As a sequel to the first three Twilight movies, “Breaking Dawn” fits right in, building off the formula the filmmakers created in “Twilight.” There are inconsistencies, a trait found in both “New Moon” and “Eclipse,” and the plot is shoved into the last third of the movie. On its own, the first part of the series finale presents a dark and confusing movie crammed full of awkward moments and under-developed characters.

The movie is full of dragging scenes, such as the wedding scene. It takes a half an hour to build up to the actual vows, and we get about 20 glimpses of Bella’s dress from different angles before she even gets to the altar. For some reason, her dress was a big topic of conversation before the film came out, and it was obvious that the filmmakers capitalized on the hype. I didn’t have high expectations, but the dress still let me down. I’m by no means an expert on fashion, but I was expecting something more exciting, or at least more flattering.

(Courtesy of breakingdawnmovie.org)

Bella and Edward have sex for the first time, despite the complete lack of chemistry between Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. When Bella finally discovers she’s pregnant, the movie quickly takes on a weird pseudo-political message. Bella tells the Edward’s unsupportive family that it’s not any of their decisions whether she keeps the baby or not, and with this conflict, the film dances a fine line between plot device and pro-life propaganda. Both sides are portrayed, however, and Bella ends up keeping the baby.

The acting, as in all of the Twilight movies, is wooden and awkward. Stewart’s acting seems to improve slightly during Bella’s pregnancy, but that could be because Bella is supposed to be exhausted and passionless – emotions Stewart plays well. Jokes are forced and fall flat, while serious scenes take a humorous note. For example, the audience laughed when Bella was given human blood to drink from a cup with a straw.

However, dark moments like this were some of the most interesting aspects of the movie. The birth scene was especially dark and disturbing. It begins with Bella’s spine snapping in half. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Cullens have to cut Bella open before the morphine kicks in. It was an intense and surprisingly well done scene, although much more disturbing than I had expected from a PG-13 film.

As the fourth movie in the series, it is understandable that the film would build off the first three movies; however, there is little to no character development in “Breaking Dawn”. It made it hard to relate to the characters, as the audience wasn’t given much of a reason to care about them in this movie. The conflict was shaky, and the characters’ motives were a little hard to follow at times.

For example, Bella dies after the baby is born, but Edward turns her into a vampire – although it doesn’t take effect for hours. Jacob believes she’s dead and is upset with Edward and himself. He cries on the Cullens’ lawn, marking the first time I felt bad for any of the characters all movie.

Scenes where the audience hears Jacob’s inner monologue for the first time are often cheesy and confusing. He and his pack communicate through telepathy, and the filmmakers tried to make this obvious by adding an echo and slight effect to the actors’ voices. The result is cliché, to say the least. Meanwhile, the audience is trying to figure out which animated wolf Jacob is and who is even talking. Jacob’s subplot is glossed over; it isn’t given much explanation or justification, though it seems to be important to the overall plot of “Breaking Dawn”.

Because I didn’t understand the pack’s motives, it was hard to get behind Jacob when he rebelled against them. It was difficult also for me to care about the scene where the vampires and pro-mutant baby wolves fight Jacob’s old pack. The scene was surprisingly boring, as past movies in the saga have successfully included action scenes. There was no tension, and the editing was sloppy.

The music was overdramatic and seemed out of place. Scenes that could have been nice moments, like one with Bella and her father after her wedding, were ridiculous and cheesy with flowery music. The music told the audience how to feel during certain scenes, saying “feel triumphant during the scene where Jacob runs away from his pack! Feel sad when Bella lies to her father about going to Switzerland!” The overwhelming music pulls the audience out of the scene and makes the characters and their actions seem silly.

Many fans of “Breaking Dawn” will surely still find reasons to love this installment of the movie franchise. But if you’re looking for a well-paced film with believable character development, save your money.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ainslee Mac Naughton Ainslee.macnaughton@colorado.edu.