After months of absence, here is a little something for you. This is raw and unedited as I wanted to get this up as soon as possible, so I apologize for all the errors. Please enjoy, and note this contains many SPOILERS.
At 12am I experienced the bittersweet ending of the Twilight Saga as Breaking Dawn Part Two was finally released. This review is more like my train of thoughts on the movie, and will contain spoilers.
With my heart racing and hands shaking, the opening scene finally plays after what seems like hundreds of ads and commercials for other movies (I have to say I was captured by the Host trailer, and I would definitely see the movie when it is released March next year). The opening scene itself was built to build a feel of anticipation as the opening credits seemed an endless string. Despite this, within a few minutes we are brought back to the end of BDP1- Bella opening her blood red eyes, now taking in the world around her (as described in the book). Within a minute it seemed that Bella had woke up, seen Edward, looked in a mirror (without Alice there, I might add), offhand asked to see her daughter and was suddenly streaking through the bush on her first heart. Many lines here were the same as the book, but a lot of details were cut. For me, this was giving me hope that more time would be dedicated to the fight scene we were promised.
The first hunt, one of my favourite scenes in the book, was executed very nicely and efficiently. I did like replacing the hiker from the book with a mountain climber- it was a great way to show off new vampire ability in a way we hadn't seen before. Jacob and Bella's little bantering had the theatre laughing for a few minutes before cooing and ah-ing over baby Renesmee (whose short hair blended with the baby we saw in the first movie).
After seeing what they did with the first honeymoon, I was interested to see what they would do in this film, and I have to say, they pulled off vampire sex well. While the first movie was focused on the romantic element of romance, they managed to show the primal, uncontrollable side of newborn Bella and Edward as they spent their first night in their cottage (which was beautifully decorated). I was well prepared for the scene to push the boundaries of its rating, but instead we were given a scene where the bulk of it was up to our imaginations. Nonetheless, the scene lived up to its hype and was true to the book, something I know Twilight fans love.
Billy Burke as Charlie was amazing as always, and the jokes they added in definitely lightened the mood. Of course it wouldn't be a Twilight movie without Jacob removing his shirt (and in this case, everything else). The scene with Bella seeing Charlie was a bit different from the book, but all in all it did the scene justice. Watching Renesmee age was something they pulled off very well. The arm wrestling scene, though not brought on by the thousands of innuendos I had hoped to hear, was one of the most entertaining parts of the movie. Like lots of Twilight fans, I did think that Renesmee was too 'old' and tall, but I definitely owe Mackenzie huge congratulations. It was amazing watching the family unit, especially Edward and Renesmee scenes which I feel the book didn't emphasise the relationships to the extent I had hoped.
All too soon the feeling of joy turned to a nightmare as Alice vision arrived. Though it wasn't what happened in the book, I felt the Alaska scene fitted in perfectly, and it was definitely a great idea including the search for witnesses which we didn't get to see in the book. The casting of all the vampires was amazing, and the way the new talents were displayed was just as I had imagined. As I had hoped, Bella's shield was done in a way which wasn't cheesy at all, and was given a good portion of attention to keep us fans satisfied.
It seemed like Bella's discovery of Alice's note happened later than in the book, where she finds the note after a heart wrenching scene between Edward and Bella. However, this just added to the rush and intensity of the challenge ahead. Before long we were meeting J Jenks and Christmas was being celebrated with Charlie. Though they have been scrutinized for their acting abilities before, I was extremely impressed by Kristen and Robert's acting in these scenes where they had to pretend they weren't going to die in the next few days.
Finally we are at the big showdown with the Volturi. I struggle with words to describe this scene, but I will try anyway. This scene started very similar to the book, with calm words exchanged between the groups, Irina confessing and being destroyed, Renesmee meeting Aro and Bella protecting her side with her shield. Finally Alice and Jasper walk across the field directly to Aro. And here is when chaos breaks loose.
As the first hits were thrown, they crowd started whispering in disbelief- apparently not everyone had been prepared for the battle which had been anticipated in this film. I still did manage to scream when I saw Carlisle's head in Aro's hand. The whole half an hour scene was a colossal mind trip. It was a battle between my mind, which was telling me this all would be a 'what could have happened' scene and everything will return to normal soon, and my eyes, which refused to even blink as our favourite Cullen's and wolves were destroyed. Of course Edward and Bella (after a few close calls) remained alive, and eventually ended up destroying Aro as the perfect team they are (this earned a great deal of clapping and cheering from the audience- just as Meyer promised it would). This was followed by the massive sigh of relief as we saw that the battle was just Alice's prediction of what would occur if Aro didn't change his mind to attack. I have to admit, even though I knew that they wouldn't do anything to cause fan uproar, I found myself continuously thinking 'what if' this scene wasn't just a vision. As the Volturi retreated, the people on screen weren't the only ones celebrating. It was truly a celebration for the audience as well.
One of the parts of BDP1 I had the biggest problem with was the Jacob/grown up Renesmee vision. I have to say that Alice's future for them was great, though it was out of place considering she wasn't meant to be able to see Renesmee, something which wasn't touched upon this movie. In a hopeful scene, we see Edward and Bella about 6-7 years onwards just as young as now and as in love as ever, with a grown up Renesmee holding hands with Jacob and hugging her parents. Every second it was more painful to watch as I knew we were getting closer and closer to the end.
Finally the closing scene, the classic kissing session in the meadow where Bella shows Edward her thoughts. The whole time I was failing to hold back tears as we saw clips from the first movie until this one. After dedicating four years of my life to loving Twilight, it was painful to watch the movie draw to a bittersweet close, Christina Perri causing tears to flood from my eyes as the final 'forever' lines were delivered.
I have to say it was the perfect end to the franchise. Few people had dry eyes as the credits showed all the characters from the series, with cheers as the lead roles were shown in the final credits.
No words can truly capture what this movie meant to me and how I felt of it as an ending to the series, but hopefully you can get the jist of just how much Twilight had touched my life, and the lives of millions throughout the world. Please tell me what you thought of the movie and my review below.