It’s no secret that the Twilight Saga is a franchise for fans and fans only - well, fans and the occasional disgruntled friend or partner dragged along for good measure. Ever since the first of the five films (four books) was released back in 2008 with a a modest budget yet huge box office takings, the subsequent films have gotten bigger and better, thanks to their now appropriate budgets and huge global and extremely loyal following. They’ve also attracted better, more high profile directors such as Chris Weitz (‘New Moon’, ‘About A Boy’), David Slade (‘Eclipse’, ’30 Days of Night’) and now Bill Condon (‘Dreamgirls’). But facts remain the same - while highly addictive tween reads, they were never the most well-written books, and the films follow in the same vein. However, what they lack in substance and decent dialogue they make up for with beautiful settings, eye-popping visual effects, exciting fight scenes added to spice up the dull source material... and last but not least, hunky hunky shirtless men.
TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN PART 2 - FINAL TRAILER
As with the previous films, ‘Breaking Dawn Part 2’ has successfully filled the gaps left by the books. In the case of this final episode, that involves a very impressive fight sequence that will leave the non-readers riveted and shouting, “Finally, something is happening!”, while the fans of the books will scratch their heads, thinking “I don’t remember this bit.” Nonetheless, the film is better for it. Much better.
‘Breaking Dawn Part 2’ hits all of its targets, including some long-awaited hot Vampire-on-Vampire lovin’ - but it does, as always, disappoint on the substance meter. A total of 18 new vampire characters are introduced in this chapter, many with unique powers and stories of their own, yet we’re rarely privy to any of them, and the ones we are, we’re only left wanting more but the film never delivers.
The always-sullen Kristen Stewart finally lets us see some of those acting chops the industry and fans are often too quick to mention while the rest of us ponder what in the hell they’re talking about. Her character Bella is now (at last!) a vampire, and we see her transform physically and emotionally as she comes to deal with that as well as motherhood, impending doom and a questionable relationship between her best friend and new born daughter. Perhaps it is just all that vampire sex that agrees with her.
So, for fans, enjoy. It’s been a long and arduous wait. As for non-fans: "Eh, it’s not that bad."