The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 - Review

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

(2012)Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

1 hr. 55 min.

Rated: PG-13 sequences of violence including disturbing images, some sensuality and partial nudity See all certifications

Grade: C-

Director: Bill Condon
Writers: Melissa Rosenberg (screenplay), Stephenie Meyer (novel)
Stars: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner | See full cast and crew

After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi.

Ok, this is the first of the Twilight Series that I have seen. I had never been interested in the books or the movies. Now, having seen the final film I feel vindicated in my choice to avoid this franchise. This is little more than a big budget production of a vacuous soap opera-chick flick. About as intriguing and gripping as watching your garden grow. I would almost rather see Lincoln again...almost but not quite, most assuredly a nap would be preferable. The two films do have something in common, they both have a lot of the same flaws, bad screenplay, over acting, distracting costumes, obvious and annoying makeup and both of them boring with a definite lack of anything interesting to say. I kept checking my watch at both films.

I am obviously in the minority here, this franchise has made a lot of money and this episode is probably going to be the biggest box office success of the franchise. However, financial success is no guarantor of quality.

Plot

After being brought back from near-death by Edward after childbirth, Bella begins her new life as a vampire and mother to their daughter, Renesmee. But when Irina, a member of the Denali coven, mistakenly reports Renesmee as a human infant who has been bitten and transformed into a vampire to the Volturi, they set out to battle and destroy the Cullens for breaking vampire law. To prove their innocence, the Cullens gather foreign vampire clans, including the Denali, the Amazonian, the Egyptian, the Irish, and Romanian covens, and also European and American nomads, to stand as their witnesses to the Volturi, who have ulterior motives for battling the Cullens. With their allies and the Quileute wolf pack, the Cullens defend themselves against the Volturi.

Cast

 Robert Pattinson       Kristen Stewart     Taylor Lautner 

 Edward Cullen                 Bella Swan                  Jacob Black 

 Elizabeth Reaser       Peter Facinelli          Ashley Greene

 Esme Clullen              Dr. Carlisle Cullen                Alice Cullen  

      Kellan Lutz        Jackson Rathbone           Nikki Reed   

  Emmett Cullen               Jasper Hale                   Rosalie Hale

 Billy Burke           Chaske Spencer         Mackenzie Foy

Charlie Swan                    Sam Uley                         Renesmee    

 Jamie Campbell Bower     Maggie Grace     Christopher Heyerdahl 

   Caius                              Irina                                Marcus

 Michael Sheen

Aro

Savages - Review (updated)

Savages

(2012)

Crime / Drama / Thriller

130 min. 

Rated: R  Pernicious Profanity, graphic sex, extreme and graphic torture and sadistic violence

Rating: D

Director: Oliver Stone

Writers: Shane Salerno (screenplay), Don Winslow (screenplay and novel), Oliver Stone (screenplay)

Stars: Aaron Johnson, Taylor Kitsch and Blake Lively, John Travolta, Benicio Del Toro , Salma Hayek

Super entrepreneur pot growers, Ben and Chon, face off against a Mexican drug cartel who has kidnapped their shared girlfriend as leverage to force the duo into joining the cartel.

This film should have been rated NC-17. The profanity is pernicious and constant, the sex scenes are graphic and in poor taste, the scenes of torture and gratuitous violence is raw, graphic and will be offensive to most viewers. This unnecessary over the top warped viewpoint of society, that everyone in government, the military, police enforcement and business is corrupt has been the hallmark of Oliver Stone's directorial career. 

I left the theater wanting the two hours and ten minuets of my life back. There isn't a single redeeming quality in any of the characters in this film. There is nothing sympathetic, nothing to like about any of them. They are, to the very last one, amoral, self centered, egotistic, greedy, vile individuals with no concern of how their actions might affect anyone outside of their myopic and depraved circle of friends.

Ben and Chon

The only reason this film escapes an 'F' rating from me is that some of the acting (with one glaring exception of Blake Lively) and the technical and production values of the film are up to standard.

Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Johnson)

It starts out with O (Blake Lively) narrating, 'Just 'cause I'm telling this story  doesn't mean I'm alive at the end of it. It's that kind of a story where things just got so out of control'. I should have fled the theater right after that stupid set up line for a supposedly clever surprise ending. This is a truly tedious 'thriller'...typical Oliver Stone work.

