Best of the series? Um, no.

Rating: 4/10 (17 November 2012)

For most, the Twilight Saga has been something either you loved or had no interest in.... If you got past the first film, you were probably in it for the long haul. I was one of those...but unlike the TwiHards and such, it has not been an enjoyable ride.
"Twilight," the first film, was great. I thought everything about it was incredibly entertaining, albeit far from perfect. However, that is where it peaked for me. With every subsequent film, "New Moon," "Eclipse" and the first part of "Breaking Dawn," these films got worse and worse and worse.
And worse.
But as I started this pop culture phenomenal, goddamit, I was going to finish it. And what made the last installment the worst one of the bunch was that there wasn't even a decent consolation prize of gratuitous Lautner nakedness lasting more than eight seconds to make up for the two hours of soap-opera-like pseudo-silly-eye-rolling-drama that we had to endure.
Like, c'mon! And thus, that FINALLY brings us to the final chapter of the series, where everything comes to head and we say goodbye to these characters once and for all. And has anything gotten any better? Uh...no.
As Bella comes to terms with her new status as Trampire (and her transition was the easiest I've seen of any vampire story), the feared Volturi are gonna come aknocking as they believe a huge taboo has been committed...that the half-human/half-vamp baby of her and Edward was not born but rather created! Oh no! So, the whole last film and the first hour and a bit of this one has been a set up for the final conflict...a conflict that takes forever to get to, finally has some amazing appeal and violence, and then a plot twist just ruins it all in a millisecond.
And there you are. Disappointed again. But I will give it credit for having a touching final scene and an impressive final credit role.
So, many may claim this is the best of the series, but they would be dead wrong, so to speak. It is definitely the best out of the last four, no doubt, but after the first film, nothing has been able to rise above crap. The acting in this one is just as cardboard as ever, Stewart having not improved her ability to be one of the most popular horrible actresses in Hollywood. When Taylor Lautner is the best actor in your film, you know you may not be in the greatest production.
But on that note, there is an excellent scene where Lautner strips down. And for that, this film does go from 3 to 4 out of 10...and those of us who were most motivated to see these the last four films by Lautner's pecs, we thank you.