1334. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012)

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

Director: Bill Condon

Running Time: 115 mins

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 is an American film and the fifth and final instalment of the Twilight saga. After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens assemble a team of vampires from around the world to defend against a new threat from the mysterious Volturi.

After eight hours of feeling bored, frustrated and disappointed with the Twilight saga, I went into the final film with seriously low expectations. However, Breaking Dawn – Part 2 is by far the best of all the Twilight films. It may not set the world alight, and it’s still full of problems that have persisted throughout every single movie, but it’s genuinely watchable, and, even at one point, really gripping.

So, after Bella and Edward’s romance was fully cemented halfway through Breaking Dawn – Part 1, we finally get a story that’s a little more convincing than that awfully forced love triangle. This final film is all about the build-up to an epic battle against the Volturi, who fear the birth of Renesmee is a threat to the whole world.

Therefore, we get a solid hour of the Cullens recruiting what are effectively the vampire Avengers, which isn’t that bad. It does drag at times, and the ridiculous lengths that the film goes to to show you the vast diversity of the vampire world are a little unnecessary, but it’s a more light-hearted and entertaining narrative to follow than the teen love story of Bella and Edward, something that I’ve been hoping for ever since this saga started.

After the first half, which held my attention pretty well as far as Twilight goes, there’s a small lull period as the battle draws closer, which was just as slow and dull as some of the lowest points of the franchise. The issue with that period, and to a certain degree parts of the first half of the film, is that nothing really feels as epic as it’s being built up to be.

Sure, it’s a bit of fantasy fun to see all the vampires coming together, but there’s never a convincingly threatening shadow being cast from the Volturi, and that does make a lot of what happens in this film seem meaningless. Again, it’s not a tedious watch, but this film definitely fails in establishing the dramatic, epic conclusion to the series that you can tell it really wants.

The final act of the film is where we see the very best and the very worst that Twilight can be. On the one hand, the battle sequence is really engaging. It’s gritty, it’s violent, and it provides more excitement and intrigue in ten minutes than in the rest of the whole series. I was pretty impressed by the battle sequence, so credit goes to Bill Condon for making that surprisingly captivating.

On the other hand, the outcome of the battle is crushingly frustrating. Just after we get ten minutes of genuine excitement, this completely cops out with a horribly unsatisfying conclusion to the fight, and as a result, the entire saga. I won’t spoil it, but as far as endings to film franchises go, this has to be one of the most disappointing of all time.

Overall, Breaking Dawn – Part 2 showcases everything that you either love or hate about Twilight. It may be an unsatisfying and occasionally dull conclusion to the series, but there are periods where you can actually enjoy yourself, something that the series hasn’t ever managed before, and that’s why this gets a 6.3 from me.