Elena

Ben, Denis and Chon

Ben, Denis and Chon

Mr. Stone's way is to soil the reputation of every institution and individual portrayed in his films, we have Chon (Taylor Kitsch) is a dishonorable Navy Seal drug cultivator and distributor who employes his willing Seal buddies to help him bomb and kill his oponents; Ben (Aaron Johnson), his friend and partner is a 'brilliant botanist' marijuana cultivator/entrepreneur/distributor the two are supposed to be the 'oh so cool' Bill Gates and Steve Jobs of primo-cannabis dude; O (Blake Lively) is the jaded 'spoiled rich kid' shared whore of the two friends and business partners (sorry, that's supposed to be the girlfriend in an open, sensitive, non-judgmental, optimal, ideal adult relationship of fornicators), together this trio is supposed to be representative of the norm in an American society which Mr. Stone loves to portray in decline; Dennis (John Travolta) is the obligatory corrupt, 'on the take' DEA agent; Elena (Salma Hayek) is the beautiful, sophisticated, ruthless, blood thirsty, vengeful and sadistic King Pin of a Mexican drug cartel, but let us not forget she is also a concerned, loving  and sensitive mother and widow (I didn't believe for a moment that she would be capable of keeping her sadistic henchmen under her control).

Chon (Taylor Kitsch)

Elena (Salma Hayek)

Any respect for the mostly talented actors signed on to this project has been tarnished. Blake Lively is simply awful, there is nothing about her portrayal of O that would justify the undying loyalty of Chon and Ben (Think of Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan in the Twilight series, what did Edward (Robert Pattinson) or Jacob (Taylor Lautner) see in her?). Selma Hayek is beautiful and some reviewers are saying that she will surely be nominated for an Oscar for this performance...Really, are you serious? Her Elena is a caricature of the evil villain, think Mike Myers in Austin Powers, I kept waiting for her to put her little pinky finger to the corner of her 

Lado (Benicio Del Toro)

mouth and demand a ransom of 'one million dollars', and then we have Lado (Benicio Del Toro) the double crossing villain with loyalty to no one but himself, who frequently twists his mustache like Dudley Do-Right's nemesis, Snidely Whiplash from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show or some heartless landlord in a community theater melodrama.

O and Chon

Frankly, I don't consider this depraved and despicable movie worth the wasting of any more time writing about it. I have generally, as of late, avoided Oliver Stone films due to the pervasive anti-American, amoral, didactic preachiness that permeates the majority of his films. Oliver Stone moves up a notch on my personal 'Don't Go' list'.

Cast:

Taylor Kitsch        Aaron Johnson     Blake Lively
 Chon                               Ben                                    O

      Benicio del      ToroSalma Hayek
Elena                           Lado

Snow White and the Huntsman - Review

A creative take on one of the Brothers Grimm's favorite Fairytales.

Snow White and the Huntsman

PG-13 

Run time: 127 minutes

Director: 

    Rupert Sanders

Writers: 

    Evan Daugherty (screenplay and screen story),
    John Lee Hancock (screenplay),
    Hossein Amini (screenplay) 

Rating: B-

 In this revisionist twist on the well known fairy tale, the Huntsman originally ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed, is sent into the woods to retrieve the escaped princess and winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen.

If you are looking for a sweet fairy tale adaptation, this one is definitely not for you and don’t take your tiny tots or young children. If you don’t mind some action, dark magic, beautiful scenery and costumes or some ominous twists to the original tale, Snow White And The Huntsman just might be your cup of tea.  

The Grimms collected and published 211 stories, but most of us remember tales like "Hansel and Gretel", "Rapunzel", "Cinderella", and "Rumpelstiltskin" that were glorified by making them into cartoons.  Some that are not so popular with children include "The Girl Without Hands" that deals with making a deal with the Devil and "Godfather Death" involving cheating Death, both of which are even today not conducive to reciting to youngsters.

Once upon a time in a land far away... a young Snow White (Raffey Cassidy) is nearing her teens when one day a strange army threatens the kingdom  of her father, King Magnus (Noah Huntley). The intruders are quickly defeated but a female slave, Ravenna (Charlize Theron), is found shackled in chains on the battlefield and taken back to the castle.  King Magnus falls instantly in love with the woman and they marry the very next day.

