I admit it, I enjoyed the Twilight books. It’s no coincidence I’m a paranormal romance
author—it’s my favorite genre. I happen
to think Stephenie Meyer is a great storyteller. However, I saw Breaking Dawn Part 2 this
weekend (SPOILERS AHEAD), and I was shocked at the so-called “twist”. Somehow I didn’t know about it beforehand,
which is shocking in and of itself. But
as the battle broke out and main characters began dying, I thought, “Wow, they
really went a different way than in the books”.
And I was a bit impressed, thinking the screenwriters had injected some
sad and tragic events into the story to bring home the tension: this battle was
so fierce; some of the beloved characters might die. Even though I wasn’t worried about Bella or
Edward dying (it is, after all, still a romance in need of a Happily Ever After
ending for the hero and heroine), I suddenly realized the stakes were high for
the rest of the Cullens and the wolf pack.
Then what seemed like a fairly long battle scene
suddenly ends when we realize this is all just one of Alice’s visions, as
related to the head of the Volturi. Yes,
I was glad Carlisle, Jasper, and the wolves especially were still OK. But I’ve always thought (and read) that using
“it was all a dream (or vision)” as a plot device was the ultimate cop out. So what actually happened in this movie is
that two armies of vampires convened from the corners of the earth, met for an
epic battle, and then instead engaged in a mental war which ends
peacefully. While I remember the book
being exciting to read, I guess that’s not the stuff good movies are made of.
I won’t go into the acting (although I read one
review that made me laugh when the reviewer said the best actors in the movie
were the animated wolves), but I wasn’t all that impressed. Nevertheless, I actually went to the movie
theater and spent money to see this film, which for me is highly unusual. I much prefer to read books for
entertainment, and this movie helped remind me why. When I heard there was a “twist” to the movie
that wasn’t in the book, I was skeptical…the other films have followed the
books closely. So the vision scene made
it exciting and entertaining and scary for me, for 27 minutes, but in the end I
felt a bit cheated. How did you feel
about the twist?
