The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1
Summit Entertainment | Release Date: November 18, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
19
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNov 20, 2011
In any case, the last twenty minutes of Breaking Dawn are so harrowing that it's possible to forget that most of the acting is soap-operatic (the guy who plays Carlisle is aging to look like Liberace) and the dialogue from hunger. The movie's that primal. Read full review
60
SalonAndrew O'HehirNov 19, 2011
To my taste, savvy Hollywood veteran Bill Condon debuts as director of the two-part "Twilight" conclusion in satisfying fashion, delivering a voluptuous if often inert spectacle that splits the difference between high camp and decadent romance. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 18, 2011
"Rosemary's Baby" it's not, but color us stoked that a Twilight movie even strays into evil-fetus territory. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNov 16, 2011
To outsiders, in fact, Breaking Dawn: Part I will probably look like the weirdest, most expensive chastity commercial ever created. But Meyer's massive fan base will see something else entirely. They'll see a faithful, well-made depiction of the most eventful book in a beloved series. They'll see the actors they adore embodying characters they cherish. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensNov 19, 2011
One seriously sick little blockbuster. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyNov 18, 2011
It's the most jumbled and tonally confused movie yet. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottNov 18, 2011
Bill Condon returns fans' love and gives them exactly what they have shown they want. That is: uneven storytelling, maudlin dialog and decidedly one-note performances, even from the big names in the cast. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartNov 18, 2011
Still, it was a beautiful wedding. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleAmy BiancolliNov 17, 2011
About as loony and soapy as a movie can get. In other words, it's about as loony and soapy as the novel, and I say this as one who obsessively consumed all four installments in Stephenie Meyer's mega-selling series. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJane HendersonNov 17, 2011
Twilight fans who have followed the series will want to see "Breaking Dawn," and like Bella and Edward may find brief moments of pleasure. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisNov 17, 2011
The movie is long and uniquely bad, the last of Stephenie Meyer's four books greedily tortured into two installments. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyNov 12, 2011
In the end, given how little goes on in Breaking Dawn - Part 1 despite the major plot points, what you're left with is to gaze at the three leads, all of whom have their constituencies and reasons for being eminently watchable. The only hope is they'll have more to do next time around. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin ChangNov 12, 2011
All the more disappointing, then, that a story so pregnant with dramatic possibilities should wind up feeling like such an unconsummated opportunity. Drawn from Stephenie Meyer's polarizing, weirdly compelling fourth novel, the film is rich in surface pleasures but lacks any palpable sense of darkness or danger. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 18, 2011
I would imagine that even those who line up for this film will be somewhat let down, if only because it's clear that most of the juicy stuff will arrive in Part 2 – which won't be released until next November. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumNov 17, 2011
What we learn in this all-pain/no-pleasure episode is that marriage feels like a life sentence, weddings are miserable events, honeymoon sex is dangerous and leaves a bride covered in bruises, and pregnancy is a torment that leads to death in exchange for birth. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyNov 17, 2011
The film doesn't have nearly the bite - ferocious or delicious - that any self-respecting vampire movie really should. It's as if all the life has drained away. Read full review
40
TimeMary PolsNov 17, 2011
This is Meyer's worst offense - her disturbingly Victorian attitudes about sex and love, which this particular movie falls modestly in lockstep with, even though it concludes years of cinematic foreplay. Read full review
40
EmpireHelen O'HaraNov 17, 2011
The acting's better than it's ever been, but with the best will in the world, this can't get past the fact that the story's demented. Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineVadim RizovNov 17, 2011
Sex and abortion are the main topics of this installment, which tips between dullness and total camp. Read full review
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