Film Thoughts: 'Breaking Dawn: Part Two'

[bookgazing]

A while ago I asked people to throw questions at me about some of the films I’d recently watched. Today I answer a question from Necromancy Never Pays about ‘Breaking Dawn: Part Two’.

Jeanne: What did you think about the "it was all a dream" battle in Breaking Dawn Part II? The group of now-nineteen-year-olds I've seen all the movies with thought it was the best part "imagine if they'd really killed off that many of the main characters!"

Jodie: I’ve got to agree with the teenagers. I usually hate ‘it was all a dream’ endings no matter what, because they are such a cop out and a huge, huge tease. But this time I was just so relieved that no one died (I didn’t read the book before seeing the two films, so when Carlisle’s head came off I thught it had really come off) I didn’t even care about the trickery and even on reflection it doesn’t really bother me.

I think partly it’s because that fake out vision, provided me with a communal theatre experience that I haven’t really had since ‘Inception’. When the film cuts to black, before we know the fate of the top there was a huge intact of breath and that happened again in our screen for ‘Breaking Dawn: Part Two’. Even though you go with people, watching a film in the cinema is a pretty solitary experience until you leave the screen (except for talkers I guess – booooo) so it’s kind of fun to get the occasional unexpected moment where a whole group of strangers reacts in exactly the same way to something in a film.

Comments

[necromancyneverpays.wordpress.com]

My whole family shudders anytime there's a "it was just a dream" attempt in fiction, but the parodies and near-misses entertain us hugely. I'd call this one a near miss--they went there, but then they managed to take it back without making the audience feel cheated. Really amazing.

My theater audience was very quiet when that happened. Before that, they had been patient with the fact that some of us were laughing at parts others didn't find funny. I think American audiences are often mixed that way, so when it happens, the polite people get quieter so as not to offend anyone else.

We found this movie a great ending to a series that was much better at the movies than it was in the books.

non-necromancer

[bookgazing]

SO much better than the books. I love the films (and may be a little obsessed with some of the pop songs from the final film now) but the books just shove that whole 'Edward is freakin crazy - run' aspect in your face so often it's hard to feel entertained. I liked the ending and think it was probably the best we could really have got for this series without them changing some serious bits. Kind of wanted Bella to slap Jacob around a bit more though (imprinting, ugh).