Broken Down Franchise: Twilight Disappoints...Again

Update: InBreaking Dawn, Part 1, Bella marries Edward, gives birth to a demon baby and Jacob stops moping long enough to "implant" with the infant. These predictable plot details are not spoilers; the film itself is a spoiler. All the potential of theTwilightvampire series is squandered. Part 2 may already be in the can, but for the audience there's no point in going further. It's apparent fromBreaking Dawn, Part 1(sequel three) that the filmmakers gave up a long time ago when the originalTwilightdirector Catherine Hardwicke was fired from the series.

Bill Condon, who made a mess ofDreamgirlsandKinsey, takes out the dreaminess and neuters the sex. Condon's non-direction shows no attempt at style or visualized emotion (each bland sequence is staged to ineffectual music). Even Bella's hideous pregnancy (she wastes to corpse-like pallor and CGI thinness) is just part of the narrative slog. Author Stephenie Meyer's ludicrous plot is stripped of the pubescent tumescence that was Hardwicke's specialty and gave the first film its Brontesque compulsion.

To read the full review by Armond White, head toCity Arts.