A Saga Crepúsculo: Amanhecer - Parte 1

There is not much happening altogether in this film. They put way too much focus on the wedding and the honeymoon, thus wasting precious time. But I guess all those teenage girl fans wanted a full portrayal of the big romantic wedding.

In all of the previous films, I liked the acting of most of the cast a lot. But in this film, everyone except Bella, Edward & Jacob is marginalised to such an extent that there cannot be much said about them. As an audience you just don't get to see enough of any of them to really develop a connection with or care about them.

Altogether this is an OK addition to the franchise, by no means worse than the disappointing/confusing 2nd or 3rd films. I assume I will give this film either a 5 or a 6 (out of 10), but I think I will withhold my final vote until I have seen part 2. I know some might say that they are released as separate films and therefore should be treated as such, but as the original book is ripped into two halves here, I think it is fair to reserve the final judgement until I have seen the two films in conjunction (seeing that, as I haven't read the books, I will need to have seen both films in order to make sense of it all).

To rate this movie I think I should split my opinion in two: The twilighter side and the neutral side. Read the part that better mirrors your attitude.

NEUTRAL: The movie has no cinematographic value at all. Just a lame, slow, in places disgusting report of how a vampire-human marriage could be in the first part, and a badly directed (with some very awkward moments) plot development in the second part. I could not help noticing the derisiveness of some scenes; e.g. the one in which the transformed Jacob addresses his other fellows (I thought the movie was turning into a joke at that very moment!) and the one in which Bella makes the bloodshake fall to the ground and kind of breaks her back. A praise goes to the actors: the acting is not bad, is not bad at all considering that, in my opinion, nothing better could have been done (Kristen Stewart's performance is not bad and I found very convincing the character of Jacob). Another criticize goes to the movie slowness; in fact, those who are not very fond of Ed and Bell's love story might probably find the fully detailed and slow part in which the two get married really annoying. Finally, I would rate this movie, in this case, with 4,5 out of 10.

TWILIGHTER: I do think very few fans will be disappointed by this installment. Let's be onest, I was almost crying during the scene of the wedding (and I'm a male!!!) mainly because of my affection for the series (I was platonically in love with the story when the first Twilight movie came out). That's the truth: this movie's been made just for those who have always followed and liked the Twilight saga. I don't expect anyone to suddenly turn up and say: I've never given a *** about this series but I've found the movie absolutely awesome! This movie is for us Twilighters all around the world. Because all those scenes have an emotional meaning only in case you are very fond of the series. In this case I can and want turn many blind eyes (may I say it? haha) in the name of my affection for the saga. I enjoyed the Ed and Bell's wedding night, all those particulars (they even play chess!) that made me feel good during the projection of this movie. In this case I would rate the movie with 9 out of 10.

That's all, according to my opinion. Thanks for reading.

I'd say, stay for the first 15 minutes then come back for the last 20 minutes, just so that you can skip all of the nonsense in between. Surprisingly, the werewolves have taken a dire turn in this franchise which is a crying shame because their presence in the two other films were refreshing and light handed. In one of the worst scenes ever, they all confront each other through telepathy which is hard to watch because the voice acting is so out of place. The wedding scene was gratuitous and the birth scene was ripped out from the pages of hell. Bizzare.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The fourth film in the mega-popular series has Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart) getting married and shortly afterwards the female virgin becomes pregnant, which could cause her death, which doesn't sit too well with werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Obviously a 32-year-old male isn't the target viewer for this film but I must admit that it was a major step up from the previous two installments. I might even go as far to say that this here was the best of the series in a bad way. I say that because I'm sure teenage girls will be weeping all over themselves through the first hour of this thing but, as an adult, I couldn't help but laugh at it. The first hour deals with the screen's most popular duo getting married and of course the girl losing her virginity. I know this is a big thing to Twi-hards and teenage girls but the execution here is just laughable and especially the moments leading up to the act. The entire thing is just directed so over-dramatic that I couldn't help but laugh. It also didn't help that the dialogue was just downright awful and at times embarrassing. With that said, these bad moments actually make the film rather entertaining. Both Pattinson and Stewart are pros at these characters by now and it's also clear that Lautner continues to work out and this must cause him to skip his acting classes. As usual the CGI is pretty bad but I guess this is to be expected. Still, I found the story to be rather compelling and the entire thing kept me entertained from start to finish. Yes it drags on too long but you have to admit there's some pretty weird stuff going on here and especially during the second half.

Victoria is dead, there is no longer any threat to Bella. So she and Edward get married, while on their honeymoon they do the dirty deed and oops, Bella gets pregnant. Vampire pregnant, which means the fetus is growing at 5 times the normal rate and is killing her from within. The wolf clan cannot have this, as it breaks their treaty somehow and they come to kill the baby. Now Jacob must team up with the people he hates, the Cullens, in order to protect Bella.

While this premise does sound interesting, it's a shame that the producers wanted to milk this poorly conceived franchise for every penny they can get. Instead of making one film, they split the story into two and Breaking Dawn Part 1 clearly suffers from over stuffing and filler. Nothing happens until the last twenty minutes of the film. We know they get married, we know they have sex and we know she gets pregnant. It takes way too long to get these plot points across. The wedding, the honeymoon and the pregnancy could have all happened in the first 30 minutes, but it's instead stretched to an obscene length.

Books have more room to breath. The world is created an the writer has hundreds of pages to tell their story. Films don't have this luxury, so when a film comes out based on a book, you need to chop out the stuff that's simply not needed or wouldn't translate well to the screen. Since the people behind this film want to make more money, they split the last film into two. WB did the same for Harry Potter, but I can forgive them because there is actual story to tell in that film, here there is nothing. She doesn't get pregnant until 50 minutes into the film. Which means we are stuck with boring characters either being jealous of what others have (Jacob) or two people having sex over and over (Edward/Bella). The amount of time that was dedicated to the honeymoon is insane. What should have been a ten minute sequence, at most, takes about 30 minutes of screen time.

Once Bella starts dying, the film tries to get into motion, but it's too late. When she goes into labor, that's when something finally interesting happens and the rest of the film makes for some of the most thrilling moments in the entire series. A standoff between the Cullens and the wolves is finally shown here, something that people have been waiting for since the first film. The tension between the two families finally explodes. This is exciting stuff, this is what people have been waiting for, but the film still suffers from bad CGI work when humans interact with the wolves. So the fight sequences, as exciting as they are, never really reach their full potential.

The final frame of the film is so obvious half way through that I actually chuckled to myself when it happened. I still can't shake the feeling that the conflict of the whole series finished with Eclipse and what we have left is an overstretched denouement. Am I excited for the next film? Not really. Half the job of Part 1 is to get you excited for the next, this film fails horribly at that. What's left to happen? An after the credits sequences is shown where we are given a glimpse of what to expect, but I'm too far drawn away from the conflict by that point.

Breaking Dawn is not the worst in the series, but clearly not the best. Had the film been one piece instead of two, then it would have been exciting. The simple fact that it drags on for so long is proof that splitting the film in two was a mistake, creatively. Financially, it's smart. Because young teenage girls will flock to anything, case in point -- this entire series.