The scene that saved the day

Rating: 4/10 (23 December 2012)

It's hard for me to understand what it is that Twilight fans expect when they approach a new twilight movie release. More than once I've seen them displeased with the results, but what is there to be displeased about? The books have very poor character development, a plot with more holes than accuracies and a web of "convenient happenings" that always end up transforming the story into nothing more than a series of catastrophic events that always, yes always, end wonderfully well for everybody. Everything is always so convenient that the only characters to ever suffer any consequences are the ones made up in such a hurry that no one would ever get attached to them that quickly. So, what happens when the movie is just that? Nothing, because it's a faithful copy of the book
It there's one thing the twilight movies have always been consistent about is their poor plot development. The narrative is slow and often choppy. The characters are terribly alike, and almost all of them share a poker face that inhibits them from showing any emotion whatsoever. The only new fiasco the movies provide is poor visual effects. But, let's face it, that's a budget issue and a little lack of creativity that comes from the awful need to please the fans and show them everything exactly as the books narrate it. So, once again, it all comes down to being chained to the original story.
So, basically, after watching four movies that are practically the same thing you can't really expect much of an improvement during the fifth installment, can you? Well, Bill Condon, director of Breaking Dawn, begs to differ. I have no idea how he dared to suggest the last climatic sequence of the movie he recreated, but it feels like he basically said: we have to fix this, otherwise this movie will spend hours of build up that ultimately turns into: nothing.
So, what did he do? The movie constructed a, never before seen in the Twilight saga, fight scene where valuable lives are actually lost and for once the good guys are not almighty Greek gods that will survive anything, anytime of the day. The scene is actually pretty exciting, especially when you start to see the main characters reacting to the loss of their loved ones, fighting harder to revenge them and especially to protect everything they have left. Once the main characters start winning and kicking some bad vampire butts the sequence becomes even more exciting, especially for the viewers who all these years have been sadly trained to put up with two hours of pointless buildup. I'm talking here about boyfriends, parents and best friends who sit next to the fans and painfully roll their eyes every fifteen minutes.
Overall, and except for a few weird CGIs, the sequence is pretty good. Of course, it all ends up being a vision, but even that moment of disappointment serves well to add substance to the original story. The fake fight scene helps to save the day, convincing Aro (leader of the Vulturi) that it is not convenient for him to fight against the heroes of the story. Even that explanation had a better construction than the one provided in the book. The sense of danger, loss and excitement this last fight scene adds to the story provide something the rest of the movies lack of: closure. After it all happens (or almost happens) you can finally sit back and tolerate the last minutes of the story, the kissing, the romance, the happy ending, because even if the scene was nothing more than a vision, it helped to develop a little emotion towards the main characters.
Other than that, the movie is pretty much the same as always: Bella is lucky for everything she has, her happiness is suddenly in danger, and she whines a little to eventually get everything she wants. The scenes often feel awkward and never ending. Almost all the characters feel alike, but at least we are entertained from time to time with some interesting new additions, even if their contribution to the movie is very little.
Having all this said, I have to be fair. Us, non-twilight fans are not the ones to truly break the box office, are we? So, whom would the producers of an -all about the money- franchise rather please? Whinny fans or whinny critics?
You guessed right.