Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

Story

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 opens where Part 1 ends. Bella (Kristen Stewart) wakes up, eager to see her newborn daughter, Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy). Bella meets her daughter but is dismayed to learn that her close friend and werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) has imprinted on Renesmee.

Renesmee grows at a superhuman rate, aging seven years in a matter of weeks. Life for Bella, Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Renesmee is seemingly perfect until a disgruntled vampire from another coven sees Renesmee and mistakes her for an ‘immortal child’, a threat to the power and existence of the Volturi.

Alice Cullen (Elizabeth Reaser) has a prophetic vision. It shows that the Volturi Guard, led by vampire king Aro (Michael Sheen), is coming to kill Renesmee and wipe out the Cullens. In a bid to stop Aro and the Volturi Guard, Bella, Edward and the Cullens seek out the assistance of vampires around the world.

Themes

The supernatural; vampires and werewolves; revenge

Violence

Breaking Dawn Part 2 contains brutal violence throughout. Although blood and gore are kept to a minimum, there are some disturbing images. For example:

Bella hunts a young deer. A mountain lion leaps at the deer. At the same time Bella lunges at the mountain lion and kills it by biting its throat.
Bella grabs Jacob by the neck, drags him through her house and punches him in the face and stomach with enough force to propel him through the air.
Vampires use their powers to hurt, maim and kill others. Their supernatural powers include touch that inflicts electrical shock, telepathic thought that causes disabling pain, and a black cloud-like mist that enters victims’ mouths and debilitates them.
Werewolves and vampires decapitate many other vampires. Scenes show vampires ripping apart bodies and holding up heads. In one scene Edward holds a standing vampire while Bella jumps onto the vampire’s back and squats on his shoulders. They pull the vampire’s head back until they tear the head from the body. Bella throws the head onto the ground and sets the headless body on fire. There is an extended image of the severed head lying on the ground with its eyes open.
We hear how children who were turned into vampires were too dangerous to be allowed to exist. There is a flashback image of a village in chaos and on fire with slaughtered bodies covered in blood in a big pile. A young boy with a blood-covered face and mouth stands in the middle of the chaos. The Volturi arrive and kill the child’s mother by ripping her head from her body (the decapitation is very quick, and no blood and gore are shown). They decapitate the child and throw his body on a fire too. The decapitation isn’t shown, but we do see the headless body being thrown on the fire.

Sexual references

This movie has some sexual references. For example:

After having sex, Bella tells Edward, ‘You really were holding back. She is talking about the time when Bella was still human. Bella also says, ‘I can’t get enough’, and ‘How are we going to stop?’
A man talks about Bella and Edward’s passionate and lengthy love-making. He asks whether they’re finished and whether they broke a lot of stuff. There are other references to Alice and Jasper (a vampire couple), who took a decade to stop their initial love-making sessions.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

This movie shows some use of substances. For example, Bella’s father drinks beer.

Nudity and sexual activity

This movie has a couple of scenes that show sexual activity and partial nudity. For example:

Jacob takes off his clothes down to his underwear so that he can turn into a werewolf.
Bella and Edward are naked from the waist up, standing side-on to the camera. The scene shows Edward’s naked torso and a partial side-on image of Bella’s breast, tummy and shoulders. The scene ends with the pair embracing.
Edward kisses Bella passionately on the neck, and Bella throws Edward onto a bed. Bella straddles Edward, and he tears open the back of her top, exposing her lower back. They kiss passionately.

Product placement

Volvo cars are displayed or used in this movie.

Coarse language

This movie has some occasional low-level coarse language and name-calling.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 is a supernatural fantasy movie based on the final book in the Twilight Saga series. The movie is targeted at an older teenage and adult audience. It has a lot of brutal violence and some sexual references, which make it unsuitable for children and younger teenagers. Seeing the movie is likely to have a bigger impact on younger viewers than reading the book.

The main messages from this movie are about striving to overcome obstacles and trying to become what we are meant to be.

Values in this movie that you could talk about with your children include the following:

Friendship and support: friends of the Cullen family from around the world come together to support Bella and Edward and protect their new daughter.
Acceptance: Bella’s father, while not fully understanding the changes in his daughter, accepts and supports her.
Self-sacrifice: Bella, Edward, the entire Cullen family and friends from around the world are willing to risk everything to protect Renesmee. Bella has made a huge self-sacrifice by giving up her mortality to be with Edward.