FILM

USA 2011 117mins Dir: Bill Condon Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

As we all know, Twilight is like Marmite, and ‘Breaking Dawn’ is no exception. Packed full of teenage angst, love and lust, Twihards are bound to adore this latest instalment. For everyone else, though, the unintentional humour that comes from the poorly-acted, cheesier moments may be the only redeeming feature.

Long-awaited moments such as the Cullen-Swan wedding and subsequent honeymoon will no doubt live up to hardcore fans’ expectations: Bella’s never-ending walk up the aisle, the dress, the vows, followed by the idyllic beach house location are a nice (if brief!) change from her usual suffering-filled life. Her bruises after the (literally) bed-shattering consummation send out a questionable message to Edward’s many adoring fans, but besides that everything is, actually, quite romantic.

Casual viewers, however, will probably have tired of the film’s formula before the bride reaches the altar. Vacant stares from Edward and non-specific angst from Bella seem to be randomly inserted as filler in the absence of any real plot. Without spoiling the story, the entire film’s events (there are precisely three) could easily have been condensed into an hour, if not less, which makes the decision to split the final book into two a little strange. The standard of acting is as painfully bad as expected: Pattinson in particular is so wooden that he almost seems uncomfortable to be in the film, whilst the ever-expressionless Stewart’s angry, sad, happy and surprised faces are suspiciously similar.

From the opening scenes of the film it’s clear who the target audience is here, as werewolf hunk Jacob, expresses his anger by, err, ripping his clothes off. You could possibly use this as an indicator as to whether or not to keep watching – if you swoon, you’ll love it; if you laugh, cut your losses and go see something else. (Lucy Meek)

Copyright Lucy Meek 2011