review: "breaking dawn - part 2"

Last night even as the lights started to dim, the cheers started. As each actor's name appeared on screen against morphing white and red graphics the cheers became even louder until finally Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison's names appeared and the cheers became a rolling roar. This was the screening for "Breaking Dawn --Part 2" the final film in the "Twilight" series.

Here's the thing, if you are a "Twilight" fan you already have your ticket and you have already consulted your friends about where you are going to have dinner before the film and how early you need to get the theatre so you can get the best seats. Of course. If this is you, all you need to know is that you are going to LOVE THIS MOVIE. Judging from the clapping, cheering and crying around me last night, "Breaking Dawn - Part 2" was made with you in mind. It was and is everything you hoped that it would be. Last year after you saw "Breaking Dawn - Part 1" you wondered how you could possibly wait a year for Part 2. The anticipation was too much, right? I promise you it will be worth it. Think of it like this. You know that anticipation of waiting for that first kiss from your crush? Then it finally happens and it is better than you could have hoped. That first moment of this film when you see Bella open her eyes as a newborn vampire is just like that. You can stop reading now and go text your BFF's about what they're wearing to the movie tonight.

If you're on the fence about seeing "Breaking Dawn - Part 2," go. You will like this movie. Whereas the other films in this series seemed to me like films based on books (especially the last film - "Breaking Dawn Part 1"), this last film in the series feels like a well written movie that easily stands on its own. When I watched this film I wasn't seeing the words written on the page, I was engaged completely. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), the innocent, hair-chewing girl with a nervous tick who fell in love with an immortal vampire, Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), was now this warrior, this mother who was strong and fierce. Weak Bella was gone and I loved that. In each of the past films I couldn't connect with Bella. She was so mopey. Not anymore. This girl is powerful. The first time this newly super strong wife pulls her husband, Edward, in for a kiss and eventual lovemaking as a vampire, the audience around me  sighed with pleasure that they were finally rewarded with the romance they have been waiting for. It doesn't disappoint. It is hot.

It's after the lovemaking and the hunting that she meets her daughter, Renesmee (played by the ubergifted Mackenzie Foy). It is this superhuman child that this films centers on. A vampire (Maggie Grace as Irina) in their extended family sees Renesmee as an immortal child and reports the Cullen family to the evil Volturi) who come to investigate this greatest of wrongs that could be committed by a vampire. (Immortal vampire children can't control their urges and can risk exposure of their vampire family.) 

Surrounding Renesmee, Bella and Edward is of course, Jacob (Taylor Lautner), Bella's best friend (and werewolf) now Renesmee's best friend as well as the entire Cullen family and Jacob's clan. The scenes with the Cullen family just being family, enjoying Christmas, playing piano together are just as rewarding as the fight scenes. There is humor and there is darkness. It is everything that you hope would be a finale of a series. 

Here's the thing--this is one hell of a movie. It's not a Tween movie. It's not a vampire movie. It's just an entertaining, thrilling movie that will make even the most jaded moviegoer searching for a Kleenex as the end credits roll.