Okay, so here is my detailed and full review of BD2. Finally. Needless to say it contains spoilers. And I’m going to go off of what you all have said a little and then add a few of my own comments. Overall, I really loved the movie. I don’t think it will be my favourite, but it’s definitely near the top of my list.
Rushed start: I definitely agree with you all on that. I didn’t like it at all. It was like they were saying: “Bella is a vampire now. So what. Big deal. Moving on…” Bella wasn’t disorientated or confused. She wasn’t ever having mood swings that she then tried to control. The Cullens just handed Renesmee to her without Edward having told them about the humans on the first hunt. Especially the big smile on Rosalie’s face was wrong to me. Only Jacob seemed concerned. And then they left her alone with Charlie!? Her first contact with a human and they leave her alone! She even hugs Charlie like it is no big deal! Kristen’s acting was great though! And I saw that she was trying to work in everything that wasn’t in the script. And I loved seeing her hunt. I wish we could have seen Edward hunt as well.
I get it, they had a lot of ground to cover with the confrontation and the new vampires, but still. They could have made three more movies out of this! I’m hoping we’ll get a lot of deleted scenes from the first half on the DVD.
Renesmee: I also thought everything around Renesmee growing up was rushed. Ironic really, because she is supposed to grow up fast. Although we get that wonderful addition at the piano, I still would have liked to see more of Renesmee. Even though I did notice the CGI at some points, I thought it was done really well considering the complexity and the amount (Remember we also have the wolves, the battle, the hunt etc. I think it’s hard to find scenes where there isn’t CGI…)
Jacob: I have to say that I really enjoyed Taylor’s scenes in this movie. When Bella finds out he imprinted on Renesmee… Priceless! Kristen grabbing him by the neck and shoving him outside… That was just perfect! I laughed so hard. Kristen’s acting in this scene is also phenomenal! And then of course the scene where Jacob tells Charlie he’s a werewolf. Just one thing: Billy Burke! That’s all I have to say about that. Perfect and funny!
Jasper: Another character that I thought was just not present enough was Jasper. He plays a much bigger role in all the books, but somehow always ends up with the short straw in the movies. It probably ties in with rushing Bella’s newborn changes, but he had like what… 2 lines in the entire movie?
Cottage: I liked the cottage scene. I expected it to be a bit more “wild”, if you know what I mean. A bit more animalistic, maybe with some CGI speed thrown in there, rolling across the bed or the ground, pushing each other against the walls. A bit Mr.&Mrs. Smith. But still it was good. It was sensual, it was sweet. Couldn’t help though but think of Rob and Kristen’s interviews saying how awkward it was to make those close-ups. LOL The little conversation in front of the fireplace…phew… sexy! *insert fanning smilie* But in the end this scene just didn’t stand a chance against Isle Esme.
Jenks: I liked how they solved the J Jenks scene. I thought that was really clever. Although again it was made to look like Bella had no problem at all being around that much humans. No questions asked. And of course she is fine, but for me in the books this is the first real proof that she can interact normally with humans. They could have put more emphasize on that.
New vampires: As you guys said, this went really fast. It’s a shame that we couldn’t get more background on them, but I actually quite like how they did this. There was a lot of diversity. We got to see Alaska. (Funny little side note: The subtitles in Dutch for BD1 at the wedding said that the Denali coven was from Canada… Another reason why I hate translations. The people making them have no knowledge or respect for the source material.) We got to see Benjamin’s gifts and Garret enjoying his nomadic existence. Those are my two favourite new vamps! I loved the Romanian’s little chase with the wolves. (The whole theatre went “awww!” when the little wolf transformed, haha.) And I didn’t expect it, but I quite liked Alistair in an odd way… As
Brienna said, it would have been boring to see them all just arriving and repeating the explanation a dozen times.
marielle wrote:The Amazon´s were as I expected but they only ever showed 2 of them where as I remember there were 3 in the book.
