This is it… or is it just the beginning of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan’s immortal romance? I don’t know. All I know is the release of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 means the film franchise is over and it goes out with probably the most enjoyable movie of the bunch. It’s out with the angst, and in with a newfound sense of fun. The previous movies struck me as overly ponderous; this one is actually quite funny, occasionally even bordering on camp. And that’s OK given that the story of vampire babies and ab-tastic werewolves is rather silly.
Picking up where the last movie left off—both films are based on a single book, Stephenie Meyer’s “Breaking Dawn”—the new one begins with Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) rebirth as a vampire following the arrival of her half-human, half-bloodsucker baby Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy). Bella loves her newfound life—or whatever it is the undead call their existence. She doesn’t get tired, doesn’t have to eat and vampire sexy time is supernaturally satisfying. Edward can’t stop smiling, the baby is growing by leaps and bounds—literally—but there is darkness afoot. An allegation regarding the child finds its way to the Volturi, an ancient, vengeful coven of vampires who enforce the laws of the vampire world. The film leads to a showdown between Edward and Bella’s extended family and the old ones which could lead to a culling of the Cullen clan.
It took five movies to finally get the tone of story right. The first movies were teen angst personified through brooding Bella and Edward’s ennui. It’s as if these popular movies contained the cinematic equivalent of a dog whistle, subtext that only teenage girls could hear and see, which left anyone over the age of thirty out in the cold. However, four movies of sad faces and staring off into space may have captured the pain of teen love, but, if you’ll excuse the pun, they also sucked some of the lifeblood from the story.
Director Bill Condon, who also helmed the part one of the story, embraces the ridiculousness of the premise without losing the horror Harlequin feel that made the star crossed lovers storyline so appealing to Twihards. Bella and Edward are still share and eternal love, and the addition of Renesmee has only strengthened that feeling, but now they’re having some fun. Edward, if you watch closely, even smiles occasionally.
It’s a big step from the first installments and, unsurprisingly, it makes for a fun movie. Intentional laugh lines—when Bella’s dad learns of Jacob’s (Taylor Lautner) lycnthropian ability he says to his daughter, “You don’t turn into an animal too, do you?”—are mixed with some unintentional gags—Russian vampires anyone?—and topped off with some playful action—like Bella wrestling with a cougar.
The cumulative effect is the rare undead story that is life affirming with less of the stuff that made the previous movies tough going for non-romantically inclined fang bangers and more pure entertainment.
Twilight, for the uninitiated, is Buffy’s worst nightmare. It is the first in an insanely popular series of books about seventeen-year-old Isabella “Bella” Swan who moves to Forks, Washington and finds her life in danger when she falls in love with ninety-year-old vampire Edward Cullen. The books are required reading for every sixteen year old girl on the planet and now those undead literary characters are coming to life on the big screen in what will undoubtedly be the weekend’s number one film. Vampires, despite Buffy’s best efforts, are hot again.
Twilight, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, stars Into the Wild’s Kristen Stewart as Bella, an average girl whose taste in men runs to the supernatural. She’s a sullen teenager sent to live with her father in rainy Washington state after her free spirited mother shutters their Arizona home to go on the road with her baseball player boyfriend. Life in the small town is sleepy until Bella meets Edward, a pale, otherworldly student who makes Casper the Friendly ghost look tanned. She’s immediately smitten, but he is aloof, friendly one moment, cold the next. “Your mood swings are giving me whiplash,” she says. Soon enough he reveals his true immortal self to her—he’s a vampire “vegetarian,” meaning that he doesn’t drink human blood—and the idea of getting close to a mortal, and her supply of blood, is a temptation he fights against. Rather than running away, afraid for her life, she is even more drawn to him. When a trio of nasty bloodsuckers moves into the area Edward must risk his undead life to protect Bella.
Twilight is review proof. Advance ticket sales have already surpassed the last two Harry Potter movies and guarantee theatre lobbies filled with screeching teenage girls and sold out auditoriums. It’ll be the number one movie of the weekend and not since The Dark Knight has anticipation run so deep. Lots of people have been sucked in by this vampire tale.
But is it a good movie?
I can best sum it up by paraphrasing an old beer advertising slogan. “Those who like it, will like it a lot.” Twilight is bound to please “twi-hards”—fans of the books. Robert Pattison, the unknown English actor hired to play heartthrob vampire Edward embodies the book’s romantic bloodsucker and Kristen Stewart does dreamy longing really well. Hardwicke, whose directorial career showcases her ability to portray teen angst in movies like Thirteen and The Lords of Dogtown, captures the cadences of high school life by surrounding her supernatural characters with average kids handing in natural performances. She’s distilled the 600 page book down to its basic elements, cut the fat—the most important component being the romance; that Edward goes against his natural instinct to kill because he loves Bella—and produced a romantic film that will appeal to the book’s enormous core audience.
For others, and that includes vampire purists—everyone knows that vampires can’t go out during the day and would never have a giant cross in their home—the movie may feel strangely stilted and well, anemic. Anyone expecting fangs, crazy vampire sex or even high tech visual effects will be disappointed. Twilight is about one thing and one thing only—romance. It’s a horror Harlequin, and while the constant starry-eyed craving between the two leads borders on caricature, without it there’d be very little left.
It can be said that the world can be divided into two groups. Those who like the Twilight movies and those who don’t get the vampire romance movies. In a special fang banger Reel Guys Liz Brown, a Twihard superfan, helps skeptic Richard Crouse understand Breaking Dawn – Part 2’s vampire baby Renesmee, the Volturi and why fanpires are addicted to this undead love story!
STAR RATINGS
Richard: 3 ½ Stars
Liz: 4 Stars
Richard: Liz, this is it… or is it just the beginning of Edward and Bella’s immortal romance? I don’t know. All I know is the film franchise is over and it goes out with probably the most enjoyable movie of the bunch. It’s out with the angst, and in with a newfound sense of fun. The previous movies struck me as overly ponderous; this one is actually quite funny, occasionally bordering on camp. And that’s OK given that the story of vampire babies and ab-tastic werewolves is rather silly. Tell me, superfan, what did you think?
Liz: Richard, the first step is admitting you have a problem — and I do. I fell for the fang when I picked up Christopher Pike’s The Last Vampire series in grade six. Twilight brought me back to that time — daydreaming about brooding, loner vampires and wishing I had superpowers. It seems in this last installment the franchise has whole heartedly embraced its camp. I prefer my femmes to lean towards the fatale, so it was nice to see Kristen Stewart finally stop biting her lip and show us her blood-thirsty side.
RC: I agree! Four movies of brooding Bella and Edward’s ennui was enough. The sad faces and staring off into space may have captured the pain of teen love, but, if you’ll excuse the pun, they also sucked some of the lifeblood from the story. The newlyweds still share and eternal love, but now they’re having some fun. Edward, if you watch closely, even smiles occasionally. It’s a big step from the first installments and, unsurprisingly, it makes for a more fun movie.
LB: I’m sorry Richard, I’m still firmly Team Jacob, so I didn’t pay Edward much heed. But I’ll agree — the actors are having fun in this final hurrah. The most fun for me? Jacob’s semi-nude explanation of the supernatural. Judging from the cheers in the crowd, I’m not the only one who enjoyed it. But I was a little disappointed with the action scenes. I know it’s film for tweens, but couldn’t the battles have a bit more style? After all that angst, this series needed some Ang Lee.
RC: I thought I heard you let out a squeal when Lautner stripped down. Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. The action scenes are bloodless for the most part. The Walking Dead makes this look like Sesame Street, but I liked the steely look of determination on Dakota Fanning’s face throughout. I just hope she wasn’t paid by the word for her mostly mute performance.
LB: Yes, Fanning’s Jane doesn’t get too many lines this time out, but overall this film is less talky than the others — and that’s a good thing. I’m sad to bid farewell to the Cullens, but I’m certain they’ll be happy in their “perfect piece of forever.” My inner tween now anxiously awaits the next adventure of Katniss Everdeen.
If not for the success of Twilight, a movie called Little Ashes about superstar surrealist Salvador Dalí’s relationship with poet Federico García Lorca would likely have languished on the shelf, never to be seen in theatres.
So why is it coming to some theatres this weekend? Well, Little Ashes stars a pre-Twilight Robert Pattison as Dalí in a role decidedly different from the one that made him a star and the film’s producers are hoping to cash in on his newfound popularity.
Pattison joins the list of actors to have films come back from the dead to haunt them. Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger purportedly took legal action to prevent the re-release of a skeleton from their collective closets, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation and if Nicole Kidman didn’t try and buy up all the copies of BMX Bandits, she should have.
In 1979, Madonna starred in the erotic thriller A Certain Sacrifice as Bruna, a Lower East Side local rooming with three love slaves who help her get revenge on a man who attacked her. Shot on a budget of $20,000 US, the film was forgotten until 1985 when it was released on VHS to coincide with the release of Like a Virgin.
Unhappy about this relic from her past popping up, she screamed obscenities at director Stephen Jon Lewicki, called the film “mediocre” and her performance “second rate.”
Lewicki declined the singer’s $10,000 buyout to keep the film off video store shelves and became a millionaire on the film’s proceeds.
Sylvester Stallone had a similar experience. As a starving actor, he appeared in a sexploitation movie called Party at Kitty and Studs. “I played Studs, who posts a sign on a bulletin board inviting people to come to a party,” he told Playboy.
“About ten people show up and they do a lot of kissing and necking, and that’s about it.”
He says he was literally a starving artist when he made the film. “I mean, I was desperate. That’s why I thought it was extraordinary when I read in one of the trade papers that I could make $100 a day. And the fact that I had to take off my clothes to do it was no big deal.”
Years later when offered the chance to buy the rights and keep the movie out of the marketplace Stallone said no and since then has developed a sense of humour about his embarrassing porn legacy.
When asked about “remake fever” in Hollywood, he said: “My real dream is that the highest-priced actor working today has the huevos to remake the classic Party at Kitty and Studs.”
This is it… or is it just the beginning of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan’s immortal romance? I don’t know. All I know is the release of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 means the film franchise is over and it goes out with probably the most enjoyable movie of the bunch. It’s out with the angst, and in with a newfound sense of fun. The previous movies struck me as overly ponderous; this one is actually quite funny, occasionally even bordering on camp. And that’s OK given that the story of vampire babies and ab-tastic werewolves is rather silly.
