“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1″ has turned out to be the worst-reviewed film of the series. When this column went to press, just 27 percent of critics had given the movie a positive review. The first film in the franchise based on the wildly popular teen vampire novels, “Twilight,” did much better: Just under half of critics, 49 percent, liked the film. That didn’t make it “fresh” according to film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes; a movie needs 60 percent positive reviews for that.
But the second film, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” was released the next year to much harsher criticism: Just 28 percent of critics like it, according to Rotten Tomatoes. When the third film came out in 2010, it looked like the series had beat the sophomore slump. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” was back up to 49 percent. But the critical drubbing “Breaking Dawn” is getting makes it clear the complete project — “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2” will be released next year — won’t be judged anything like a masterpiece.
It’s hard to say why critics have had such mixed feelings about the films. They’re all based on books by the same writer, after all. And they were all adapted by the same person, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg.
Perhaps, surprisingly enough, the critical reaction to the “Twilight” films says something about the auteur theory of filmmaking. This idea, championed by the French New Wave, holds that a film should reflect its director’s own vision — controversial, as moviemaking is certainly a collaborative art.
Each of the four “Twilight” films so far released has been made by a different director. Catherine Hardwicke was not well known, but she became the most commercially successful female filmmaker in Hollywood when she made the first film in the franchise.
“New Moon” was then given to Chris Weitz. It got terrible press, which surprised some, given that Weitz had made the charming “About a Boy.”
David Slade was better known for making music videos when he got the call to make “Eclipse.” He had, however, made another vampire film, “30 Days of Night.”
Bill Condon was a big name — he made the Oscar-winning “Dreamgirls” — when he was signed to complete the franchise, making two films of the final book, “Breaking Dawn.”
Maybe there’s another lesson to be learned here — little-known, independent directors can do better work than their more experienced peers.
But in Hollywood, there’s rarely any real generalizations one can make — except that critics don’t matter as much as they’d like. “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1” got no critical love, but the people who made it might not care. In midnight showings Thursday night alone, it made $30.25 million. People in the know predict it will end up making more than $160 million over the weekend, giving it the second-best opening weekend ever, second only to a movie in a much better reviewed franchise: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2.”
Kelly Jane Torrance is the Washington Examiner’s movie critic. Her reviews appear weekly and she can be reached at [email protected].
