Stars: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Kellan Lutz, Billy Burke, Chaske Spencer, Booboo Stewart, Julia Jones, Sarah Clarke.
Director: Bill Condon
Running time: 117 mins
Rating: 3/5

BABY makes three in the fourth film based on the books by Stephenie Meyer, which brings the love story of a mortal and a vampire to a suitably bloody resolution. This final chapter of the Twilight series has been cleaved in two, with the concluding instalment due in November 2012. There’s no credible artistic reason for the separation. The film-makers are milking their cash cow twice.

Breaking Dawn Part 1 stretches a 50- minute narrative into almost two hours of lustful glances, bitter recriminations and CGI-heavy battles between bloodsuckers and their werewolf rivals.

Where one scene would normally suffice, screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg churns out two, underscored with angstridden rock and pop.

When one characters life flashes before their eyes, Rosenberg takes the idea literally and bombards us with a montage of key scenes from the previous three films.

Director Bill Condon’s previous film was Dreamgirls, which had plenty of razzle but no emotional dazzle. Here, he again demonstrates a flair for style over substance.

When we left Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), she had chosen vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) over werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Poor Jacob is heartbroken and shows his despair by taking off his shirt in the first 20 seconds of this fourth film and flaunting his gym-honed abs.

Bella and Edward marry soon after in front of her parents (Billy Burke, Sarah Clarke) and his blood-sucking clan: Dr Carlisle (Peter Facinelli), Esme (Elizabeth Reaser), Alice (Ashley Greene), Rosalie (Nikki Reed), Emmett (Kellan Lutz) and Jasper (Jackson Rathbone).

The newlyweds head to a private island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro to consummate their love. Bella falls pregnant during the honeymoon and a half-human, half-vampire child grows at an accelerated rate, literally devouring Bella from within.

The Quileute wolf pack led by alpha male Sam (Chaske Spencer) prepares to kill Bella and her unborn abomination.

Naturally, Jacob protests and forms a splinter pack with Seth Clearwater (Booboo Stewart) and sister Leah (Julia Jones) to protect the woman he loves.

There are moments of unintentional hilarity including a disagreement between Edward and Bella about keeping the unborn child, which he refers to as "it".

“Its a baby!” argues Rosalie. “Probably,” adds Jasper, which sounds menacing on the page but is deliciously camp on the big screen. The opening salvo ends rather curiously with all loose threads seemingly tied and nothing to keep us counting down the days until 2012.

It doesn’t bode well for Part 2.