Spoilers ahead, you have been warned.
Okay people, don't ever say that I don't do anything for you. Yesterday, I sat through numerous previews of crappy movies I never want to see, as well as an hour and a half of (drum roll please) Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2. The only good part about this is that the franchise is now at an end and I never have to watch another Twilight movie.
The movie is not significantly different from the book. We got the scene with Bella hunting for the first time and getting distracted by a human, as well as her taking on Emmet and winning. Bella has to adjust to her new life as a mother and a vampire. Things go rather smoothly for her, until Irina comes for a visit and wrongly assumes that Renesmee is a vampire child, rather than a human/vampire hybrid. Irina runs straight to the Volturi, who use this chance to attempt to shatter the Cullen clan and get their hands on Alice.
Once again a strong theme through this movie was Jacob's imprinting on Renesmee. Bella rightfully flipped out and attacked Jacob when she learned about the imprinting, but after being assured that this was unintentional and not sexual, she quickly adapted. I continue to find this absolutely disgusting because imprinting , is nothing more than grooming a little girl for sex; it's pedophilia. This scenario is further problematic with Jacob suggesting that his love and obsession with Bella was really about the fact that she would carry his future mate. It doesn't matter that Alice had a vision of the future with Renesmee looking adoringly up at Jacob and placing her head on his shoulder. The point is that Renesmee is being raised to accept the fact that Jacob will one day be her sexual partner and this means no autonomy for Renesmee in the future. It is further disturbing that of course the love between the White Bella and Edward is pure, while the relationship between Jacob and Renessme is absolutely tainted with darkness.
I was further unimpressed that several of the vampires of colour showed up in tribal gear to help witness in front of the Volturi, while the White vampires were all dressed. I know that vampires don't feel cold but not only was this ridiculous, it was outright racist. Yes, I know that this is true to the books but that doesn't mean it had to be included. It served to remind us that these vampires of colour are still "other" in comparison to the whitesome and delightsome Cullens.
In the Breaking Dawn novel, Bella is somewhat redeemed because in the end, it turns out that she has the strongest power. Considering that in previous books and movies, Bella spent most of her time being protected and or injured, turning her passive power into a somewhat active power was a refreshing difference. In this case, we did get to see Bella protect Edward while he was being attacked; however, she didn't get the big moment of saving everyone. For the majority of the battle scene that did occur, Bella spent her time squinting and trying to throw out her power occasionally to protect people. It is actually Alice, with her ability to see the future, who ends up stopping a battle in which Carlisle, Jasper, several of the wolves, and of course key members of the Volturi would have ended up dying. In some ways, it was nice to see someone other than Bella uplifted but on the other hand, it also left Bella to be the angsty protagonist, who really didn't have much to offer but her love. No, it's not romantic or maternal; it's just sexist. I guess I should just be thankful that Edward admitted to underestimating Bella, but I would have been happier, had he just admitted that doing things like stalking, watching her sleep and disabling her truck amounts to creepy behaviour. Furthermore, to be honest, when did Bella even show the possibility of being capable? In the previous movies, Bella spent most of the time tripping over her own feet, gnawing on her bottom lip and running her fingers through her hair.
After five movies, you would think that the acting would improve. Though Kristen Stewart didn't employ her famous stop and look angsty into the camera move, she did develop a new facial expression - squinting. This means she can squint, stutter and bite her lip on command. Tyler Lautner continues to allow his abs to do his acting for him and this probably a good idea, as acting really is not his thing, though he has been doing it since he was a child. In terms of Robert Pattinson, big puppy eyes were his main contribution.
I think that if you are a fan of the franchise and love the whole happily ever after routine, that you will probably like this movie. With the flash of all the characters in the series during the credits, it was clear that the director was trying to invoke a sense of attachment and investment in the franchise. Personally, it didn't do much for me. The special effects were great and there were a few moments that were funny, like Bella flipping out that her daughter was nicknamed after the lochness monster, or Edward telling Jacob that he couldn't call him dad. Mostly, Break Dawn Part 2, was really just angst and more angst, for the sake of angst. It continued to uplift Whiteness, hetersexuality through erasure of GLBT characters and of course hyper ability. From start to finish, the entire Twilight franchise is nothing more than a Mormon love story with sparkling vampires thrown in to irritate and pedophilia, as love to disgust people. I can now say that I have seen all of the movies in the Twilight franchise, but I am certainly not thrilled about it.
