Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, the first of the two-part film based on Stephenie Meyer’s final novel of the same name in the Twilight Saga, was released to DVD and Blu-ray on February 11th.
Review:
Love it or hate it, the Twilight series is coming to an end. Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is the second to last film, and has taken the lowest-rating crown from the second film in the series, New Moon, according to Rotten Tomatoes. However, the box office shows the Twi-Hards still made it to theatres with the rank of 2nd (behind New Moon) in highest grossing film of the franchise worldwide.
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is the movie all the fans have been waiting for. It has the wedding, the pregnancy, and the childbirth all packed into one movie. That being said, there isn’t a lot of action in this installment. The focus is on the romance between Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) that has built up for the past three films into this (almost) finale.
Fans of the books, written by Stephenie Meyer, will be happy to see a significant increase in consistency of page to screen from its predecessor, Eclipse. Director Bill Condon, previously known for his work on musical films, Chicago and Dreamgirls, was chosen over other Academy Award-nominated directors including Gus Van Sant. Condon was able to work with the book’s author directly, who was hired as a producer, and got everything fans wanted into the film. It is definitely disappointing that certain scenes were limited by the PG-13 rating requirement. Also, some attempts at adding elements of the book, namely the wolf pack’s telepathic communication, were disasters.
Non-fans should definitely keep their distance, as this film is in the same light as the rest of the Twilight series. Possibly even worse, seeing as the romance is highlighted in this film 10 times over. However, there is definitely some well-deserved humor seen this time that fans and non-fans alike will be able to laugh at.
Take it or leave it, Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 will be the greatest thing to happen to Twi-Hards (or at least something to pass the time until November 16th), and just another 117 minutes wasted to non-fans.
Visuals/Sound
The filmmakers went all out for the last film as far as production goes. The Blu-ray looks great, as expected. Audiences will see the vampire-human couple go on their honeymoon in Brazil in all of its exotic, sand-filled beauty on the 1080p transfer.
The sound is also great on Blu-ray. A step-up from Eclipse (which was a DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless track), Breaking Dawn – Part 1 has a crisp DTS-HD MA 7.1 lossless sound track. The montage music, consisting of various indie rock and folk songs, seemed to be turned way up; almost too much so. One thing can be said of this movie – the music is the best so far, capturing the mood with angst-free and even upbeat songs. Dialogue and background sound effects are effectively placed in each channel.
Extras
Wal-Mart and Target stores are releasing their own exclusives which include things like different packaging and prop flowers, however the regular DVD and Blu-ray releases of Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1have the same special features. Here’s the complete list:
- Audio commentary with director Bill Condon
- Bella and Edward’s Wedding Video featurette
- Jacob’s Destiny featurette
- Edward Fast Forward featurette
- Jacob Fast Forward featurette
- Six-part making-of documentary
The audio commentary is a bit disappointing overall for fans and non-fans alike. Fans will be disappointed to hear director Bill Condon instead of stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. There are a few interesting mentions about filming and his cameo during the wedding, but it’s definitely not a must-listen.
The featurettes included are much better watches for everyone. Jacob’s Destiny goes in depth into the character of Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and how he has grown throughout the franchise to this end point and what it means. The filmmakers also go into how they went about portraying this growth effectively for fans of the book. It is really interesting and will definitely make audiences appreciate Jacob a little more. Bella and Edward’s Wedding Video is all about the fans. It is literally a featurette created in the style of a typical wedding video with b-roll of the wedding and shout-outs by the characters Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene), Charlie Swan (Billy Burke) and many more. The Fast Forward featurettes are just “Jump to...” buttons that allow viewers to go straight to a certain key scene from a menu.
The best extra included for both fans and non-fans is definitely the six-part making-of documentary. The parts are A New Beginning, The Wedding, The Honeymoon, The Wolf Pack, The Pregnancy, and The Birth. Each one goes deep into the title topic’s behind-the-scenes challenges and production troubles. It is the highlight of the extras.
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 is exactly what fans have been waiting for, and Summit Entertainment has released a perfect DVD/Blu-ray for the occasion with a clear high-definition visuals, an awesome 7.1 lossless track (for Blu-ray), and a couple interesting extras. The conclusion, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 can be seen on November 16th at a theater near you.
Buy Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 DVD
Buy Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Blu-ray
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