Breaking Dawn Part 2 is the fifth and final installment in the Twilight Saga, based on Stephanie Meyer’s four novels. The hugely successful saga’s appeal is that it’s a very old-fashioned romance with a liberal sprinkling of fantasy, and even a bit of action, which sees vampires and werewolves pitted against one another. At this point, you’ve either endured the first four installments of mortal Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) biting her lower lip while gazing lovingly at vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), and there’s no reason not to see the finale; or you’ve given up on this teenage hormone fest long ago. If you’re somehow undecided, read on.At the end of Breaking Dawn Part 1, Bella gives birth to a baby girl that is half-vampire, half-human. Bella dies in labor and Edward must make her a vampire, something he’d been trying to avoid all along. As an extra twist, Edward’s love rival, the jacked werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), falls for the newborn baby. This newfound domestic bliss is short-lived though, as the Volturi, an ancient vampire organization, hear of the child’s birth. The Volturi will most probably kill the child and parents and Edward’s friends help him to assemble vampires from the four corners of the earth to bear witness that the child wasn’t turned and is still half-human (which somehow would make things OK for the Volturi). As these exotic relatives show up, their X-Men-like skills are revealed, from powerful electrocution to the control of the elements. All this should come in handy for what slowly builds up to be one big showdown with the Volturi.It’s a long wait before the Volturi show up, though. As usual, much of the movie is spent ticking off romantic clichés: Bella and Eward’s sex is even more perfect now, he gets her a perfectly decorated home and they’re rarely seen dealing with their freaky, constantly-smiling CGI baby. When the couple do share the spotlight with some of the supporting cast, it’s mostly for the same rather dull conversations we’ve grown accustomed to. (Bill Condon is directing this time around, not that we noticed a difference.) At least Bella loses a bit of her tragic Victorian heroine passiveness with her newfound vampire powers, and starts to do a bit of ass-kicking of her own—still not enough to breathe much life into the whole thing, though. Production values are high (except for the creepy CGI baby), everyone is incredibly beautiful and tension does ultimately pick up as the saga draws to a close. But Twilight is and remains a sappy romance with lots of uninspired dialogue. Apparently, there are huge crowds out there with infinite patience for this kind of stuff: you know who you are.
