Reel Views: Everything Twi-hards have come to expect and more

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011)

The Twilight series of movies is one that is made for and marketed towards a very specific group of people and it has become quite polarizing. Those people who don't like Twilight will never like it, and they will never watch any of the movies. This review is for those who are fans of the Twilight series, even if they don't really admit that fact out loud, to anyone, ever.

Breaking Dawn - Part 1 is the first half of the finale of the Twilight Saga; the final book has been split into two halves due to the complexity of the story. Part 1 begins the day before Edward and Bella's long-awaited wedding. Bella is her usual awkward self, Edward is brooding about the prospect of changing Bella into a vampire and friends and family are gathering to celebrate their love. The wedding proves to be magical, and shortly thereafter Edward and Bella jet off to honeymoon on a private island off the coast of Brazil.

In the midst of their passionate getaway, Bella makes the shocking discovery that she is pregnant. After returning to the medical supervision of Carlisle, she must face the harsh reality that her halfvampire child is slowly killing her. During her complicated pregnancy, she must deal with the renewed tensions between the vampire and werewolf clans. The werewolves must deal with in-fighting, a battle for Alpha supremacy and the issue of protecting versus killing Bella.

The usual cast is present in this installment of the Twilight series with only a handful of new additions. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart fall easily back into their leading roles as Edward and Bella and continue to bring teenage angst to the characters. Taylor Lautner reprises his role as the werewolf Jacob, rounding out the love triangle.

Ashley Greene, Jackson Rathbone, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz and Nikki Reed round out the Cullen Family and Billy Burke takes up his witty role as Bella's father, Charlie. Julia Jones returns as the troubled yet strong werewolf Leah Clearwater - the pack's first female.

New to the cast in this installment are Maggie Grace, MyAnna Buring and Casey LaBow as the Denali family of vampires from Alaska.

Something must be said for the editing and the special effects present in this flick; the transformation Bella undergoes from a healthy, strong woman to a starved shell of her former self (which occurs because the baby is essentially starving her) is gruesome and haunting. The already slim Stewart is transformed into a skeletal being and appears to be on the verge of death.

The decision to split Breaking Dawn into two halves was definitely a good one. The first installment covers the birth of Edward and Bella's child and the second half will deal with the impending war between the vampires and the werewolves.

For those fans of Twilight, this film will not disappoint; everything you want to see is there and this flick is more than worth your time.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars