First and foremost: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 shamelessly caters to fans (and appreciatively so). The film immediately picks up where Part 1 left off and doesn’t go to too many efforts to rehash and explain what’s going on. These films were always made for the fans and, at this point, I don’t think the filmmakers are too concerned about trying to convert new followers to the fandom.

In Breaking Dawn Part 2, we find Bella (Kristen Stewart) revived from the dead as a gloriously perfect vampire after an almost fatal pregnancy. All Bella’s imperfections and clumsiness are gone as she’s now finally on the same level as her newly wedded mate, Edward (Robert Pattinson). Bella quickly learns that her longtime admirer Jacob (Taylor Lautner) has imprinted on her newborn daughter Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), who has special abilities of her own. However, the Cullen coven must scramble when they realize that the Volturi have discovered about Renesmee and are on their way to punish the Cullens for their treacherous actions.

Breaking Dawn Part 2 has everything a Twihard wants in a Twilight film: hot vampire Bella, shirtless Jacob, cute-as-a-button Renesmee, snobby Rosalie and arm-wrestling Emmett, just to name a few. While I can’t say it’s my favorite film of the franchise, it far outdoes the book for once. The film starts out with an old-school style opening credits sequence, which I thought was a nice touch. It sort of built on the already-there anticipation, making the first moments of Bella as a vampire even sweeter.

The source material, the book Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, wasn’t the epic conclusion to the saga that fans were expecting or wanting. Critics claimed it was too soft and that everything peacefully (and non-violently) wrapped up in a nice bow. I can assure you that this film takes a major (some would argue slight) departure from the book that will leave fans utterly shocked, yet satisfied. There were many times that I audibly said, “Did they really just do that?” and looked around to see if other fans were reacting the same way (answer: they were).

The animation and special effects were ok. I feel the wolves were perfected in Eclipse and have essentially maintained their strong aesthetic through the Breaking Dawn films. The special effects, on the other hand, were far from spectacular. You would think a billion-dollar franchise would be able to invest in better special effects by now, but alas, it doesn’t appear to be the case. The biggest feat is Renesmee, who appears at different ages throughout the film. Mackenzie Foy’s (who was 10 years old at the time of film) face was digitally placed on younger versions of herself, which worked for the most part (although my friend did comment that it looked a bit creepy).

While the film is far from epic, as a fan it left me happy, giddy and satisfied. It made me want to go back and read the books again. There were just enough surprises that made watching the film fun and exciting. Now, however, when my mom inevitably takes my dad to see this, I don’t think he’ll have the same reaction. But again, Breaking Dawn Part 2 was meant solely for fans. And it definitely delivers.

★★★★

Morgan Stradling
Follow @MorganStradling