The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2

Proclaiming this syrupy, suspenseful, surreal final segment as the Twilight franchise's best may be a case of damning with faint praise. Birthed in Stephenie Meyer's YA fiction, the tormented central duo—brooding, chivalrous Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and the formerly awkward and uncertain Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart)—are now the parents of a half-vampire/half-human daughter, Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), who is constantly accompanied by protective werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). Black imprinted on her at birth, claiming the infant as his soul mate, and nicknaming her Nessie. “Nessie?” Bella says indignantly. “You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness monster?” Not surprisingly, trouble lies ahead for the Cullen clan as the contemptuous Volturi—led by devious Aro (Michael Sheen)—travel from Italy to the snowy Pacific Northwest to examine the half-immortal child and decide if a punishable crime of miscegenation has been committed. To bolster their ranks, the Cullens recruit undead comrades from around the world, including a revenge-seeking Transylvanian duo (Guri Weinberg, Noel Fisher) and an outspoken bohemian (Lee Pace). Director Bill Condon, who shot this film concurrently with Part 1, serves up plenty of outrageously campy CGI vampirism, with supernaturally formidable, butt-kicking vampire Bella getting seriously bloodthirsty during this ferocious final fantasy showdown. Recommended. (S. Granger)