The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2

The entire Bella/Edward/Jacob love-triangle saga has been almost critic-proof since the first movie arrived on our screens, and the rollercoaster of quality - pretty good first movie, terrible second, pretty good third, terrible fourth - hasn’t stopped the series from becoming a box office juggernaut. So here we are with the finale, and thankfully the series has topped out with its most enjoyable but least accessible entry to date.

Bella (Kristen Stewart) has given birth to Renesmee and been successfully turned into a vampire by her vamp-hubby Edward (Robert Pattinson). But while they're working on getting her new-found blood lust under control, Bella's best friend/werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) has "imprinted" on the new-born Renesmee, which basically means they're in love and destined to be together forever. If this sounds icky, remember the entire franchise is based on a 17 year old girl falling in love with a 107 year old vampire. Meanwhile, vampire leaders the Volturi have mistaken Renesmee for an "immortal child", which are not allowed to exist according to vampire law, and decide she must be destroyed. In order to defend her, Bella and co. round up a United Colours of Benetton advert of international vampires (including a couple of cringe-worthy Irish neck biters), and Jacob gathers the wolf-pack to protect his two-day old girlfriend.

By far the most ridiculous two hours of cinema you will catch this year, Breaking Dawn Part Two is hugely entertaining, intentionally or otherwise, while also being not particularly pre-teen friendly; there's a racy heavy-petting scene, young children being tossed into fires and more decapitations than you’d see outside of a Viking movie. All three leads are now all-too-comfortable in their roles, with particular note to Stewart who has finally stopped being a lip-biting bag of moodiness and turned into a super powered Sarah Connor, protecting her child while also looking like she's actually enjoying being Bella.

Director Bill Condon has pumped up the BPM from the drippy Part One which he also directed, having fun globe-tripping as the Cullen family collect some super-powered vampires, leading up to an epic (and narratively cheating) head-on battle with the bad guys, headed by a preening Michael Sheen, an insidious Dakota Fanning, and a confused-looking Maggie Grace.

But all of this is a moot point; any Twilight fans will flock to see this en masse regardless, and any non-fans will find this movie completely incomprehensible, as this is not an entry-point particularly welcoming to newcomers. Everyone watching this will have been in it for the long haul, and Breaking Dawn Part Two is the perfect ending for an imperfect series.