RG
Roberto Giacomelli
•Bella has given birth to Renesmee and to not die in childbirth, she was turned into a vampire by Edward. Now the girl is trying to get used to her new abilities and her daughter is growing impressively day by day. But a problem threatens the life of the Cullens: the evil Volturi are convinced that Renesmee is the result of the vampirization of a human child, which is prohibited by the vampire code, and for this reason, they are moving battle against the Cullens with the intention of eliminating the child.
A more unique than rare case: "Breaking Dawn", the fourth chapter of the "Twilight" saga is both the best and the worst of the quadrilogy. The film, split into two parts, indeed has a part 1 - released last year - definitely well made and more mature compared to what this saga had accustomed us to until then, but a part 2 simply disastrous!
The novel by Stephenie Meyer from which the film is adapted is a nice tome of about 700 pages that, wanting to remain as literary as possible, can justify being transposed into two films. Watching "Breaking Dawn – Part 2" one has the sensation that it is a simple smokescreen to prolong for another year and another film the millionaire success of this saga. "Breaking Dawn – Part 2" is the classic stretched broth, sparse narrative material stretched for about two hours, with the consequence that boredom reigns supreme. The first endless hour is all focused on Bella who discovers her vampire powers, while what remains is dedicated to the search for vampires from all over the world who serve as witnesses to Bella and Edward against the Volturi.
Furthermore, there is an overabundance of characters in this chapter that penalizes empathy with any of them. One of the flaws of the "Twilight Saga" has been precisely the inability to delve into the numerous recurring secondary characters from chapter to chapter (the Cullen family, the werewolf clan, the Volturi), focusing solely on the Edward-Bella-Jacob triangle. If to this lack you add the twenty new characters introduced in the last hour of "Breaking Dawn – Part 2", you can imagine the effect of shapeless mass that has been created.
Moreover, this last chapter has the unforgivable flaw of being unintentionally ridiculous on more than one occasion. The "Twilight Saga" has always had this tendency towards unintentional irony with characters gratuitously shirtless, looks for vampires and werewolves decidedly questionable and little phrases from Perugina kisses put in every two by three, but in "Breaking Dawn – Part 2" is added to all this the bad idea of showing us the vampires as if it were the X-Men. The powers that characterize the vampires scattered around the world that Meyer described in the novel are here visually rendered as if we were in front of a Marvel film, with, for example, the guy who has fire in his hands (and controls the elements) and the vampire who gives strong electric shocks with touch.
To further undermine this last and awaited chapter, there is a worrying lack of general care. The special effects are more mediocre than usual (unlike "Breaking Dawn – Part 1" where there was an impressive physical transformation of Bella) with massive use of crude green screen, rough CGI tricks and even the makeup of the vampires has a bad stage ceruse effect here where it should simulate the pallor of the undead. And considering the budget of over 130 million dollars, it is really not understood how they invested all that money.
The only merit of this disappointing conclusion are those few minutes of final battle that see our heroes opposed to the Volturi, with scenes even rather violent for the standards of the saga. Too bad that this single action sequence is ruined by a narrative device that will understandably irritate someone.
Cast of the usual Robert Pattinson inexpressive, a Taylor Lautner more marginal than usual, an excessively clownish Michael Sheen and a Kristen Stewart now artistically grown who dominates the entire cast with talent. Weak screenplay by the usual Melissa Rosemberg, author of the scripts of the entire saga, and anonymous direction by Bill Condon, who shot the film back-to-back with "Breaking Dawn - Part 1".
Usually, the final chapters of a saga should be the most complex, spectacular and exciting, with "Twilight" the exact opposite happens and "Breaking Dawn – Part 2" undermines the good premises of the previous chapter resulting in verbose, boring and with formal care below the minimum levels for a high-budget production.
The fans of the saga will surely find something good, but if you are not "emotionally involved" by the franchise and you approach as simple spectators who however know the subject, you will be bitterly disappointed by a film that could have been easily condensed into the last minutes of "Breaking Dawn – part 1".
