MOVIE REVIEW: BREAKING DAWN

[photo grabbed from IMDB]

Despite being a Twilight fanatic (I read and possess all of Meyer’s Twilight saga e-books) I was not able to watch this movie though it was shown last November 2011. I guess I didn’t want to move with the crowds that are sure to deluge this second to the last installment of the Twilight series. Besides, I didn’t want to end up like the others who watched this first installment – so bitin as they stepped out of the moviehouse . That is why I refrained myself and succeeded too for the past three months. But my resolve just broke when an officemate arrived with a DVD or I guess it’s just the Valentine’s fever still hanging in the air. But whatever the reason I’m afraid I have to admit that I WATCHED BREAKING DAWN! And I don’t regret it one bit because it truly is a great movie!

It starts with a scene of Jacob running out of the house and transforming to a wolf as he receives an invitation to Bella and Edward’s wedding. Afterwards, wedding preparations are being made with Alice arranging the whole event. Bella is nervous as she gets the recurring dream that all her human guests get killed by Edward’s vampire friends (particularly those who are non-vegetarians like them). But Alice assures her that everything will be fine and that she just needs to get some beauty sleep. Before she sleeps though, she and Edward talk inside her room and Edward tries to convince her one last time to back off (not from the wedding) but from becoming a ‘monster’ like him. But Bella was insistent and believes she won’t become a ‘monster’ with Edward and the rest of his clan there to guide her.

Then, the big day arrives and I like the rest of the movie going public, I too was enthralled with the couple’s beautiful garden wedding where human, vampire and even wolf guests live in peace. Edward leaves us with this very touching line “No measure of time with you will be long enough, but let’s start with forever…” Then, suddenly Jacob arrives and he apologizes for being late. Jacob explains that he came just to see Bella one last time before she becomes a vampire. But Bella admits she wants to wait until after the honeymoon and so Jacob gets upset knowing that having sex with a vampire may kill her. Edward tells him to mind his own business and the other wolves appear to pull Jake away.

Edward whisks Bella off to an undisclosed place for their honeymoon and soon we discover it is an island off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They make love just once when Edward sees how bruised and battered he has left Bella that one time. And so they spend the rest of their honeymoon playing chess. Bella tries to convince Edward to touch her again but instead Edward takes her to do so many tiring activities (like cliff diving, mountain climbing, etc.) so that by the time they get back, Bella is too tired and just sleeps.

Two weeks into their honeymoon, Edward leaves Bella by herself to hunt. She sets off to make breakfast for herself and while eating ends up vomiting what she just ate. Bella realizes that her period is late and sees a tiny bump in her stomach. They both believe that it is impossible for her to be pregnant until Bella feels a kick in her tummy as if the baby was trying to tell her it’s there! Then, Alice suddenly calls because she says she stopped seeing Bellas’ future so they became worried and the two share their belief that Bella may be pregnant. The two immediately pack their things to return home. Edward intends to have Carlisle abort the baby but Bella enlists the help of Rosalie to prevent this from happening.

Meanwhile, Bella calls her Dad to say she’s caught some bug and needs to extend their trip so she can’t go home just yet. But Jacob gets worried and visits the Cullens to know what really happened to Bella. It turns out that Bella and Edward had been home for two weeks already and so Jacob is shocked to see Bella looking so terrible and obviously sick. Until Bella shows her stomach obviously pregnant (like 7 months pregnant!) when only a month has just passed. The Cullens tell Jacob that they too were quite surprised with what has been happening and they have completely no knowledge at all about the baby – Alice’s powers seem to be not working because she can’t see the child nor Bella’s future anymore. Jacob asked why they haven’t tried to take the baby out of her since it is obviously killing Bella but Bella insists on keeping the child – with Rosalie’s help. Edward goes outside to enlist Jacob’s help to convince Bella to let the child go since it may end up killing her. They make a pact that if Bella remains unconvinced and ends up dying, Jacob gets to kill Edward at last.

The wolf pack learns what happened and they make a decision to kill Bella since they are unsure if the creature inside Bella’s womb will be safe for the tribe or the rest of the humans. They want to kill Bella but Jacob refuses since she’s still a human (and of course he’s in love with her). So Jacob uses his birth right to become a true alpha to resist Sam’s order and creates a second pack. Seth decides to follow Jacob but Jacob at first insists that Seth return to the pack. But Seth is adamant and I guess knowing how Seth has befriended the Cullens too, he just lets Seth be. Jacob tells the Cullen’s to get ready since the pack is going after Bella. Jacob and Seth set up guard outside the Cullen’s house and both are surprised at the arrival of Leah who has also left Sam’s pack. She says she’s just looking after her baby brother but in fact, she just wants to be out of Sam’s pack (still due to unrequited love reasons) and so Jacob just lets her be too.

The next scene show the Cullens getting worried because the baby has started to grow stronger as Bella gets weaker and weaker. It has started to crush her ribs and may end up killing/crushing her from the inside. They are fearful that her heart may give out before she gets to deliver the baby. But Bella insists on holding on for as long as she could and when her heart gives, Edward or Carlisle gives her the vampire venom to try to start her heart back up. But they can’t give her any guarantees that it may work. Bella and Edward get into an argument because Bella seeks Edward’s understanding and help in raising the baby even after she’s dead but Edward says he can’t possibly love someone responsible for her death and walks out the door!

They all huddle around a deathly pale Bella as they try their best to figure out a way to help her survive with the baby growing fast inside her. Until Jacob starts thinking that the baby may want blood which Edward reads from his thoughts and agrees to and so they make Bella drink blood. The plan worked and Bella began feeling better. Bella and Edward make up their differences as well and Edward apologizes for not understanding Bella more. Then, all of a sudden Edward hears another voice and thinks at first it may be Bella but realizes it was the baby inside her speaking to him in his mind.

But the Cullens have another problem, for the past few days they have not been able to venture away from their home not just to protect Bella but to protect themselves too since Sam and his pack are just outside the perimeter of Jacob’s pack and they would stop at nothing to get the Cullens. But they need to hunt since they fear Bella may deliver the baby soon and they need to be strong for her. So Jacob goes out and tries to talk to Sam and his pack. He convinces them that when the time comes he will be the one who will kill the baby when it gets out because he’s the only one they trust. Meanwhile, as they talk Esme, Carlisle and Emmett are able to escape and leave the compound to feed.

Suddenly as they were talking about baby names, Bella bends forward to try to reach her cup of blood when her back just breaks! She falls to the ground with her knee breaking as well. Edward moves fast to catch her head as she falls and so Edward performs an emergency cesarean procedure on Bella. But they can’t cut her tummy because the placenta with the baby is just too strong. So Edward sinks his teeth into her tummy to break her open. Edward successfully gets the baby out and confirms to Bella that it’s a girl – their Renesmee.

Bella smiles as she gazes at her baby until suddenly her heart stops beating. Edward injects his own venom straight into Bella’s heart to try to revive her then he proceeds to bite her all over but it doesn’t seem to work. Jacob feels his worst nightmare has come true. So he vowed to Edward that he won’t kill him because he wants Edward to live in guilt for the rest of his life for killing Bella. Jacob walks out and slumps on the ground crying.

Jacob, in his fury, then proceeds to do what he was meant to do – kill the monster that killed Bella. Sam and his pack, on the other hand, prepare to kill the baby, too, even if it meant killing Jacob and the rest of the Cullens. But the moment Jacob sees Renesmee he imprints on her and he sees her entire life flash before his own eyes. Now, he has no choice but to do everything to protect her. Meanwhile, Edward, Alice and Jasper get out of the house to get ready for the approach of Sam and the rest of the wolves. They are severely outnumbered but good thing Carlisle, Esme and Emmet return just in time. The fight continues with Leah and Seth fighting their own kind to save the baby. Then Jacob comes out to tell everyone that he has imprinted on the baby. Now, they can’t do anything to hurt her as "whoever a wolf imprints on can’t be harmed, it’s their most absolute law”.

After that they began cleaning out Bella’s body and Edward voices misgivings that they may have been too late but Carlisle said there’s still hope and that he should listen to her heart that has began to beat even if haltingly. Slowly color begins to return to Bella’s skin, her bones and muscles repair themselves and blood starts to flow again through her veins. Memories in her dreams start to regress until she returns to her childhood with a younger version of her mom and dad and then her heart just stops and her eyes open – showing bloody red pupils.

In all, I guess I can say I truly enjoyed the movie despite the fact that it had less action scenes like the previous Twilight movies. It focused more on the love story between Edward and Bella and does no more than that but I loved it still! I don’t care what the others say that it was kinda cheesy and boring but I liked the way the director spiced it up a bit by putting a bit of gore especially in Bella’s childbirth and a bit of sci-fi effect with the blood rushing in her veins. It was a real good movie but just SO BITIN! I just knew I would feel this way but I’ll try my best to wait and be patient for the final installment. Meanwhile, I could do a film vs book review while waiting, who knows I may just have the time and energy to do it!