Review of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012) by Darwin K — 10 Apr 2017

The Twilight saga finally concludes with Breaking Dawn: Part 2, ending the YA (young adult) series in a mess of confusion and lack of emotional impact. Our main characters grimly prepare for possible war with their vampire government, the Volturi, who object to Bella and Edward's vampire child being born from her when she was human. The love triangle that's lasted almost the entire series is over by now, which as annoying as it was, still made for some drama in the previous films. The werewolf Jacob's continued involvement with Bella and Edward's lives is explained by him unintentionally "imprinting" on their newborn baby daughter, essentially forming an unbreakable werewolf bond with Bella's infant, and therefore is not able to leave her side. Just when these movies couldn't seem to get any more bizarre, a werewolf has fallen in love with a vampire baby.

Misguided plot points aside, this movie feels the least exciting or tense of any in the series. The fight for Bella's love by the two boys is over, so the tension and suspense in this final installment relies on a vague threat by their vampire government, which *Spoilers* doesn't actually result in anything happening anyway. While Breaking Dawn: Part 1 was a joyless, painful-to-watch mess, at least some things were happening. BD: Part 2 must rely on the only scene of action in the whole film, which later turns out to be fake, to give the illusion that a climax has happened. When this final action scene is revealed to be just a projected vision by a character who can see the future, the entire theater cried out in anger and disappointment. Including it was the right choice however, as it would have actually been the most dull and boring film ever made. This was the franchise's last con on their audience, once again reminding us that these movies have no purpose, meaning, or emotional depth to them. They have shamelessly pandered, and eventually insulted, the masses of young fans who got caught up in this romance a long time ago. Any excitement or emotion from before has been long gone by this point.

The whole concept of making two parts of the Breaking Dawn book was set up for failure, as anyone who read the novel would know that the plot essentially ends after the point where the first BD film ends. Anticipating the Volturi was all that was left, leaving this film to plod along in pointless scenes of people who look like Abercrombie & Fitch models talking in rooms of their nice house, eventually reminding us at the film's end that these movies are supposed to consist of supernatural romance adventures. The audience erupts in forced applause after the manipulative ending, literally showing a slideshow of Edward and Bella's life from previous films, in order to remind the audience that this is supposed a love story. BD: Part 2 has little romance and only one action scene, which again didn't actually occur, and otherwise bored to tears. The audience is supposed to buy into the con that there is something worthwhile here, it's just not convincing enough to even accomplish the illusion of a real story. The only way this movie could possibly be recommended to anyone who is of sound mind would be for an it's-so-bad-it's-good-so-lets-laugh-at-it kind of viewing. The characters are bland and have nothing to do. The dialogue is painful to listen to, and the decently executed fight scene at the end was squandered by it not being real, making this the shallowest and most pathetic major release in a long time.

1/5.

(review originally posted on release, but has since been edited and improved by author on April 11, 2017).