The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012)
Certified: 12
Duration: 116 minutes
Directed by: Bill Condon
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Mackenzie Foy, Ashley Greene, Maggie Grace, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Jackson Rathbone, Billy Burke
KRS release

The Twilight films kick the bucket with a bang as the final flick is easily the most entertaining of the entire saga.

The final chapter still panders to its teenage audience but, at least, this time round, the film is not eroded by overdramatisation that does not lead anywhere and there are things happening on screen.

Matters are, however, kept simple and to the point and fans are given what they want: over-the-top action. There is also a fun element that was missing in the other instalments, making it a good watch even for non-Twilight fans.

In Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Edward and Bella (Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart) are now husband and wife, bonded together as a vampire couple. They are also parents of a little girl called Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy). Meanwhile, Jacob (Taylor Lautner), Bella’s friend and werewolf admirer, has imprinted himself on Renesmee to thus become her protector.

The couple receives news that Irina (Maggie Grace), a vampire with a grudge against them, has told the Volturi (Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning), a coven of ruling vampires, that Renesmee is the Immortal that will kill them all.

Thus the Volturi set off to eliminate Renesmee but the Cullen family get to know about this and send calls throughout the world to bring in other vampire families to help them protect the child.

Meanwhile, Alice and Jasper (Ashley Greene and Jackson Rathbone) go to Brazil on a mysterious mission and Bella’s father Charlie (Billy Burke) is sent off on a fishing trip so that when the final battle occurs, he is not around.

The film adds a lot of new characters and vampires with different powers, adding to author Stephenie Meyer’s fantastical world. Even though vampires and werewolves are usually the domain of the horror genre, this final chapter shows that the franchise is more about fantasy than horror.

Under Bill Condon’s direction, the film is given much more solid technical footing: there are more effects sequences and some nice visual trickery, used to show how Bella, a newly initiated vampire, now looks at the world.

This film has more at stake than the previous ones: it is not about whether the troubled girl will get a date with the cute vampire or the hunky werewolf but it is now about lives in danger.

In a way, Breaking Dawn – Part 2 is a vampire story with superhero sensibilities in much the same way as X-Men.

I have not read the books and thus the final twist was a bit of a surprise. I knew there was one but did not know what it was and I do not know how faithful that was to the book.

Among the cast, Michael Sheen stands out as he throws away any veneer at acting as he goes all over the top, adding spice to the proceedings as the rest of the cast are all so serious.

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