By: Gabby Brancato

Twihards everywhere were racing to the movie theaters this past weekend to see the first part of the end of the Twilight Saga. The highly anticipated film, directed by Bill Condon, followed the book closer than any other Twilight movie I have seen, and despite having terrible seats way off to the left in the third row, it was definitely worth the wait.

The movie was about two hours, and it was slow moving.  Each scene was packed full, but seemed to drag on and on.  Often I found myself anxious, wanting the movie to move on to the next part, to see what happens next, but there was nothing I could do to make it move quicker.  I felt like there was basically three parts to the movie, which I’d rather not give away, and three parts in a two hour movie is not very much.  I don’t think reading the book helped much with making it move any quicker because I knew what was going to happen and I really wanted to see more of what I read, but was blocked out by the cliffhanger at the end.           

Breaking Dawn was, in my opinion, the most intense and serious movie of the series.  It was nice to have some, although very subtle, comedic relief to break the tension.  I could really tell a behavioral change in some of the characters too.  Robert Pattinson’s character, Edward Cullen, who I thought was hush, hush about everything and tried to stray away from reality, seemed to let his emotions fly and voiced his opinions a lot more than I had expected.  I would say the same thing for Taylor Lautner’s character, Jacob Black, who decides that it is time to break away from the pack and be independent and do what he thinks is right.  As for Kristen Stewart’s character, I would say that we finally get to see a slight hint of emotion that has been vacant for the past three movies.  All of the changes were a result of the difficult situation that each individual was going through. 

All in all I give the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 two thumbs up.  Although I do believe the book will always be better because you can really tap into the characters’ emotions, the movie gives a visual, which we have been waiting to see for about a year and a half.  Each movie slips right into the next one and although I don’t like cliffhanger endings, I do think it was a good place to stop and a good place to begin for part two.  There were so many loose ends that need to be tied tight before the end, and I am really excited to see how it turns out, being a Twihard myself and all.