This is a SPOILER FILLED review / rant about Breaking Dawn... do not read on unless you have seen it or want to be spoiled....
***WARNING - this involves details andplay by play of the movie.... do not read on if you don not want to know!!********
More...
The movie starts fast.
I missed the first bit but it was the Bachelor party and a scene in her room.
I saw a screening in NYC tonight and wanted toupdate this for things I missed as wella s the first few minutes...
Opens to Bella talking as they all do.
The invite goes out and as we saw in first trailer there are varous reactions... Jacob transforms and runs away, Volturi seem intrigued, Bella's mom is excited, Bella's dad is peeved, same as trailer.
Then we see Alice preparing the wedding... Bella tries walking in high heels and can't. Alice is directing everyone on how every thing should be set up. She sees Edward in window looking as he always does, concerned. Bella goes home to get her beauty sleep.
That night he comes to her room to confess she doesn't know everything about him, flashback to "bad Edward" at a movie theatre. He was bitter Carlisle changed him and fed on humans, but only bad humans of course... murders and such.
Bella of course doesn't care, but Edward of course is all being Edward until Emmett and Jackson come take him for his Bachelor party at which time Bella falls asleep and has a wedding dream that is vivd and bloody and strange. As I wrote originally....
There are also some weird dreams she has which were odd to me, but visually pleasing, for example, her wedding then everyone dead and bloodied at her wedding - the white and red stark contrast looked awesome, but I wasn't sure how it fit exactly with the story, except her fears, anxiety and so on - - - I guess pre-wedding jitters when you marry a vampire?!?!
The wedding preparation, ceremony, reception take about a half hour.
While the clips give us a good feel for the ceremony, there are a few shots we have not seen and they are so moving, I was bawling.
In particular a shot of Stephenie Meyer and the dress reveal... took my breath away!
Also when Bella squeezes Charlie's arm - I DIE!
Billy Burke, once again, played a perfect father from pre-ceremony, to reception speeches.
Speaking of reception speeches - epic!!! All of them were so fitting for the character to say, absolutely nailed them from the writing, the performing, the editing, perfect!
Anna Kendrick's Jessica is perfect talking about how Edward "the hair" loves Bella even though she wasn't this that and the other (like she is, for example student council president etc.) Charlie talks about how he is a cop with a gun ha ha, Bella's mom sings, Emmett mentions how Bella won't be getting much sleep now ha ha I mean all the speeches are just great!
The Denali clan were good, briefly shown but enough to get some key points for the next part out there - for example at the reception, Irina gets upset that wolves are at the wedding after they killed her lover Laurent.
I also enjoyed seeing the human's one last time (I do not believe they are in Part 2 at all) and Mike gives a funny line about the gene pool and how hot the Denali women are... he also dances hilariously!
This movie will make even Team Edward's shed a tear and/or emotion for Jacob...
I cried during the Jacob/Bella dance.
Side note: At the convention, Bill Condon revealed that after they wrapped the shot of Bella and Jacob dancing Kristen, in her wedding dress start chasing him joking "Jacob Stop, I made a mistake" bahahahahaha
Cullen's all had stronger roles in this film. Some even had more lines.
The honeymoon was epic... from getting there, dancing and kissing in the streets of 'Rio', the boat ride, going to Isle of Esme, being carried onto the threshhold, the first night in the ocean, the sex scene - - mmmm...
Speaking of the sex scene, it will be good... then it will go black.. do not panic... luckily a friend who saw the press screening last week warned me also and now I will warn you... there WILL BE MORE!!...
She wakes up and as she looks in the mirror and discovers her bruises etc she has flashbacks to the night before - hot!
Yes the head board crashes, yes it was apparently cut from an R rating but trust me - - - it is hot, sexy, steamy, passionate and deliciously wonderful! NOT JUST THE TIP ha ha ;)
Robert and Kristen BOTH do an amazing job in this film, I feel like Bill Condon pushed them hard and it shows!!! They were outside their comfort zone and their acting was so much better than it has been in the past... everyone's was... ok almost everyone... Julia and Ashley didn't impress me...
Edward smiles a lot more.. in fact, after the first sex scene, when he is feeling sad for hurting her, he tries to distract her with chess, and other activities (Hiking, swimming, etc) to stop her from wanting sex... and she in turn, tries to seduce him - it is absolutely hilarious when she puts on sexy lingerie and tries to lure him in, there are moments he giggles and it is just awesome!!!
She has a dream she wins chess and takes him on the beach (we saw these shots from filming) but then wakes up crying and begs Edward to take her... please.... gah!
