Breaking Dawn - Until(s) the End of the Night Part 2

The wait is over! The grand finale of the Twilight Saga is here! After Bella (Kristen Stewart) almost died at the end of the first part of Breaking Dawn during the birth of her daughter Renesmee and could only escape the final death, because her husband Edward (Robert Pattinson) has finally granted her wish to become a vampire too, now nothing really stands in the way of a happy family life. But since Bella's father Charlie (Billy Burke) is not allowed to know that his daughter is a vampire now, the whole Cullen family has to move away from Forkes. Jacob, who has been imprinted on Renesmee and thus will be responsible for her protection for the rest of her life, can't let that happen. So instead of telling Charlie that Bella has died, he tells him the truth. In doing so, he unwittingly sets events in motion that could have disastrous consequences. Because now that the Cullens don't have to hide, Renesmee's existence soon becomes known among the vampires and trickles down to the Volturi. And they see the rapidly growing child as a real threat that must be destroyed. Of course, newly minted vampire mama Bella can't let that happen. And so the Cullens rally allied vampires from around the world to arm themselves for the all-important battle against the Volturi.

After four films that have collectively grossed over $2 billion worldwide and made a wide fan base extremely happy, it hardly makes sense to enter the fray with harsh criticism against the fifth and final installment in the saga. The Twilight franchise is a phenomenon that non-fans just can't really comprehend, but that directly strikes a chord with its target audience and thus has earned its absolute right to exist. Sure, the story, which spans four books and five movies, is extremely shallow, even if fans don't like to hear it, and the characters in the movies are drawn very superficially. This inevitably leads to the fact that the actors also seem rather pale and wooden. But even if everyone who isn't on Team Edward or Team Jacob rolls their eyes in annoyance at Bella's constant, unfortunately filled looks, has to fight with rolling up toenails during the dialogues or can't escape the unintentional comedy of Jacob's constant upper body freakout, these are all reasons for loyal fans to love these stories just that much more.

Therefore, this is not to rant about director Bill Condon's failure to take advantage of wonderful opportunities for self-deprecation, which would certainly have enhanced the film, due to the overly stalled acting of the leads. Nor about screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg's failure, over the course of five films, to rid her dialogue of overly campy clichés. Rather, it's to try to assess whether the finale will satisfy its fans. And to that, the answer is clearly yes! However, a little criticism must be allowed here as well.

For after a rather worn beginning, which only seems to rehash the old ingredients of the last movies and in which only Billy Burke is allowed to show something like really convincing acting talent in a very nice scene, the action finally picks up speed. In the process, many new characters are introduced who want to join the Cullens in battle against the Volturi. In particular, Lee Pace, lead actor of the much too soon cancelled series Pushing Daisies, and Joe Anderson (The Grey) embody two rather dark vampire types who seem so interesting and mysterious that one would have liked to see more of them. Alright, they don't sparkle as beautifully as Edward (and now Bella), but they do add a bit more edge to the film, which this soft-spoken vampire romance could very well do with.

But unfortunately, apart from their brief introduction, these new characters are given little more time to develop further. For no sooner have all the vampires gathered in Forkes than the big battle against the Volturi ensues. And here lies both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of this last part. The strength lies in the fact that the big fight is exciting, surprisingly brutal and even a bit emotional. Admittedly, the excessively celebrated severing of numerous vampire heads in particular seems somewhat out of place, as this form of clear brutality has not been seen in the Twilight films before. But it also adds an intensity to the fight that is hard to resist, even if you're not a fan.

The weakness is revealed when the fight reaches its big climax and the film then takes a really annoying step back. Sure, fans would prefer a true happy ending. But because of this clumsy backpedal, the entire battle of the vampires actually loses any power and actually becomes completely unnecessary as well. If not only the filmmakers, but also author Stephenie Meyer had mustered a little more courage here to give the finale a little more emotional toughness, the last part would have left a really positive impression. Thus, with the last scene and the subsequent montage, during which to the soft sounds of Christina Perri once again all the characters of the five films can be seen in their best moments, it becomes clear that here especially the female fans with hearts beating fast with joy and tears in their eyes can enjoy exactly the end of their saga, which they want to see. Nevertheless, the superficiality of the story is also underscored here, which has ultimately led to Twilight taking constant ridicule and criticism outside of its fanbase.

Breaking Dawn - Until(s) the End of the Night Part 2 is a really good conclusion to the series for fans. That Bill Condon managed to build up something like a potential on a movie that could entertain non-fans well, is to the director's credit. That this potential was ultimately not realized is a shame, but won't even begin to bother fans. Those who loved the books and the first films will get exactly what they want to see. And therefore, in the end, there is also an absolutely deserved worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp