Movie review: Breaking Dawn: Part 1
Video: breaking dawn trailer
Despite a valiant acting performance from female lead Kristin Stewart, as well as some attractive cinematography and special effects, at the end of the day the storyline lets this film down.
Unfortunately for fans of the series, the film's guardians have fallen for the latest Hollywood trend of stretching one book out into two films - see Harry Potter and the planned Hobbit duo.
The result in Breaking Dawn's case seems, at least, to have been a happy compromise to maximise ticket revenue from double the movies at the expense of cinematic integrity.
Parts of the film seem rushed, squeezing action into too-short scenes, while other parts are drawn-out and boring.
The computer-generated images, which at times are good, are at other times confusing and out of place amid the drama.
Notable "what the ..?" moments include the weird and not-so-wonderful council between the werewolves and the repeated pulmonary shots inside a body, tracking the transformation of blood from human to vampire.
Die-hard fans of the saga, Twi-hards, may accept the evident shortfalls of Breaking Dawn: Part 1 and take solace from its accuracy to the novel, but others will undoubtedly be turned off by its slow pace ... and its talking dogs.
Maybe leave this one for the teen girls to enjoy and wait to see if the final instalment can reignite some of the spark from earlier films that is missing in this one.
Breaking Dawn, Part 1
(M)130 minutes
