Becoming a vampire has never seemed more appealing before Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga.
Beginning just as the last film ended, Bella Swan’s piercing red eyes were filled with a newfound hunger and lust for life. Dying after giving birth to her half vampire, half mortal daughter, Renesmee, Bella was resurrected with such grace, never looking so beautiful, never feeling so strong and never doubting the promise of forever with her beloved.
Since 2005, readers and fans of Meyer’s characters have fallen in love with Bella’s (Kristen Stewart) humility and have become infatuated by the men in her life, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Inspired by a dream, Meyer created a fictional world that has become a pop-culture phenomenon. After seven years of patience and with the help of director Bill Condon, the last chapter finally hit theatres.
With the awakening of a new vampire and the birth of a miracle child of two worlds, Breaking Dawn Part II is the beginning of a new era for the Cullens, the Quileute wolf pack and all vampires.
When the Volturi, the royal vampire elitists, hear false allegations of a child with mystical powers of a vampire they assume she is an immortal infant, bitten by the Cullens who broke the law of creating a child vampire. When Alice (Ashley Greene) foresees the attack of the Volturi the Cullens seek out foreign friends to witness Renesmee’s (Mackenzie Foy) uniqueness of being conceived by a vampire father and a human mother.
As wonderful as it is to watch literary characters come to life as we imagined them, the films can sometimes be a disappointment to devoted readers. Surprisingly, although the first four films of The Twilight Saga were nothing more than ordinary, the cinematographic version of the last 19 chapters of Breaking Dawn was brilliant and thrilling, enhancing the story with warfare. Although the war never occurs in the book, Condon and screenplay writer Melissa Rosenberg went beyond what was expected and featured an extraordinary battle scene as one of Alice’s premonitions, shocking even the most loyal readers. The spilled blood, jaw-dropping dreadful deaths and overwhelming anticipation are exactly what were needed to end the saga with a sense of satisfaction.
While new characters added an element of humour and mystique, the original cast matured with the films, fully embodying their literary characters. Compared to her pitiful performance in Twilight, where lip biting became her signature nervous tick, Stewart finally understood the balance between humility and courage in Bella and played the role exceptionally well.
Aside from the unnecessary shirtless scene of Jacob, added merely for the young ladies in the theatre, the film was a fantastic and well thought-out production of Meyer’s book. Beautifully shot in the wilderness of Vancouver, Canada, the visuals were just as captivating as the infamous love story.
While some may argue that such a film should be critiqued as simply a movie, I believe the books should be taken into consideration. These series, whether it be Twilight or Harry Potter, are brought to life for the readers who follow the story and grow with the characters. For the first time, I can truly say that I enjoyed the film more so than the book. Although I may have entered the theatre with skepticism I left entertained and with a sense of relief of watching a film worthy of its literary form.
