‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ is the fourth of five planned films testing the relationship of the star-crossed lovers, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson). The ‘Twilight’ films are crap, I understand and acknowledge this well-known fact. However, there’s just something about the films that captivates me, and I’m able to be thoroughly entertained by them. Each installment in the series improved upon the one before it, with ‘Eclipse’ being the best of the series. ‘Eclipse’, the third addition to the franchise, was directed by ‘Hard Candy’ director David Slade, who effectively balanced the film’s romance and action, resulting in a consistent film. This time around, new director Bill Condon (‘Dreamgirls’) is forced to live up to ‘Eclipse’, and the result is unfortunately very mixed.

The first act of ‘Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ is perhaps the most enjoyable part of the entire ‘Twilight’ film series. This section involves Bella and Edward’s wedding, one of the most important events the series has been leading towards the entire time. The wedding is so enjoyable because many of the serie’s supporting characters are all gathered together for a very enjoyable and hilarious experience. There are many funny jokes and intentionally humorous moments during the wedding. Quite a few of these jokes are so funny because they make fun of the series itself, which is unexpected, but still great. The wedding toasts from Bella’s father (Billy Burke), her close friends, and others are humorous highlights.

After the wedding comes the newlyweds’ honeymoon at a beautiful summer home off the coast of Rio. The love scene eager ‘Twilight’ fans have probably been waiting for is really nothing special since nothing is really shown; the film instead fades to black. I assume this was the best way to keep the film’s PG-13 rating. Bella and Edward’s honeymoon continues the joyfulness of the wedding, with beautiful scenes of island landscape and the two merely enjoying themselves. However, drama comes back into the film when Bella finds herself pregnant with a half human-half vampire baby. This special type of baby is fast-growing and is quickly killing Bella from the inside out. Jacob (Taylor Lautner) is furious with this discovery, blaming Edward for potentially killing both their loves.

One of the major problems with the ‘Twilight’ films is the over-abundance of dull and boring melodrama. The love triangle between Bella, Edward, and Jacob has been going on for far too long, and since the series already leans so heavily in Edward’s favor, there’s almost no point in caring about Jacob’s pursuit of Bella. The second half of ‘Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ is entirely filled with drama, and barely anything happens. While the Cullens try their best to save Bella’s life, Jacob and the rest of the werewolves tirelessly debate about what to do with the situation.

Another problem with the series that ‘Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ continues is the anticlimactic events that occur. In this film’s case, the third act of the film builds up to a full-on attack on the vampires by the werewolves, yet the way it is “solved” is just too simple and easy. It adds to the pointlessness of the drama depicted in the film.

‘Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ is saved from the boring melodrama with its conclusion. A gruesome childbirth is depicted and the final scene in the film is a good enough cliffhanger to hold interest for the second part that comes out a year from now. It’s an ending scene that is much better than the way ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1‘ ended. Unfortunately, however, the final scene of this film falters by being too cheesy. The cliffhanger of an ending is conceptually good, but the quick camera zoom is just too amateurish and lame. The same goes for the scene where all of the werewolves are arguing in loud, echoey voices. It would have been fine if the wolves were in their normal human voices, but the extreme echoes make the scene cheesy.

‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ succeeds in being an enjoyable addition to the franchise, with some of the best moments in the franchise, but fails when it starts slowing down for soap opera-like drama. This is neither the best nor the worst of the series, but is good enough to warrant anticipation for the final film of the ‘Twilight’ saga.

Two and a half out of four Kents.

Extra Notes:

• The first scene in the film is a shirtless Jacob. Really?

• The “imprinting” that occurs in the third act is very strange, weird, and creepy.

• The acting in this film is still not that great, but they’re a major improvement from when the first ‘Twilight’ film was released. Kristen Stewart especially has improved her acting. Let’s see how well she fares off in ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’, which will be released before the final ‘Twilight’ film is released.

• Alice Cullen (Ashley Greene) continues to be the most enjoyable ‘Twilight’ character. Plus it helps that she’s absolutely gorgeous.

• Did the filmmakers forget that the vampires sparkle when sunlight hits their skin, or that the vampires are pale?