What hasn’t been written already about Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1?
Instead of repeating everyone else, I am going to write in support of the Twihard fans even though I didn’t like the movie. And no, I haven’t gone mad or plummeted in my cinema viewing expectations.
There are already a million reviews out there, as the second last chapter of the Twilight series drops into cinemas with a thud louder than a werewolf knocking over a vampire. So, this isn’t going to be an outline of the story other than to say, there are vampires, werewolves and all is not well in the land of Twilight despite a lovely wedding. If you don’t know the story of Twilight, then I presume you don’t have a computer or a Television and, therefore, wouldn’t even be reading this blog. It’s a phenomenon and that is the supernatural truth of it. Either you love the franchise or you don’t get it. I’m not sure if there is much of an in-between.
Even poor reviews from the critics, the film receiving only 24% at Rotten Tomatoes—the lowest critic rating of all the Twilight films—won’t keep fans away. One critic probably summed the movie up best with, ‘Slow, joyless, and loaded with unintentionally humorous moments, Breaking Dawn Part 1 may satisfy the Twilight faithful, but it's strictly for fans of the franchise.’
Regardless of critics, there are millions of fans very happy to part with their money to watch Bella and Edward marry and consummate their extended relationship. And don’t forget there’s the ‘I’ve seen all the other ones, so I have to see this’ camp, of which I am a member.
I’ll be glad when the last one comes out and I’ve finished my tour of duty. It really does seem to have gone on forever. While the characters have forever—being immortal and all—we normal human moviegoers only have a few hours to kill and we’re lucky to get that these days with all the other distractions. The average moviegoer would not generally indulge Breaking Dawn’s excruciatingly drawn out scenes. In fact, the average moviegoer would not indulge any of the Twilight movies.
Yet, here we still have a box-office hit that isn’t very good. And, I must say, it’s not surprising it is not good, the books weren’t very good either. They, too, suffered from long drawn out passages and poor writing. I read them out of curiosity and because everyone told me I should. I’m a writer by day, so anything that is that big, I need to check out. I didn’t learn anything from reading them, except that when you capture the audiences imagination, nothing else matters.
There’s another commentary on Breaking Dawn that begins with the idea that this film is a rip off, a cheap grab by studios to milk the franchise for all its worth. Ker-ching. Ker-ching. And it probably is. You know what, I am going to come out and say, I don’t blame the studio. I don’t think many of the first weekend viewers of Breaking Dawn will be asking for their money back, either. They know exactly what they are in for when they hand over their money and they received exactly that.
I love my blockbusters but my favourites this year have been small movies, most people wouldn’t bother to see—Barney’s Version, Take Shelter, and We Need To Talk About Kevin. They all had beautifully crafted scripts with complex characters, portrayed by arguably the leading actors in Hollywood. But nobody would rush to see these offerings. There’s no vampires, virgins or beautiful young creatures floating across the screen in these films, just thought provoking ideas that stay with you long after you leave the cinema.
I’m not a Twilight fan but I am a fan of the movie industry. If the Twihards are willing to come out, and hand over their money instead of pirating the film, thus allowing the studios to make the wonderful, but less record-breaking movies, then I say ‘good on them’.
To the Twihards I say, Breaking Dawn isn’t as bad as the critics make out. Go, enjoy it—and yes, Taylor Lautner does take off his shirt—and I thank you for throwing yourself on the fangs of Edward in support of the movie industry. You are doing a good thing. 5 Stars for you. 2 for me.
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