Breaking Dawn -- Part 1
Movie Review
"Breaking Dawn -- Part 1"
Review by Eric D. Snider
Grade: B-
Rating: PG-13
Released: Friday, November 18, 2011
Directed by:
Cast:
[CAPSULE REVIEW] If "Breaking Dawn -- Part 1" is any indication, there was no need to split the final "Twilight" episode into two films. There's a lot of inactivity here, with pregnant Bella (Kristen Stewart) immobilized while Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob (Taylor Lautner) sit around waiting for Jacob's lupine brethren to attack. That's the middle section of the movie, though. The wedding and honeymoon sequences at the beginning are charming in a teen soap opera sort of way, and the bat-poop-crazy finale is shocking -- the first hint of actual horror that the franchise has seen. Director Bill Condon ("Gods and Monsters," "Dreamgirls") does the best job so far of making the insane mix of fantasy and melodrama feel natural, but he's hindered by his wooden actors and the artificially lengthened story. Still, I'm curious to find out what happens next, if only to see if it's as bafflingly weird as "Part 1" suggests.
Grade: B-
Rated PG-13, some fairly tame sexuality and partial nudity, disturbing images and freaky stuff
1 hr., 57 min.
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.
This item has 17 comments
November 18, 2011 at 12:53 pm
You haven't read the book and you're reviewing the movie anyway? Inconceivable!
November 18, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Bafflingly weird is exactly the way to describe the final book in the series. With every page turn there's a new "WTF?!"
November 18, 2011 at 1:50 pm
I felt the opposite, Chelsea. I felt like with the turn of every page in the last half of the book, a lot of nothing happened.
November 18, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Nothing happens in the last book.They have a lame stare down.Then every one goes home.Oh and it has slightly pedophilic undertones between Jacob and the baby.
November 18, 2011 at 6:51 pm
@Card and Chelsea -
Actually, you're both right. At every turn of the page, one is forced to wonder, "WTF, why am I turning the page? There's a whole lot of barely intelligible gabble on this page, the same as the one before, and the book before that, and the book before that, and the book before that!"
November 18, 2011 at 8:13 pm
Where is your Breaking Dawn alternate script??? I was looking forward to that more than the movie itself!
November 19, 2011 at 1:05 am
I predicted the letter grade exactly.
November 19, 2011 at 10:43 am
I agree with Carmen, I want to see the alternate script!
November 20, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Shocked at your rating! I stayed up late to watch this opening night with friends and we all sat in the theater in stunned laughter. Couldn't really believe the idiocy of the movie we just watched. I would have given it a c -. My favorite parts? Bella's chest pop, Jasper's one word, and the wolf egos. Oh goodness.
November 22, 2011 at 9:33 am
OMG> I would hate to see how much time and entergy you would pay to a movie you liked if you spend this much time hating this movie. It's sappy feel good movie and I (without guilt) loved it. Don't take yourselves so serious. They're laughing all the way to the bank. You did pay to see it afterall.
November 22, 2011 at 2:25 pm
I loved the books and the movies. I don't understand why people that so clearly hate everything about Twilight go to these movies. Just to write bad reviews? It makes no sense to me at all. To the people that hate Twilight, go to a different movie. We won't miss you at all.
November 22, 2011 at 5:04 pm
I love the twilight movies but this one was such a let down no action like the rest no really love story in it, Jacob was barely in it the whole film lead to a biggleswaid fight scene and nothin actually happened!!!
November 22, 2011 at 10:53 pm
"Still, I'm curious to find out what happens next, if only to see if it's as bafflingly weird as "Part 1" suggests. "
It isn't. That's actually the climax. It's the complete opposite of Deathly Hallows.
It teases you with a climax, and then reverts to the same old teenage sparkly vampires ****.
Here, I'll give you a chart so that you can follow along:
http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/terminal01/2010/7/8/10/kristen-stewart-emotional-chart-25655-1278599566-5.jpg
November 23, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Russ - the chart summarizes things precisely.
Others who are upset - Mr. Snider reviews movies. We read his reviews. That's how it works. If he was making the same observations around the water cooler, then you could tell him to lighten up, or not see the movies.
I'm slightly upset he did not give it a worse review. Poorly executed movie, but I think splitting it into two is probably why. That, and Kristen Stewart's face. Her only convincing acting was when she was playing dead. She NAILED that!
November 24, 2011 at 12:39 am
Hooray, the semi-literate teenaged Twilight fans have found Eric's review! I'm looking forward to many, many more poorly punctuated defenses of the Twilight series.
December 9, 2011 at 1:54 am
What, a B-??? This movie deserved a F-! It was like a self indulgent telenovela! The music was sappy, the dialogue was boring and forced. The scene with the talking wolves was hilarious, but not because it meant to be. What a boring movie, there was almost no dramatic tension, nothing to hold your interest. Not a guilty pleasure, I just feel guilty handing over $12.50 to the hacks that made it.
March 7, 2012 at 1:53 pm
a more appropriate title might be Twilight:Breaking Wind