Snow White is orphaned early after the death of her father by the hands of her new step-mother. Queen Ravenna , the dark witch who devours all the beauty in the world and destroys one kingdom after another, spells doom on Snow White’s kingdom as well. Young Snow White's childhood friend Prince William (Sam Claflin) and his father escape while is made a prisoner in her own castle and the queen who indulges in sucking out the youth and beauty from all the beautiful girls and the strength from the hearts of the boys.

“Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all…” One day, the Queen asks the mirror this same old question; only this time, the answer is not the “Queen”, but “Snow White”. Shocked, scared and outraged, she orders her brother Finn, (Sam Spruell, more like her lackey), to bring Snow White to her instantly so she can insure her immortality by taking Snow White's beating heart. Now a young woman, Snow White (Kristen Stewart), guided by a bird that she rescued as a child, escapes his clutches and a frantic chase to capture her follows as she flees into the dark forest.

The only person who can retrieve her is the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) but when he discovers he has been betrayed reluctantly switches his loyalty to Snow White. Will Snow White ever be able to vanquish the darkness? Can she defeat the Queen? Will the kingdom rejoice again? Well, of course you know the answers to these questions, yet, watch the movie to see how it all happens; it is indeed a visual treat.

The film's major problem is that it lacks focus. The recent Mirror Mirror, a disappointing adaptation, was at least consistent in its approach. Critics have enthusiastically praised Snow White and the Huntsman's visuals and fairy-tale atmosphere, while condemning its length and lack of dramatic cohesiveness. It is director Rupert Sanders first foray into feature-films, his previous directing experience has been primarily in commercials.

This Brothers Grimm fairytale is a patchwork of fantasy fare new and old. There's a little Lord Of The Rings here (sweeping shots of people walking over mountain vistas); a little Narnia there (fantastical creatures frolicking and gamboling in the woods); a little John Carter/Wrath of the Titans (mythical monster trolls); ( a lot of stern-faced Shakespearean style thespian-ing (Sire this and my liege that); not to mention a little Joan of Arc. The one thing that it doesn't have is an identity of its own: is it a Fairy Tale of magic, a Gothic romance, action, sword and sorcery or Hammer horror film, everything about it feels lifted from some other and often superior product.

When the mirror tells the queen she is no longer the fairest of them all, you know he is just picking a fight. Kristen Stewart is more beautiful than Charlize Theron, Really?
Didn't her critics in the Twilight series say it was implausible that the Edward and Jacob could find any reason to fight over such a dull and 'plain Jane' Bella? The comparisons of her Snow White and Bella were inevitable. 

Forrest Spirit necklace

The movie never skimps on visual effects, from monsters made of glass shards to an hallucinatory and foreboding dark forest (although one moment featuring a multi-antlered white stag is said to be such a rip-off of the Forest Spirit from Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film Princess Mononoke that Studio Ghibli should sue) but the characterizations are almost never as interesting as Colleen Atwood’s costumes, which are amazing to the point of distraction.

Charlize Theron is the anchor in this film. She is perfectly evil and as the re-envisioning nemesis of Snow White, a shape-changing queen loosely inspired on Elizabeth Báthory, the 16th-17th-century Hungarian aristocrat known as the “Blood Countess” for bathing in the blood of virginal young women as a means of preserving her youth. Ravenna bathes in a milk-like substance and not blood like her real-world analogue, but she does the next worst thing: A vampire in all but name, Ravenna sucks the life-force out of her female victims to retain her youthful appearance.

 The castle though impressive is way out of scale for stone construction.

There are 8 dwarfs, not 7 but 8 (none of which are actually dwarfs, or little people), among which are some very well known actors - Ian McShane (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), Ray Winstone (The Departed), Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger), Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead) and Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes).

For reference, Frost is on the far left, Jones is the shortest and 3rd from the left, McShane is 4th from left, Hoskins if 3rd from the right and Marsan is the 2nd from the right.

I really wanted to love this film but alas, the flaws are too many. It is very ambitious and succeeds at times but it seems so uneven and sluggish at times. The best I can say it that it is OK. I think it deserves bonus points for it's sometimes successful originality and often stunning special effects and visuals.