'Twilight: Breaking Dawn': What the Critics Are Saying

If you're a "Twilight" fan, chances are pretty good that you're going to be seeing "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I" no matter what the reviews say. That goes double if you're one of the people camping out in Los Angeles for the big premiere tonight.

But on the off chance that some of you out there might want to know how the new movie compares to the previous installments, the early reviews are out. Prepare yourself.

Justin Chang of Variety and Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter have both put in their two hours watching "Breaking Dawn," and neither was particularly impressed. Both critics compain of a lack of urgency or high stakes throughout, most importantly toward the end.

Interestingly, there is a huge difference in opinion over what might be the biggest event of the movie (and possibly the series). That event is, of course, the wedding: Chang calls it an "ardently, unabashedly romantic setpiece," but McCarthy compares it to the somber setting of "Melancholia" and notes that it has a feeling of foreboding.

In fact, McCarthy seemed to find little to enjoy about the movie as a whole, calling the pacing "dirge-like" and noting that the film "is like a crab cake with three or four bits of crab surrounded by loads of bland stuffing, but many can't tell the difference or don't care."

That last part is an important one: will any of the fans care? Likely not. The dirge-like pace that McCarthy refers to might be a fault of the nearly half-hour-long wedding, an event that would probably more the average viewer to tears but that Twihards will be thrilled to have last as long as possible.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone is even harsher on the film's pacing: "Start hating me now, Twihards, but the sexless, bloodless, padded and plodding 'Breaking Dawn, Part 1' is the worst 'Twilight' movie to date."

Thus, even though it's beginning to look like breaking this final adaptation into two movies wasn't the best idea narratively, it will be much appreciated by fans (and even more appreciated by the studio's pocketbook).

L. Thompson of E! (which, to be fair, has rather breathlessly promoted this film, for obvious reasons) offered up this slightly more positive review:

"Calling a movie the best 'Twilight' film to date isn't exactly high praise, and at this point, it isn't likely that newcomers to the series are going to be drawn to theaters. However, should a loved one drag you to the latest adventures of Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and gang, don't panic: There's more to like than you might expect.

A quick run-down of the Rottentomatoes results has the original "Twilight" and "Eclipse" both at 49%, while "New Moon" stands at a much lower 27%.

How will "Breaking Dawn" fare? As it stands, the film is at 28% for critics and 92% for fans. Go figure.

Most importantly, what did you think of the movie?