The chemistry is tangible, they are so comfortable with each other it works... not surprising of course.
We have seen much of the "I am late" pregnancy discovery, however, there is some parts we hadn't including the housekeepers at Isle of Esme and why they rush home and how Bella reaches out to Rosalie on their way home.
Bella has to lie to her dad about being sick and going to Switzerland, which breaks her heart and shows the connection between her and her dad and the heartache to come.
The housekeeper tells Edward the baby must die, Edward and everyone except Rosalie and Bella, agree and try to convince Bella to let them "kill" the baby....
Rosalie could have been shown as MORE protective, but they had it in there enough that you could get it...though cutting Rosalie as a human with her friends baby in Eclipse was a mistake.... but that is in the past
Of course later, Edward hears the baby.... tells Bella it loves her voice, and his too and loves them very much... this moment (again) had me bawling because they both hold her belly and he kisses her belly....
I was not impressed with Julia Jones in this movie, her acting seemed weak to me, very robotic and rehearsed, almost as much as Ashley Greene. (Did I say that out loud? oops!)
The wolves in this movie were a step up, I felt they were a perfect mix of Chris Weitz and David Slade's versions.... Bill Condon nailed it!
While I did like the running though the forest, seeing and hearing what "jacob-wolf" sees and hears, I felt the "wolf-perspective" was over done and when the wolves all have a wolf-conversation and their voices are all deep and reverby, it just seemed a bit too anime for me. (Upon second viewing a group of us giggled at just how ridiculous this scene was!!!)
Booboo was seen more in the film and did well, though my friend disagrees, I will have to see it again to see if I agree with some of the points she brought up. (Upon 2nd viewing I still think he was adorable and did well!)
Bella looked perfectly sick and disgusting as her pregnancy began to destroy her, cgi or make-up I don't know but it was grossly perfect for the circumstances. Grossly Perfect is the only way to describe it!
There is an added/adjusted scene (from the book) when Esme, Carlisle and Emmett go hunt and the wolves attack, Jacob and his new pack have tricked Sam's pack so they are able to get food and of course while they are away Bella goes into labour.
Peter has joked about this before, how he is a Doctor but never around to "be a doctor" ha ha. Also Dr Carlisle's hair is not as bad as the promo shots made him look - phew!
The birth scene is a bit gory, but the way it is done is mostly through Bella's eyes which close and open and are blurry and in a daze, so it lessens the graphic nature and makes it ok to watch.
The blood is too much for Jasper, Alice and Rosalie to take and so Edward and Jacob are left to help Bella... Edward indeed goes down to her belly and comes up with a bloody face (as he does the c-section)
Bloody baby emerges, not the boy they thought (Edward-Jacob, EJ) but a girl (Renesme).
Somehow Rosalie is now ok with the blood and takes the baby, she promises she is ok now... and Edward injects Bella with a venom needly which doesn't seem to take.
Jacob also tried to perform CPR and it doesn't work.
After a while, it seems Bella has died and even though I have read the books and even though I know what will happen, I am bawling my eyes out, not just crying, but ugly sobbing in the theatre....
Edward loses his mind and begins to bite her all over to get venom in, one bite is awfuly close to her inner thigh.
There is a very cool shot of the venom going through Bella's body and the red veins and cells kind of get attacked and turn white from the venom... I can't explain it but it was very cool and reminded me of a CSI clip.
The imprinting was not creepy - it was beautiful... and that shocked me...
Earlier in the film Seth, Leah and Jacob say something about how the imprtined couples "seem happy" and show some kissing etc, but then down by the beach is little girl and wolf boy... when Jacob rushes into the house after Bella is "dead" he sees Renesme and falls to his knees - - it is a crying moment, so amazing... he sees their future together as his explanation of imprinting from New Moon to Bella is heard in the background... you see Mackenzie Foy as Renesmee then the teen aged Renesmee and it is absolutely beautiful...
There is a great wolf/vampire fight scene i mentioned but then Jacob comes out and it ends because of course the wolves #1 law is they can not harm someone who has been imprinted on... nice... the battle was cool though with vampires vs wolves and Leah and Seth wolves join in to defend the vampires...
Edward worries if the venom worked, the Cullen's tell him to be patient and they clean her up and dress her in a pretty blue dress.
Close-up shot reveals her bite marks healing as the audience squeals.... it zooms in close to her face as her eyes open..... red.
THE END
The credits are red, black, white and comic-booky - modern and fun.... there is a scene at the end of the credits involving the volturi and it is a good indicator of Part 2 and the battle that is to begin...
I know I surely missed a few parts, but we will all see it (again for some) in a couple days.... SQUEE!