Didn’t the third Amazon vampire stay with Alice until they found Nahuel? She just didn’t show up when Alice arrived during the confrontation in the movie. I don’t really mind that change.
Songbird wrote:Have any of you ever wondered why Kate's talent doesn't work on Bella?
I always thought it was because Bella shields her brain, meaning her central nervous system. Electrical currents are carried through the nerves. The electrical shocks from Kate are supposed to work like Jane’s in that sense: They sent signals to the brain. At least that’s how I read it. But I agree it’s confusing. Anyone remember the explanation from the book?
Songbird wrote:I liked that we got to see Vasilli and Sasha, but it bugged me a bit that Jane was there and also so prominent because according to the OIG, the immortal children ban was the reason why Aro didn't change Jane and Alex sooner...he couldn't break his own rule. So the immortal children came BEFORE Jane was created.
I always thought that Sasha made the immortal child after the law was already there. She what the consequences were. So Jane and Alec could have been there…
Songbird wrote:I didn't really get the part with Toshimo or whatever his name was...that didn't make much sense to me and wasn't necessary. They could have used that time to do a few of the existing scenes a bit better.
Completely agree on that one. I didn’t understand why that was there at all. And I didn’t like how Aro was portrayed in this scene. But more on that later.
The fight: I already wrote a detailed description of my experience of this scene in the “New Ending” thread, so check there if you want to read it.
Songbird wrote:When Carlisle was killed, I thought "no way!" but I was still thinking it could be ok because he could put himself back together. And then came the flames. I was seething.
Exactly my reaction!
Songbird wrote:It was like what she described if she had written in the mindset she was in after the Book that shall not be named was leaked..where she said if she had written it then, it would have been completely different...everybody would have died.
Haha, you’re right!
Songbird wrote:I also did not like how they made Bella's shield look like she could only shield one person at a time beyond herself....like she had to focus on one person and that was the only person she could protect.
Actually, remember when Jane wants to hurt Edward (I believe) before the fight breaks out? First she can, but then Bella expands her shield and Edward stands up. Jane then looks at each of Cullens with a panicked expression. I was under the impression that she was testing her power on the others but that Bella was shielding all of them. It’s just when the fight breaks out that Bella can’t focus so much that she can shield everyone without including the Volturi in her shield and without getting killed herself. That’s why she can only shield one person, I think.
Although I liked how they visualized it, it was kind of hard to see sometimes. I was disappointed that they didn’t show Alec’s power interacting with the shield. I would have liked to see everyone in that protective bubble. But I loved the scene where she was practicing with Kate. Edward and Emmett’s interaction! Bwhaha!
Brienna wrote:Didn't like Aro. Too much over the top. He's supposed to be over the top, but it was just a bit to much for me. Keeping it a tone lower I think still would have had the right effect. Especially the creepy laugh bummed me out.
100% agreed. Michael Sheen is great, but this performance was just wrong for me. It didn’t fit with either the book or the Aro from New Moon. He’s supposed to have a bit more of a pokerface, you know. His struggles are all inside his head. And I get that it would have been difficult to have Edward constantly translating his thoughts in the movie, so they have to give him some more visible emotion. But this was just toooo much. I would have liked it more if it was a bit more subtle. The whole theater was laughing at him when he gave that “sound”. It took me completely out of the story. And to think that BC lists that as one of his favorite moments fom the movie…
Anyways, this was way too long… Even with all the little and big things I didn’t like or that just didn’t fit with canon, I LOVED IT! I thought it was brilliant! And just because of that awesome fight scene I can forgive the rest. In truth that scene kind of overshadows everything else in my mind, which I don’t particularly like… At least it’s an excuse to go again!
Marielle wrote:I mean do that really want us dead???
Uhm, I think yes. I think they’re fed up with us Twihearts. Remember Kristen’s comment about twisting the knife in further about the end of The Saga? Yeah, apparently she didn’t mean that figuratively…
P.S.
corona, what are you doing here!? I thought the movie wasn't out yet in the US! it's better without spoilers! Go see it before you read here!