The Twilight Saga
During this quarantine, my sister has taken it upon herself to watch all the epic movie series that I’ve been recommending to her for years. Series like all the Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She has inspired me to watch one of her favorite series that I’ve never seen before: Twilight. I think a lot of people have a preconceived notion that Twilight is just a cringey chick-flick with bad acting and shirtless vampires and werewolves, and yes, I admit, I am one of them. But, I also think it’s important to experience things yourself and come up with your own opinion instead of just accepting others’. So, as we make our way through the series, I thought I’d write down my thoughts on each.
Twilight (2008) – 3/5 stars – Ahh, the beginning. I have seen the first Twilight movie before because both my Mom and sister like it, but it’s been a solid 7 or 8 years since. I remember it being better back then, because watching it today, I think we all laughed more than we were supposed to. Between the cheesy special effects, stiff acting and awkward dialogue, this movie seemed more like a comedy than a dark romance.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) – 2/5 stars – Coming out only a year later, I thought New Moon was not as good as the first. In fact, this was my least favorite addition to the entire series. Although it was cool to learn more about the werewolves (I’ve always been more of a werewolf fan), I just thought the overall story was kind of weak. Because Edward left her to keep her safe, Bella becomes depressed and puts herself in life threatening situations to get a rush and see visions of him telling her to stop. Talk about an unhealthy relationship. To fill the void of Edward’s absence, she begins hanging out with Jacob, who matures into a werewolf and joins his pack. We learn more about the treaty between the werewolves and the Cullens, as well as about the Volturi, the ancient organization that creates the laws vampires must follow. Bella still wants to become a vampire and the only way Edward will do it is if she agrees to marry him. Let’s see what happens next.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) 4/5 stars – The third movie was much better than the second. It picks up after the first with Victoria building an army of newborn vampires to attack Bella as revenge for Edward killing her mate, James, in the first movie. I thought Eclipse would have been a much better sequel, but then I remembered that they needed the second movie to build Bella and Jacob’s relationship so there would be a love triangle in this one. But yeah, I thought the story was much better than the second film and there was a really cool fight scene with the Cullens and the werewolves working together to stop the newborn army.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011) – 3 ½ / 5 stars – My sister recommended just skipping this movie, but I wanted to experience the entire story and I’m glad we watched it. The first half of the movie was mostly about Bella and Edward’s wedding and honeymoon, which was just OK. The second part, however, focused more on Bella getting pregnant when no one knew it was even possible. When Jacob’s pack learned about this, they saw the baby as a threat and that the treaty was broken. Because of this, Jacob leaves the wolf pack and joins sides with the Cullens to help protect Bella and her young half-vampire, half-human baby.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012) – 4/5 stars – The finale of the saga, I thought Part 2 was a fitting end to the overall story. I liked this one because, at the beginning, we get to see the the vampire’s experience with improved strength, speed and eyesight through Bella’s eyes. After the speedy growth of their newly born daughter, Renesmee, she is mistaken for being a Young Immortal. One of the Volturi’s most important laws is to never turn a child into a vampire because they have no self-restraint and in the past, have slaughtered entire towns. When the Volturi learns of this child, they head to Forks to destroy the child and the Cullens for breaking the law. So the Cullens reach out and gather reinforcements from around the world to bear witness and help defend the family if it comes down to it. This movie definitely has the best fight scene of the entire series with all the Cullens, the Cullens allies and the werewolves outnumbered and against the Volturi. It was cool seeing the special powers some vampires had, such as Bella’s shield, a vampire who could control the elements, and one with electricity. Overall, I thought the special effects were done well showing the vampires’ and werewolves’ abilities. Although, the whole pulling the vampire’s heads off to kill them seemed a little silly to me, but I guess that’s one way to do it.
But, yeah. I’m glad I finally saw the whole series. I think Twilight has a reputation of being cringey because of the first movie, but they did get better as the series progressed, including the acting, special effects and story. Overall, it was an interesting story, with both the vampire and werewolf elements, and it added some new ideas into the genre. Now I have my own opinion on this series instead of just going off what other say, and with that it’s a mission accomplished.