After four long years, The Twilight Saga’s conclusion has finally arrived with Breaking Dawn – Part 2, undoubtedly the best out of all of Stephanie Meyer’s vampire films.

I will be one to say that four years ago I was hopelessly devoted to this fandom. But over the years, as the books lost their magic and the movies paled in comparison to their prospective novels, I lost interest. I had to, of course, see the heart-wrenching finale to one of the series that acquainted me with the wonderful world of literature. I was pleasantly surprised; Breaking Dawn was fast-paced, cleverly written, and had remarkable effects which contrasted grandly to those we saw four years ago in the first Twilight movie.

Luckily Bella had been already transformed at the start of this movie—though it would’ve been more interesting to see the process—and we could bear to look at her, whereas in Part One she was fixed up to look like some starving methamphetamine addict. Baby Renesmee was obviously CGI, but actress Mackenzie Foy was able to breathe life into Renesmee’s character once she was introduced. Everyone else was considerably more attractive as well, including the slimmer and more clean cut Jacob Black.

As always, the Cullens’ vampire abilities are almost comical—since when can vampires fly?—and Bella looks like a little too fairy-princess as she leaps off of cliffs and bounds through the forest. There were moments here and there which triggered some rolling of my eyes, such as the grace with which Renesmee seems to divinely float up while she catches a snowflake for Bella or the tacky and scripted lines between Edward and Bella—although these I expected after reading the book. I looked forward to seeing the arm-wrestling match with Emmett and Jacob’s strip tease for Charlie, which proved to be enormously funny.

The movie remained true to the book—a disappointment for some, like me, who knew how the saga would end and found themselves utterly frustrated after reading the last book. However, the fight scene in the movie was extraordinary, complete with head-ripping, unique camera angles, and it even wrought a few screams from the audience as it ensued. But then came the moment when I wanted to drop everything I had and walk out of the theater: there had been no fight. Alice was merely showing Aro what could happen.

This a-ha moment caused a rise from the audience as well: most were shouting indignantly at the screen with raised fists. Because after those fifteen minutes of edge-of-your-seat thrill, it was only a dream?

I can understand what was going through producers’ minds when they created this scene: They want to see a bloodbath, but they also want a happy ending. The thing with filmmaking, however, is that you can’t do both. I could hardly pay attention to the rest of the movie because all of my emotion had been expended, and even Bella and Edward’s garish happy ending seemed childish to me after experiencing that vampire battle.

The truth is that most great movies of the past have deaths that stand for something and these tragic moments serve to wring emotion out of fans. Twilight lacked heroic deaths and its superficial ending was disappointing. We will never admit it, but we fans enjoy having our hearts ripped out, because it makes a series worth reading or watching.

Breaking Dawn – Part 2 was a significant improvement from previous films, and it truly isn’t the fault of producers that Meyer decided on this terrible ending for her saga. But we can all agree on this: at long last, this is the end of Twilight, and these heated vampire-versus-werewolf disputes can finally be put to rest—for good.