The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I [Blu-ray]
By
Maciej "Darth Maciek" (Darth Maciek is out there...) -This review is from: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)
I just saw "Breaking Dawn" part 1, and I was VERY impressed, even if as a
man I am probably not the most typical fan of "Twilight" series. I
rather liked all the "Twilight" movies until now and this one is, to my
personnal taste, as good as the previous ones - and even in one aspect a
little bit better, as Edward and Bella finally become lovers. Below,
you will find a short description of what I believe are the best
elements of this film, with very limited SPOILERS:
1. Actors.
All actors evolved as the serie continued and I believe they all got
better with time. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are both
excellent, but - in my humble opinion - it is Kristen Stewart who in
this movie shines the most. Quite a lot of people frequently criticized
her actorship claiming that she simply can not play at all and has a
very limited assortment of expressions in her tool box. But for me,
after reading "Twilight" books, this is how the character of Bella
should be. I can hardly picture her wide smiling with all her teeth
bared or doing any other highly extraverted things like that. In fact I
believe that either by design or by accident Kristen Stewart got the
things right about this character - her minimalistic approach to facial
expressions actually makes (for me) Bella very believable and also quite
likeable. In this part of the story, Bella takes a more dynamic
approach to life by taking her destiny firmly under control. She makes
important decisions and takes extreme risks, stubbornly resisting the
opposite advice of all her family and friends - all of that in a
deceptively unassuming way... And Kristen Stewart acted in the movie
exactly as I pictured Bella did it, when I read the books. A very good
job!
Other actors are also great, with Ashley Greene and Billy
Burke being as usual the pillars - but amongst the supporting roles it
is Nikki Reed who really gets the most praise from me. She has a much
bigger role in this film and she is perfect in it! The one (little)
disappointment is Jackson Rathbone, who changed comletely his haircut
for this film and as a result his character, Jasper, seems much less
impressive, which is a pity. He also seems to appear very little in the
"first line", almost as if the director preferred to hide him a
little...
2. Visual aspects. As usual, the images of state of
Washington are great, but the tropical island where Bella and Edward
spend their honey moon is also very pleasantly showed. Dark forests
filled with (were)wolves are very much present here and they are a great
background for the story.
3. Music. As usual in those series, music and songs have been selected very carefully and with a great taste.
4.
The (were)wolf pack. The Quileute wolves are shown here even more and
better than in the previous part. The scene of their war council, when
they are all in the werewolf form, is absolutely great! The scene when
Sam (the alpha male) asserts and confirms his power over the pack is
excellent - as good as the description of Jacob's defiance and its
consequences.
5. The wedding. A very nice and moving scene with
some humour elements, especially when the guests make speeches offering
toasts. Emmett, Jessica and Bella's father give here a great show. In
the same time Mike Newton obsesses on vampire bridesmaids from the
Denali clan, to the point of drooling (and I TOTALLY understand him!).
Bella's mum and, suprprise surprise, Rosalie (!) are also real treasures
in wedding scenes.
6. Quileute wolves vs. Cullen coven
confrontation. This heartbreaking, tense and at moments violent conflict
in which both sides are trapped against their will is a great moment in
the Twilight saga - and its final resolution is even better! Finally it
is true what the Beatles were singing - all you need is love! Babies
help too...
7. The fight for Bella's life, Renesmee's bloody
birth and Bella's fate - excellent! Those were moments very difficult to
film - but the challenge was met succesfully! Nothing more about it to
avoid more spoilers, but I was very impressed!
Conclusion: it is
an excellent movie which I watched with great pleasure. My wife, who
usually is a much harder person to please, loved it too and she is going
to see it again with some girlfriends. And we will certainly both wait
with great expectations for the "Breaking dawn" part 2. If it was done
as well as that one, it will be certainly worth waiting one year to see
it...
