Not too bad

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 2011)

I read some reviews of this that panned it, and at the time of writing this review, it's got a score of 3.8 on IMDb. It's not actually that bad.
Synopsis (spoilers ahoy!): Edward and Bella get married. Bella gets preggers. There's a werewolf & vampire fight. Bella becomes a vampire.
Overall, the story was reasonably handled. The start of the film is a bit dull - it's the wedding part, and the dialogue is very weak. It's also not too interesting, and I wondered if the screenwriter couldn't have livened it up a bit. There's at least some attempt at humour, but it's a bit forced (Kellan Lutz gets the best line in this part).
The honeymoon scenes are a bit dull too. I felt that the director really missed some nuances here that would have elevated the film. Such as where Edward and Bella play chess (presumably if she wins he'll have sex with her again), but it's a tad emotionless. When the audience realises what is at stake in the chess games, it's already too late, and the opportunity for real impact has been lost.
This part of the film also seems to focus on Edward and Bella, and if that doesn't interest you, it'll feel long and dull. I did hope we'd see a bit of Kristen Stewart nude, but alas, it's all well-placed arms and just-out-of-camera shots. Apparently they had to tone it down for the coveted PG-13 rating, so maybe there'll be some spicy extended scenes on DVD.
But it gets better! Once Bella is knocked up, it actually adds some more tension to the film. Will she die? Will she live? Who knows? Well, if you've read the book, you know. This part was handled pretty well, although I felt that the film lost the impact of the book at the crucial scene. Maybe it'll be picked up in the next part.
The wolves are back, but one of the main plot scenes is them communicating in wolf-thought, and it doesn't quite work.
Unfortunately, I felt that the screenwriter missed some vital points that, while not really altering the direction of the film, would have helped. For instance, after learning that Bella is up the duff, Edward comments that they'll get the "thing" out of her. Bella repeats this to herself. Whist the intent (to me at least) was clear - Bella sees it as a child, not a "thing" - the scene could have benefited from a simple line like "It's my/our child" or some such. Whether director or screenwriter, it's another of those simple nuanced moments that would have produced a more satisfying film (as long as you can get past the whole Twihard/sappiness bit, that is).
Maybe it's because I thought it was going to suck harder than a vacuum, but I was pleasantly surprised. You know what it is. It's not like it's going to ultimately be any better than the other films in the series. It's more Twilight. But, for what it's worth, it wasn't too bad.
7 out of 10.
On a final note, I still think the that the first film was the best. Not that the story was any better than the others, but it had a really good style and look/colour palette to it that the others have eschewed for a more mainstream/brighter feel. The director of the first one should have kept going, and I'd like to have seen how they'd have turned out.