Film Review: “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1”

Latest in hit series a cheesy effort, will still please fans

By Kayla Riley

Posted on Nov. 21, 2011, at 12:56 a.m.

If you go to McDonald’s expecting fine French cuisine, you’ll leave disappointed and hungry.

In the same vein, if you go to “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1” with hopes of witnessing fine filmmaking, you’ll walk out unsatisfied.

The celebrated “Twilight” series in both book and film form has earned its staying power with sappy teen romance, B-movie dialogue and outlandish plotlines. Readers of the lighter side of literature and viewers of the record-breaking blockbusters have come to expect a certain level of quality, and its height is yet to be determined.

To the delight of unabashed “Twi-hards,” “Breaking Dawn, Part 1” plays a poor poker game and shows its cards early, revealing a taut Taylor Lautner — sans shirt — as angst-ridden teen wolf Jacob within the first minute.

For those who have somehow evaded the best-seller dwellers and need a quick plot refresher, here is the lowdown on the first installment of the finale:

Bella, played by Kristen Stewart, and Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, are young lovers, although Edward is actually closer to Hugh Hefner’s age bracket than Bella’s, as he is a vampire who has walked the earth for 110 years.

Desperate to become one of his kind, Bella rushes to the altar with Edward at the ripe age of 18 and soon finds herself on an idyllic honeymoon.

But with a honeymoon comes consummation, and Bella and Edward are more than happy to comply — unaware that as a direct result of their midnight mambo, they would create a freakish, bloodsucking vampire-human hybrid.

As expected, drama and exaggerated CGI ensue, bringing back the larger-than-life werewolves, nemeses of the bloodthirsty Cullen clan. Once jacked Jacob realizes what has happened, he betrays his werewolf brethren to become a one-man pack to protect the withering Bella.

To their credit, several of the actors in “Breaking Dawn, Part 1” do their best to elevate a sagging script and a series that, despite its soaring success, has become a punch line.

Ashley Greene, as the spunky Alice Cullen, is magical, spicing up even the lamest of lines. Billy Burke as Charlie, Bella’s father, is underused yet provides much of the intentional humor in the film.

Stewart is as dull as ever and wildly creepy as the bone-thin, pregnant waif. Pattinson would have done well to stick a stake in the series long ago, but may have hope once credits roll on “Breaking Dawn, Part 2.”

“Breaking Dawn, Part 1” gives the people what they want. A nearly endless line of tweens, teens, unashamed adults and children alike snaked around the Spotlight Cinema in Orono building long before midnight on Thursday, all waiting in the bitter November cold for their chance to see Edward and Jacob face off, once and for all.

The drawn-out film does well to continue a series that has earned nearly $2 billion since “Twilight” first hit theaters in 2008. Lovers of the book may balk at the fact that it neglects much of the original dialogue and acts as more of a rough sketch of “Breaking Dawn” than a fleshed-out film version, but it’s entertaining enough to keep the fiercest of fans at bay.

It teaches audiences that CGI isn’t always the answer, werewolves can find love in the unlikeliest of places and unprotected sex may result in a mutant lovechild that will destroy you from the inside out.

“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1” will surely earn its projected $142 million, if not more, and satiate the undying thirst of Twi-hards — at least until “Part 2” arrives.

Grade: C+

This entry was posted on Monday, November 21st, 2011, 12:56 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.