Film Review: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2. Rated M (supernatural themes, violence and sex scene). 115 minutes. Directed by Bill Condon. Screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg. Based on the novel Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer.

Verdict: The final vampire slap-down is undeniably worth the wait.

Just like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, and in what seems like light-years away, Star Wars, there is something immensely satisfying about a series of films reaching their conclusion. In recent years it has become almost synonymous with the ‘business’ of movie making – that every chance to reap more megabucks at the box office should be matched by wandering sagas that, like The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, take 117 minutes to say what could have been said in a third of the time. Or less.

The decision to make the final instalment of Meyer’s best-selling The Twilight Saga series of books into two films was met with a good deal of cynicism by many, while fans of the series were equally delighted to discover that there was going to be yet another opportunity to share in the company of their heroes and heroines on their journey through immortality. And the only question that remains to be answered is was it worth it?

With Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward’s (Robert Pattinson) daughter Renesmee (the effervescent Mackenzie Foy) growing at a rapid rate, centuries-old conflicts resurface when the Volturi are mistakenly informed that Edward and Bella have broken vampire law by giving birth to a human child who has then been transformed into a vampire as a result of being bitten. The Cullen clan, with the help of ‘Uncle’ Jacob (Taylor Lautner) must race against time to gather witnesses to prove to the Volturi that Renesmee was, in fact, born half mortal and half immortal and therefore represents no danger to their vampire legacy.

Condon (Gods and Monsters, Kinsey, Dreamgirls, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1) and cinematographer Guillermo Navarro (Breaking Dawn Part 1, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) work wonders with the now-familiar environments – and the opening sequences of Bella relishing in her new-found vampire powers are fantastically shot, while also serving to add a delightful layer of much-needed humour to Rosenberg’s water-treading screenplay.

But the climactic slap-down between the opposing clans that concludes the saga was only ever going to be this particular film’s talking point. Everything leads up to it – and it is undeniably worth the wait. More violent than we’re used to at home with the Cullens, the scope and breadth of the confrontation is almost Shakespearian and is delivered to the screen with immense skill from everyone involved – with editor Virginia Katz ramping up and maintaining the tension throughout the breath-draining battle for survival of the prettiest.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.