THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN - PART 1 (2011)

MyRating: YY

Director: Bill Condon

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Sarah Clarke, Nikki Reed, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Julia Jones, Booboo Stewart, Anna Kendrick

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, sexuality/partial nudity and some thematic elements

Would you give your mortal life to live for eternity on earth? Living for centuries after all the people that you've ever known have died, and they remain as 'thousand-years' memories in your mind? Or running into the road of immortality that you may regret you ever took, since it will become a long and never-ending journey? Well, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is pretty sure that this is the right path she wants to go, since she can live together with her handsome vampire boyfriend that she loves, even though she will have to be turned into a vampire herself as the consequence.

This fourth installment of The Twilight Saga enormous franchise (books written by Stephenie Meyer) tells the story of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) who finally decide to get married, as it is the best way to bind their true love for eternity. The movie surely didn't waste its time by telling you this from the very beginning, and soon you will see Bella and Edward walking through the aisle. And it was a beautiful wedding ceremony, with a happy crowd of families and relatives and friends, who are cheering for them, except for the heartbroken Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Did half of this crowd even know that she will have to be turned into a living vampire? I don't know. The interesting thing is, when Edward and Bella said their marriage vow, there was no "Till death do us part" line at the end.

After the wedding, like other normal people, Edward and Bella go for a honeymoon to Isle Esme, a private tropical island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they celebrate their love and have their first sexual experience. But their honeymoon suddenly turns edgy when Bella discovers that she is pregnant after two weeks. It becomes a shock as, theoritically, it is not possible for a vampire to impregnate a human. Besides that, as the baby inside her is a half-vampire and a half-human child, it grows with an unnaturally accelerated speed that may endanger Bella's life. As her condition is getting worse as the fetus grows bigger, while she insists to keep her baby, Bella is struggling with a life-and-death situation for her coming childbirth. While Jacob, who always loves and feels the need to protect Bella, has to step inside, as the unborn child has somehow become a threat to his Quileute wolf pack, whom have planned to kill the child and the mother, Bella.

I will not bash this movie, as I think you should know what you expect when watching a Twilight movie, and there are already enough haters for this franchise, including from the people who have never even watched the movies. And I will start by saying the good things about this latest installment. This movie has a beautiful cinematography, especially when showing the breathtaking sceneries of the island of Isle Esme. The waterfall, the ocean, the river and the forest have brought up the perfect romantic atmosphere into the honeymoon 'adventure' of Bella and Edward. I also think that the soundtrack and music score were cool. The ballad songs were really catchy to the ears, which increased the romanticism that this movie was trying to build, including the song 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri.

Is it romantic? I never really bought into the relationship of Edward and Bella, which was always felt a bit awkward to me. However, with the lustful sceneries and the romantic songs, I kind of enjoyed their joyful time together in this movie, which gave a youthful vibrant of love. I believe these scenes will blow the teenage girls away with their dreams of a beautiful and perfect true love out there. This movie also has plenty of intimate kissing scenes between Bella and Edward, which surely will satisfy and make the fans scream. And enough love-making scenes, which I think some may be a bit too 'strong' for a PG-13, including swimming naked in the ocean and breaking a bed. And the leading sexual desires, such as when Edward found out that he actually hurted Bella when they made love by seeing the bruises in Bella's body, and since Bella is not yet turned into a vampire, Edward decided to give some distance in their sexual relationship in order not to further hurt her, which left Bella with a bit of frustration at the other end, and we can see in one scene that Bella was craving for Edward to make love to her, as she badly needs it. Yes, as the series is near the end, this movie has a more mature theme, including the pregnancy and childbirth issues. And the director seemed tried to utilize this mature theme to make this movie looked and felt as romantic as possible.

The plot itself was slow moving, as of other Twilight movies. Some boring moments for me, as usual. There was not much of a story actually. The human and the vampire lover get married, they find out that she is pregnant, and then they have to deal with the complications of her childbirth afterwards. As simple as other teen romances, only with the cloth of vampires and werewolves, but never managed to scare us (indeed Stephenie Meyer never intended to). No characters that are compelling enough. And not much actions too, except at the end when the wolf pack headed for Bella. It has its interesting moments though, and for the eye-catching reasons, I like the first half of the movie better than the second half.

From the acting side, there was not much development as all the actors gave mediocre performances, but it may be enough for the script. And I still think that Robert Pattinson gave the worst performance with his wooden acting and expressions. Taylor Lautner was okay, always thought that his character was slightly more interesting than Pattinson's boring vampire character. Kristen Stewart was less annoying here, and one thing I must say about her is, she looked beautiful in this movie, especially in the beginning of the film when she became a bride and walking through the aisle, even though we also will see how the make-up team turned her to look old and messy when she got pregnant. I think, aside from her acting capability that was frequently being criticized in the Twilight series, she has grown to become a beautiful actress.

"I have died everyday waiting for you.
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years.
And I will love you for a thousand more."

Like it or not, Twilight has become a global phenomenon, whether it is the books or the movie franchise. People may hate it, or curse it, or say it's trash, but this franchise will always stay at the very special parts of the hearts of its fans. As for me, I enjoyed this movie more than the previous two, and even though I am not a fan of this series, I surely will finish it by watching Breaking Dawn - Part 2 next year. (MJ)