79 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Above and Beyond Expectations, November 21, 2011
By
lilnhavoc -This review is from: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part I [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
Being a huge fan of the books and a pretty big fan of the movies, I was
blown away at what a great job they did with this movie installment. I
loved the visual and audio parallels they drew between the original
movie, Twilight, and this movie. For instance (Spoiler Alerts
throughout): I loved how they played Flightless Bird during the wedding
ceremony and the way the camera circled them kissing in the same manner
the camera circled E & B kissing at Prom at the very end of
Twilight. It was a subtle, yet stunning way to visually tie the two
movies together and really made more of an emotional impact than if they
had just shot them straight on and plugged in a different song. That
was genius. And that dress...gorgeous. Just as it was described in the
book. I also loved that rather than having one continuous
honeymoon "consummation" scene, they broke it up with Bella thinking
about certain moments the next morning after looking in the mirror for
the first time, where she's no longer a virgin. It was all done so
tastefully. The way one's first time should be at that age. Not at some
house party or in the back of some guy's car. For those who read the
books and knew how Edward did everything he could to exhaust Bella with
activities on their honeymoon so she'd be too tired to "try again", you
have to admit that Bill Condon did such a great job showing you visually
all the things they were doing without either character having to come
out and say, I'm/you're trying to exhaust you/me. And it was adorable
with KS put on her little nightgown and leaned against the wall...I got
married when I was 19 and I felt the exact same way when I put on
lingerie for the first time and dreaded walking into the bedroom with my
little gown on. I felt like a child playing dress-up, much like it came
off Bella felt. I was also very impressed by the manner with
which Bill Condon allowed us to see through the eyes of Jacob for the
first time and hear what he hears with regard to the internal dialog
between him and the pack. That scene where the wolves were running to
the lumber yard and their voices echoed in Jacob's mind...that was so
perfectly done. AND, I loved loved loved the way the Sam and Jacob had
their battle for alpha. It was as if you, the person watching the movie,
was in the mind of a wolf who is being forced into submission by it's
Alpha. The CGI team did a great job because I forgot I was watching
computer generated wolves and the intensity of the scene felt like I was
there witnessing the true dynamic of a wolf pack. I thought the
birth scene was beyond intense. The scene almost mirroring that as it's
written in the book. I think they showed just the right amount of
Bella's internal agony during her transformation. For those of us who
read the books, to say she had a prolonged bout of suffering during her
transformation would be an understatement. However, if they had shown
more of that in the movie, it would have taken from the torture that
Edward was going through thinking he had lost Bella, and Jacob's
malevolence towards Renesmee prior to imprinting on her. That whole
scene allowed for each character's state of mind to be both seen,
visually, and felt, emotionally. Powerfully shot and brilliantly
executed. I imagine the imprinting scene was a difficult one to
translate from paper to screen. They did a great job in this as well.
Not in any way cheesy, but sweet and breathless...if that makes any
sense. The only thing I did not love about it was that the girl/teenager
Jacob sees as an older Renesmee appeared to be CGI. They used an actual
young girl to play the younger Renesmee, why not use a real person for
the older Renesmee too? I'm sure Hollywood has a few young actresses
that would have auditioned for the part???I loved the fight
between the wolves and the Cullens at the very end of the movie. In the
books, you go from Jacob's perspective where he witnesses Bella's death
and then walks into the living room to kill Renesmee, only to imprint on
her. And then you go immediately back to Bella's perspective where
she's riving in pain while she's transforming into a vampire. I feel
Melissa Rosenburg had a stroke of brilliance when she decided to add
this scene so that the audience could see what could have happened in
the books, but did happen in the movie, during the time period between
Jacob imprinting on Renesmee and Bella awakening for the first time as a
vampire. Another unexpected and totally welcomed brilliant surprise of
this movie. Another welcome surprise for me was while Bella was
at the very end of her transformation. I thought it was a touching
visual moment that just before her heart beat for the very last time, we
witnessed Bella's memories in a somewhat reverse chronological order,
ending with her very first human memory as a baby in the arms of her
parents bouncing her in front of a mirror. But what was not a
surprise and what I've been telling my fellow twi-hards the past couple
years is the very last scene of the movie. Once I heard they were
splitting BD into two parts, I've always maintained there's only one way
to end part 1 with truly visual impact...and that is to witness Bella's
subtle transformation from a broken human to a perfect vampire,
surrounded by the Cullens, with the scene closing in on Bella's perfect
facial features, zooming into her perfectly shut eyes...that suddenly
open the most gorgeous crimson red....and straight to credits. I
actually gave myself a little pat on the back for that one because so
much of the movie exceeded my expectations of visual and audio
creativity, and yet the last scene ending a certain way was something I
was very adamant with my friends about, and sure enough that's how it
ends. So maybe now I can revel in having an ounce of the vision that
Bill Condon and Melissa Rosenburg possess...hey I'll take that ounce. Aside
from the standout scenes I've mentioned herein, I thought Kristen
Stewart did her best portrayal of Bella yet. Her facial expressions
alone are so real to each moment they're almost tangible. I've enjoyed
the work KS has done prior to the Twilight Saga, and I am so glad these
movies have launched her career because I am certain she will be one of
the great leading ladies of acting for many decades to come. So to all
Twi-hards out there. This movie was amazing. A must see for those who
loved the books and fans of the previous movies. I can't wait for it to
come out on DVD so that I can add it to my Twilight Saga collection.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Time has finally arrived, November 25, 2011
By
Heidi Woodruff "H. Woodruff" (Clarksville, TN USA) -
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)
I went to the midnight premier of Breaking Dawn part 1 and the movie was
over in a flash. It was worth the wait and was well made. It was nice
seeing Stephanie Meyer during the wedding. There are many high lights
out of the book I was worried about (e.g. wedding night, birth,
imprinting. All my worries were relieved, once I saw how great they were
shown, especially after reading the books. I would like to go see the
movie again. Now all us Twihards have to wait another year until the
part 2 comes out. I would recommend this movie to anybody. Loved it
