Team Edward or Team Jacob? It’s the first question to ask Twilight fans, who have been massively anticipating the release of the penultimate film in the series, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.”
Breaking Dawn continues where the previous film, “Eclipse”, left off with a topless Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) running out of his house in anger, having received an invitation to the wedding of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart).
Following their marriage, the newly-wed couple go off on their honeymoon, where they make love numerous times. Two weeks later, Bella becomes pregnant with a vampire baby that grows at a rapid rate and could inevitably kill her, much to the annoyance of Jacob.
To the casual cinema goer, the storyline isn’t particularly clear, especially in regards to the love triangle and there are some in-series jokes that only Twi-hards will find hilarious.
In comparison to previous films, “Breaking Dawn” contains quite a lot of humour, which takes away a lot of the tension in the film. However, most of the comedy comes in the form of cheap laughs, such as Edward breaking the bed during a sex scene and a few drunken lines during the wedding speeches.
One of the many criticisms the series has come under in the past is the poor acting. Whereas Lautner, Pattinson and Stewart do have a number of moments during “Breaking Dawn” when they show great performance skills, predominantly their acting is quite bland and emotionless, especially during key scenes in the film.
Computer animation plays a big part, mostly evident with the werewolves and effects used on Kristen Stewart to make her look ill. The animation was brilliantly pulled off in some aspects of the film, though there were moments where it lacked, particularly during a badly choreographed battle scene towards the film’s climax.
As for the soundtrack, which features tracks from the likes of Bruno Mars, Christina Perri and The Joy Formidable, it works in the film’s favour, setting and underlying the tone of certain scenes.
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” has all the ingredients for a Twilight film: a topless Taylor Lautner, over-the-top make-up and a dramatic love triangle. This is a film that Twilight fanatics will love and that anyone else will find difficult to enjoy.