Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 reviews
It's the end of the road for Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as Bella Swan and Edward Cullen - but did the critics think they went out in style?
Beloved by a legion of fans, the Twilight franchise has been nothing short of a box office phenomenon since it first aired four years ago. In that time the five film saga has scooped more than £1.5billion at the global box office and made stars out of its cast, including Robert Pattinson (pictured), Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, who took to the red carpet on Monday night for the film’s L.A premiere.
Fans here in the UK will have to wait until Friday for a chance to see the final part of the immortal Bella/Edward romance for themselves, but the early reviews are already starting to find their way onto the web. Here’s what they’re saying...
Variety said Breaking Dawn – Part 2 was “a doozy of a finale” adding that “this second of two Bill Condon-directed installments clears a low bar to stand easily as the franchise's most eventful and exciting entry. Admittedly, much of the credit should go to a jaw-dropping extended climax that will give fans something to chew on besides the delicate matter of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's offscreen romance -- not that a movie this commercially invincible requires too many talking points.”
The Examiner has a slightly different view of the film’s finale stating, “As many fans have been warned, the big showdown with the Volturi is a touch different than what we read in the book. The biggest question about that is, ‘Is it so different that I won't like it and/or recognize it?’ The answer is no. Mark my words on this: The theaters will be in a cheering and gasping uproar during these scenes. To say anything else would be a spoiler to the experience of it.”
Baz Bambigoye in the Daily Mail agreed with the consensus on the film’s finale “The last half of this movie had me on the edge of my seat,” he said. He gave the film three out of five stars saying “I can’t deny that I didn’t care very much for the four other movies. For the most part they were poorly made and badly acted…But somehow the final film has stuff to say about love, friendship and loyalty that works.”
The Hollywood Reporter however offered a more cautionary review: “One of the distinguishing factors of the whole Twilight Saga has been its unerring ability to prevent four directors of variable talent from demonstrating any real cinematic flair,” it said. “The prevailing approach in the many romantic interludes has been one of moony dourness…Although the new film builds to a massive confrontation on a wintry field between more than two dozen vampires, backed up by their hirsute werewolf allies, and the more numerous and gifted Volturi, this remains the rare popular series without any great set pieces or even memorable scenes; from the beginning, it all has just sort of chugged along in a stylistically mundane way that has not infrequently slipped over into dullness.”
Indiewire was similarly damning saying that Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 “…is as thrilling, scary and swooningly romantic as this series gets. But it's still dire.”
You’ll be able to make up your mind for yourself when the film lands in cinemas this Friday, but until then why not whet your appetite by watching the trailer below:
