Heaven for Twilight fans!

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2011)

If you've read the book, I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Out of all the Twilight movies, this one was absolutely most true to the text. As a Twilight fan who has re-read Breaking Dawn over 10 times, I was very pleased with how the movie captured the book's insane, emotionally extreme nuttiness. The book is insanity, and this movie is INSANITY.
It starts off like a romantic comedy, surprisingly light and humorous considering it's a Twilight movie. The whole honeymoon is achingly sweet, and I was smiling the whole way through. It was lovely and quite refreshing to see Bella and Edward laugh so much. The sex scene was beautifully emotional, if lacking slightly in details. Unless fans have some extreme voyeuristic tendencies or something, it'll be satisfying enough.
Then, after the first 45 minutes or so, there's an entire genre change. It's like if watching The Wedding Planner (or some equally cheesy chick flick) and suddenly the female lead goes after the male lead with a chainsaw seeking bloody murder. I suppose if you haven't read the book, the shift in mood could give you whiplash and leave you utterly concerned. But for someone like me, who's read and also loves melodramatic theatricality, the horror/comedy combination was thrilling. It was disturbing in the best way. If you've ever had creepy clown dreams, it's somewhat like that.
The second part of the movie was truly grotesque, mostly due to how sickly thin Kristen Stewart looks. The digital/CGI team did a fantastic job, with the end result being more-or-less reminiscent of a concentration camp survivor. There was one scene in particular, where Bella is looking at her emaciated form in the mirror, that was truly scary. I didn't think it was possible to see someone's spine outlined so clearly. As for the birth scene: it was less visually revealing that I thought but horrifying and incredibly sensory all the same. Again, Bella's corpse-like frame is incredibly disturbing.
What I loved most about this movie were the emotional extremes. Where the past three Twilight movies are subtle and reserved, this one goes all out, portraying everything from euphoria to unthinkable agony. The blissful scenes at the beginning are such a stark contrast to the agonizing scenes at the end, it almost made me want to cry. The key word to describe this movie is INTENSE.
Breaking Dawn Part 1 loses one point from me because there is far too much wolf pack for my liking. Most of the wolf scenes were awkward and almost humorous when they were supposed to be serious. A good example is the scene where Jacob breaks from the pack. It was utterly ridiculous and weird. Plus, few members of the wold pack could act to save their lives.
As for the acting chops of the big three, they varied. Kristen was surprisingly phenomenal. Taylor was at times tolerable, and at times painfully awkward. Rob held his own, but it's fairly difficult to judge him because he didn't play nearly as prominent a role in this movie as I would have liked him to.
Recommendations: Watch it if you've read the book. Otherwise, you'll be confused and no one really wants to hear you complain: "How DARE they not waste half an hour explaining everything to me in detail??!!". Also, I suggest you don't eat anything before or during this movie. Finally, make sure you stay in your seat for five minutes after the credits start rolling.