The cross-species love triangle is, unquestionably, a loony love story about a jaw-clenching werewolf who loves a perpetually mopey human who loves a vegan vampire. There's a wedding, a pregnancy with a potentially demon foetus, lots of gore, wolves talking English — and the kicker is that this high melodrama is played out by a bunch of teenagers. Well, sort of; the vampire is a century-plus man stuck in a teenager's body.
Ridiculous yes, but not without its guilty pleasures. Director Bill Condon's movie looks beautiful even though it's unevenly paced with lots of time given over to the werewolf smouldering, the mum-to-be nobly suffering and, ironically enough, the vampire being morally tormented.
But the thing is, you see, the Twilight movies — based on the bestselling quartet of books by Stephenie Meyer — aren't meant for the critics or the critically-minded. Breaking Dawn Part I , like its predecessors, is squarely aimed at its devoted fan base, which has voted with its money: Breaking Dawn Part I brought in a startling US$139.5 million on its opening weekend, the fifth highest opening weekend ever, ever. Even without money-spinning 3D glasses.
These are fans who have been waiting through three movies about repressed desire and unconsummated love, as vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) battles his desire to kill human love interest Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) even as he kisses her. Now, finally, the Twilight saga moves into celluloid's most-anticipated wedding. Tip to Twi-newbies: Breaking Dawn makes little sense if you aren't up to speed with the previous films.
The best set piece of director Bill Condon's movie is the wedding, lyrically filmed by cinematographer Guillermo Navarro. Chief wedding planner — Bella's vampire sister-in-law-to-be Alice (Ashley Greene) — puts together an elegant ceremony where everyone looks good from Bella's dad (Billy Burke) to Bella herself in an exotic wedding dress by Carolina Herrera.
There are lots of cleverly conceived visual metaphors: Bella's wobbly nervousness while trying on achingly high Manolo Blahnik heels, or a dream sequence where everyone she loves dies, which will eventually happen if Bella turns into a vampire.
As for Jacob the werewolf (Taylor Lautner), he gets to rip off his shirt within seconds of the movie opening — displaying anger at finally losing Bella to Edward. He does turn up at the wedding, only to shout dire warnings to an already-twitchy Bella.
But once the golden honeymoon is over, it's really over; the second half of Breaking Dawn Part I gets into some very weird, and often risible, territory. Incidentally, those startled by some of the final sequences should check out the Marie Corelli Victorian romance Thelma (1887), where the unlucky member of a love triangle is handed a rather unexpected form of solace.
Fans will have to gnash their teeth for a whole year before sinking it into Part 2 of Breaking Dawn in November 2012. But here's an interim tip, wait out the credits to catch a teaser trailer of what the toothsome lot might battle over in the final film.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part I
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Director: Bill Condon
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke
Storyline: When the human and the vampire marry, the cross-species triangle finds a resolution as well as unexpected problems
Bottomline: High blood-pleasure for fans; others, please stay away
