more blood?  I guess so.   Still, at least they got the bone crackings right.  It totally sounded like a human was being mangled to bits.  Having the birth from Bella's perspective worked for the most part, but moments were a little unclear because of it.  For example, non-book readers may be unaware that Edward was biting the baby out of Bella, seeing as only his teeth are able to penetrate the amniotic sack.  Eh, you get a glimpse through her eyes, but honestly, it almost looks like he took a few sips from her seeping blood.  I would have preferred for Jacob to stop Rosalie from feeding on Bella instead of Alice, because in the book, it gave him a bit of purpose for being there.  But I guess it's no big deal.  

    JACOB: I feel like a broken record by now, but man. Perfect.  Even if I wasn't a "team Jacob" girl, I still think he's the most accurate of characters, along with Charlie. He's got so many lines from the book, it's almost ridiculous.  I can't even remember if any of his dialogue from the film ISN'T in the book.  Because damn near everything the boy says is straight from pages.  Okay, well...mostly everything.  There were a few changed lines that were very unsatisfying, but I'll get to that later on.

    THE IMPRINT:  It's a crucial moment in the book, though very quick.  Equally, it was a crucial moment in the movie and was executed flawlessly.  The visuals on baby Renesmee's face were almost freakishly real.  They got her eyes so right! And that magical glance over at Jacob, followed by the various snippets of an adult Renesmee taking all of Jacob's focus, as if it was erasing everything and anything else on his mind was just....I can't even find words anymore.  Just get used to reading "perfect."

    THE GOOD:

    DIALOGUE/SCENERY: As mentioned before, there were so many lines in the film that were lifted clean off the pages. I appreciated to actually hear the dialogue that I once read in my mind.  Scenery too. Bella's wedding, though not outdoors in the book, worked well on film.  The hanging flower garlands were beautiful (look at me fawning over wedding stuff. Blah, perhaps that girl in me is finally wanting marriage already).  Isle Esme, the island of their honeymoon, was awesome too. Invoked a very real feeling of...well, what?  Escapism?  Something along those lines.  

    WOLF TELEPATHY:  I appreciated getting a taste of this, seeing as how a HUGE chunk of the book involves dialogue spoken by the wolves in their wolf form. Would I have been mad if I didn't experience that?  I can't say, but I liked it for being there.  However, there was something I DIDN'T like about it, but I'll get to that later.

    BELLA:  Wow. Sharp transition.  I actually didn't hate her as much. Perhaps because she's dying?  That was suggested by a friend of mine lol, but nah, not because of that. Not really.  I just loved that she actually showed emotion this time around.  She freaking cried, man. CRIED!!  And even smiled more.  She made me believe that she cared about what was going on in her life and around it.  

    THE BAD:

    EDWARD: I hate to say it, but I don't think he was all that great this time around.  He started out okay, but then as the movie progressed...he was just wrong. What I mean is, he didn't translate very accurately on screen for some reason.  He didn't emote the pain I remember reading from the book.  Not that I wanted to see him in pain, but....I got a much better view of how desperately in love with Bella he was from the book that I didn't see too much of in the movie.  The perfect moment was when he first spoke with Jacob in which he fell to his knees in front of Jacob, something that really stood out in the book to me.  Pure submission to the connection he knew Jake shared with Bella.  I don't know who to blame for it, since Pattinson played Edward just fine before and is a very fine actor.  But something was off here.  He was just more robotic this time during the moments when I didn't want artificiality (like during Bella's pregnancy).  He was depicted more as angry, repulsed, rejected, and bitter.  Angry at Bella for wanting the baby, repulsed by the fact that the baby would kill her, rejected by Bella who wanted the baby more than him, and bitter over the fear of eventually losing her.  Yes, though much of those feelings are perfectly normal and definitely what he was feeling in the book, it's just not the way he was supposed to be expressive in the entire situation of her pregnancy. Despite his hatred of the situation, he never once was harsh towards her in the book, and that didn't show in the movie. Didn't like that.  

