The Big Comfy Bookshop: Breaking Dawn

Our second Friday Adaptation comes from the 'love it or hate it' world of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. The last film Breaking Dawn part II has just been released so lets have a look at the last book in the series and how it compares.

The newest popular Hollywood technique to get as much cash as possible is to split the last part of a series in to two parts (Harry Potter and Hunger Games have done this too). We've yet to receive the Hunger Games film but the Harry Potter final instalment gained millions of dollars (as expected) but actually (in my opinion) made two very good films, and cramming all that happens into one film may have lost a lot. This is where Breaking Dawn falls down. Flat on it's face.

Awesome action! Isn't it?

Let me say though, I have not read the book. I know, this is a comparison for the book, but I've asked an expert (my wife, read it once) and here is what she said:
"I can't remember the book very well but not a lot happens in it." but she does mention that a whole chunk was missing from the final film. "There was a whole back-story for a load of the vampires that wasn't touched in the film." Why split a book that not a lot happens in, into two films, then miss out a load of stuff that would help the viewer (me in this case) understand better? Having watched Breaking Dawn part 1, where absolutely NOTHING happens for an hour and twenty minutes, I have to ask, surely moulding the two films together would have made a better adaptation?

Stephenie Meyer - Author

I have sat through all the twilight films and generally not enjoyed them. I know it's not aimed at my demographic but more at teen girls. I did like the odd bit in a few films. Anyway, the last film...

At last some action! There is a slight (major) spoiler here so look away and skip a paragraph if you don't want to know the ending. The last twenty minutes of the film absolutely had me glued to the screen. Suddenly, out of nowhere, main characters die, horribly. It's not the action per se that I enjoyed (although it was by far the best of the entire series) but the shock at the characters, and the amount of characters, that perish. Fifteen bloody, shocking minutes this goes on for. Absolutely excellent. Then...It's all a dream. I'm not kidding. It's a 'wtf' moment. The baddies say " alright then, see you, thanks very much" and that's the end. The end of one of modern days most bankable series. It's so appallingly bad I was angry. The fifteen minutes before we're so so good. It's like eating a hearty bloody steak with chunky chips and a Belgian beer, followed by a cheese cracker that's fallen buttered side down on the dirty kitchen floor picking up all the grime and cat hair. But that's my opinion. What did the public and critics think?

RottenTomatoes.com have given it 48%. There is one review that I agree with and it's by Jeff Bayer at The Scorecard Review:

"I rolled my eyes, laughed at, and laughed with this film. I was entertained. It's a sloppy enjoyable mess, and the most fun I had watching a 'Twilight' movie."

I agree with this. It was silly, harmless fun. The whole series takes itself too seriously and when there is a slight funny moment, it's pretty laugh out loud! If I ignore Breaking Dawn part 1 and the very ending of part 2 I'd say it was fun.

The book obviously made a mint as by the time it was published the Twilight phenomenon was in full swing but it may suffer from the 'guff' factor; just too long. This is again, from my wife. Blame her, not me.