Vampire Bella breaks the Volturi

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 2 (2012)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

If Part 1 of "Breaking Dawn" had less of the Rio sex scenes between Edward and Bella and been combined with the intermittently lethal charms of Part 2, I might have thought differently of this last chapter in the "Twilight" saga. As it stands, the word is intermittent. "Breaking Dawn: Part 2" is a solid no-brainer sequel - its got all the goods of previous sequels - but the emotional core is missing.

Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is now officially the new vampire of Forks, Washington. She had turned to save herself, and to raise her newborn daughter, Renesmee (named after the Lochness Monster and played by copious CGI and Mackenzie Foy) who matures so quickly that Pampers and milk bottles serve little purpose. Naturally, little Nessie is no ordinary child - she is mortal and is half human, half vampire (a first for this series and a plot point that could have used more depth). Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) is the father, looking more and more bored with each scene. A rift exists between the Cullens with their new forbidden offspring and the Volturi Council, the elite vampire group who, I guess, decide on all the ethics, laws and mores of being a vampire (immortal children are forbidden). Michael Sheen gleefully returns as Aro, the leader who has his minions tear apart vampires limb by limb, specifically starting with a decapitation (the kind of thing that a PG-13 rating would not allow twenty years ago - remember the R-rated "Speed"?) Let us not exclude Taylor Lautner as Jacob, the werewolf who has imprinted Renesmee and has to protect her.

Directed by Bill Condon, who took care of Part 1's romp-in-the-hay crossed with bloody birth complexities, "Breaking Dawn Part 2" is fast-paced and has an indelible snowy climax with the Volturi, the werewolves and the Cullen vampires. Kristen Stewart is a dynamic presence as always, though Pattison could have used an infusion of sodium pentothal. Lautner, who seems to be having a whale of a time, and Sheen rise above the soap-opera theatrics and the movie's theme of eternal love with much-needed biting humor. My main issue is the movie is too matter-of-fact about its characters; they turn up, they wax on about trouble brewing in paradise and it is all done with precious little conviction or urgency, or at least not half as urgent as "New Moon" or "Eclipse." Another issue is that Renesmee is just an innocent mute child - imagine what could have been conveyed about her own emotional stake of being raised in a glass house in the middle of the woods with emaciated vampires! "Breaking Dawn: Part 2" is an enjoyable flick overall, but not exactly the most biting chapter in the saga.