Breaking Dawn Breaks Twilight Tradition

It seems that after four years of impressively emotionless acting and an incredibly disappointing script, the makers of Twilight have finally gotten it right. With interesting new characters, a new found chemistry between old characters, and a surprising and unexpected plot twist, Breaking Dawn Part 2 saves the Twilight Saga from a legacy of terrible chick flicks.

Bella observes her new vampire self for the first time.

The film begins right where Part 1 ended, with Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) becoming a vampire. Her improved senses are clearly depicted in somewhat of a predictable yet necessary way by zooming in on objects with high quality cameras and loud sound tracks of noises that should not be heard by the naked ear.

Along with these heightened senses, Bella acquires heightened emotion. The audience finally gets a taste of her intense relationship with Edward that they had only read about in the books. It would have been brilliant if the filmmakers purposely had had Bella be so unemotional prior to her becoming a vampire and then finally show some emotion after, to show and enhance her transformation, but it’s doubtful they put that much thought into it and Stewart’s improved acting was probably just an inevitable result of her 10 years in movies.

Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) also shows some positive progress in his acting, portraying less of the obsessive, overprotective, soulmate and more of the happy, loving, husband. This too could be a result of Bella becoming a vampire and therefore becoming less vulnerable, or Pattinson could have actually read the series by Stephenie Meyers and realized he had been playing his part wrong for years.

Another Twilight star, and Edward’s supposed competition, Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), (obviously shirtless in one scene to appease the female audience) backs off, giving up on Bella and turning his attention toward her and Edward’s daughter, Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy). Renesmee is a beautiful half vampire child that the audience can’t help but love and Jacob imprints on. Imprinting is when a werewolf sees a person and knows that they are their soulmate and that they are perfect for each other. While the movie explains this, the makers were not fully able to depict Jacob and Renesmee’s relationship without it being slightly creepy as well as the novel does.

SPOILER: DO NOT CONTINUE READING IF YOU PLAN ON SEEING THIS MOVIE

The plot twist comes in a tense scene where the Cullen family and their friends are trying to avoid a fight with another clan of powerful vampires. Fighting breaks out, forcing Jacob to run away with Renesmee and multiple loved characters to be killed. Only after Twilight fans are almost in tears is it revealed that the whole 10 minute fighting scene had been a vision of one of the characters and none of it had really happened. This brilliant, gut wrenching scene may anger die heart Twilight fans for not following the book, but it really proves to the viewer that they actually care about the characters, and shows that Twilight is in no way predictable.

Bella, Edward, Jacob, and Renesmee relax after a close call with another vampire clan.

The movie ends with a touching scene in the place Edward and Bella fell in love, where Bella lets Edward read her mind for the first time. This, along with shots of pages from the novel, really tie all the books and movies together and provide for an unexpected emotional closing leaving the audience wondering why the movie makers couldn’t have made all the movies that good.