Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga consists of four books that have shaped pop culture ever since it hit booksellers nationwide. Later, box offices erupted with cash the second that the Twilight franchise was released in theaters, revamped and ready for critiques. Over the years, fans have debated which of the five Twilight movies is the best and which is the worst. While all of the movies have their ups and downs, here is a personal ranking of the beloved vampire love story movies, with some biased information received from another dedicated Team Edward fanatic, Steph Stoyanova (12). She refers to the franchise as her “ favorite series, however, it is very flawed. It continually gives me a sense of nostalgia and has always been my comfort series.”
At a humble fifth-place ranking, New Moon surprised viewers with its mediocre remake in cinema, especially for being the sequel of such a blockbuster novel. First, Edward Cullen, fans’ favorite vampire boyfriend, is barely in the movie, already setting the bar low for the second installment of Twilight. Furthermore, Bella’s sweet childhood best friend, Jacob, has his entire character rewritten from being lovable to a self-absorbed hothead. However, even with its pitfalls, New Moon provided an interesting perspective on how grief affects adolescents as well as set up the love triangle plot for the rest of the franchise.
In fourth place, Breaking Dawn Part 1. We can all agree that the honeymoon scenes were amazing, giving fans everywhere the opportunity to see their Edward and Bella fantasy truly come to life. But, the honeymoon was the only good part of the movie and seemed to be a tiny part of the film as a whole. Enter Renesmee, the weird CGI human/vampire daughter of Bella and Edward, soon to be imprinted on by Jacob. The entire pregnancy felt like a plot-filler and was honestly gross to watch.
Ranked in third, we have Eclipse, which is also the third movie in the series. This movie introduced a fight preparation montage between the werewolves and the vampires that was epic and unifying and gave insight into Jasper Cullen, even though he was an infamous Confederate soldier. Eclipse also gave the adorable proposal scene that fans had been waiting for ever since the introduction of Edward.
Coming in as the runner-up, Breaking Dawn Part 2 was a satisfying end to the franchise. Bella was finally turned into a vampire after five movies worth of complaining about being mortal, a tense and well-created fight scene is depicted, and it ends on a cute vision of the Cullen family living happily ever after. While Renesmee still looked terrible, it's safe to say that this movie wasn’t.
Finally, at a well-deserved number one ranking, the original Twilight movie. The fan-favorite baseball scene is unforgettable and the soundtrack is the best in the series. The fast running nature of the vampires was hilarious and Bella was a bit annoying at first, but those are the only notable criticisms. All things considered, Twilight was the best movie of the franchise, both setting the tone for future movies in the series as well as giving a specific nostalgic feeling to anyone who watches it.
Fall is Twilight season, and I plan on spending it binge watching all five movies with Steph, enjoying all 607 minutes of it.
Comment below what you think! How would you rank the movies?