Film Review: Breaking Dawn, Part 2

After re-watching the first four films and listening to a shuffled playlist of Michelle Branch and Taylor Swift on the car ride over, I was in the perfect state of mind to see the fifth and final installment of the Twilight saga. And as long as Breaking Dawn Part 2 is held to the standards of being about as good as Breaking Dawn Part 1 and not as good as any other movie ever released besides Gigli, then I have to say, this one’s a winner.

Chock-full of moving voiceovers like, “My time as a human was over but I never felt more alive,” Breaking Dawn actually keeps your interest. There’s a lot of stuff going on: Bella and Edward’s baby, the couple can finally do it vampire style and, of course, the brewing of a giant supernatural war. The Cullens must collect vampire witnesses in order to protect the life of Bella and Edward’s half-blood—whoops, wrong series—half-vampire child in the face of the Volturi elite. What happens they finally meet is the only time in the whole series I’ve ever been sitting, open-mouthed, on the edge of my seat. One of my complaints with the novels has always been that the action is slow-moving, but this movie kept the plot chugging along.

Kristen Stewart also deserves some credit. Finally, come round five, her acting didn’t physically hurt me. Her chops have improved, and the remaining awkwardness fits with the Bella we have come to know. No Oscars in her future, but maybe her MTV Movie Award will actually be deserved this time around.

There is, however, one major flaw in this film that I cannot overlook: the demon baby. I don’t say demon baby because Bella and Edward’s child is half-vampire; I say demon baby because the filmmakers decided that instead of casting a real baby, they would use CGI to construct the face. It is the most disturbing thing I’ve ever seen, except for the birthing video I watched in seventh-grade science class. And what’s worse, they continued to CGI the face until the girl was eight or nine. So the demon baby grew into a demon child. Yes, this child needed to age rapidly, but that’s why you cast multiple children who look the part. Find siblings. I don’t care. Just don’t do an extreme close up on a fake baby face with way too much hair.

If you have ever declared yourself Team Edward or Team Jacob, you’ll be very happy with this final installment. If you only go to laugh (it’s OK, I know you secretly like them) you’ll be satisfied too. This is not a good film, but it’s a great Twilight movie.