    MISSING SCENES: I can chalk this to mere nitpickiness, but still. They have to be said.  The obvious is all the Jacob vs. Rosalie banter. I suppose translating those moments to screen weren't really necessary for the direction they decided to take the movie, but a little bit more couldn't have hurt. And I suppose also they weren't crucial for character development.  Doesn't mean they weren't missed though; their presence would have made the in-house pregnancy scenes a little more interesting.  Jacob's desperation to get over Bella was missing too. Again, not extremely crucial, but it would have definitely helped to add to his uncontrollable urge to imprint on just ANYONE just so he didn't have to think about her anymore.   The character developments of Seth and Leah were missing too, but mainly with Leah. We get to really understand her in the book, but not so much in the movie. Yeah, there were a few tastes of it, and she definitely had book lines in the movie, but it was too short.  Too rushed. Too uninvolved. But the movie's version of the plot was different from the book, and something had to be sacrificed to accomodate it.  

    NEW VAMPIRES:  Meh.  Weird. Just thrown in the movie it felt like, and with freshly applied make-up. They should have been toned down a bit.  

    FIGHTS: Uneventful. And obviously included to add some action to the otherwise actionless first half of the book. I guess it wouldn't have worked to have just talking and talking and more talking (the sort that would have developed the characters like in the aforementioned missing scenes).  The fact that they left out the Rose and Jacob banter as well as the Leah development meant that something else had to develop to fill in the movie, and in this case, it's a fued between the wolves and vampires to add to the tension.  I forgive the changes for that alone, but still.  They didn't have to make the fights so lame.  Everyone heals fast anyway...was it too much to have someone get wounded? Guess so.

    The UGLY:

    WOLF TELPATHY: Okay, yes, I loved that I got to see this in the movie, but I hated...I repeat...HATED how it was done.  The altered voices of the actors did NOT work, and made the scene a little TOO ridiculous. Corny. Lame. Fake.  There was no reason to alter their voices in the attempt to make them menacing.  I hated it. So, while I loved to see it happen, I hated how it was done.  I'm glad it was short-lived because of this.

    A LINE:  This is gonna sound silly, but man, I really wanted to hear Jacob spit a "Throw it out the window!" in response to Edward trying to pass Renesmee to him after delivering her.  Totally nitpicky, but man, it sucked to have the actual scene RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME, and to here him utter something completely different.  Perhaps the window line may have sounded too silly, I guess, but still!

    SCORE BITS:  Fortunately, SOME of the movie's music was great, even awesome.  But other parts of it, like the piano themes with just Edward and Bella?

    HORRIFIC. Dowright distracting, invasive, and extremely unappealing.  I can't believe how much I hated the music for chunks of this movie.  As a result, the scenes that were supposed to be---well "sweet" I suppose---ended up being like something out of a lame soap opera.  Very amateurish feeling to them.  As I said, though, some music was great and saved the movie's score at least in some areas. 

    THE RUSH THROUGH THE MOVIE:  This was very loyal to the book, in my opinion, but not as loyal as it could have been. It was rushed and moved too quickly when it should have taken its time.  Bella's connection to the baby, for instance.  I don't think there was much thought put into that.  Because of the pace of the movie, I didn't see a reason why she'd suddenly embrace her baby as this "miracle," as she says.  The pace says to me that the only logical reaction she should have is fear and uncertainty. Obviously she doesn't have this in the books, but because they didn't dwell enough on it and just sped through it, it didn't come off right to me.  The only thing that makes me forgive that is what was right in the movie, which was plenty.  But now I'm being repetitive again.  

    VOLTURI:  Totally useless and added nothing, not even suspense.  They came across as slapstick and silly to me.  Just not a cool extra screen to end the movie at all. They were better off showing a teaser trailer to the second half of Breaking Dawn next year.

    So all in all, despite my complaints, I love this movie above all the others.  It gives me extremely high hopes for the conclusion of the series and I think that's saying a lot.

Comments (2)

  • You remember when I wrote my review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt.1 and you wrote, and I quote, "Thank goodness this series is finally over."? 

    Oh, and how can you talk about Jacob and not mention that hair? Huh? HUH?!?!?!?!?!!?!  

  • @Dm - I can't properly comment, seeing as how the shock of seeing a comment from you on my blog caught me off guard.  Give me a minute to contain myself......

    .....little more.....

    .....almost..................

    ....whew. Okay. I'm okay.  Yes, I do remember commenting that, and I still stand by it.  I'm not surprised you'd say the same thing, but it doesn't faze me either way.  And I don't talk about his hair because I'm not as focused on it as you are! :p

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