Whether you love them or hate them, the “Twilight Saga” give off major fall vibes. I personally love rewatching them every year around this time. They are my autumn comfort movies, and I have formulated passionate opinions about each of the five movies in the franchise.
As for watching the movies, I believe conforming to release date order is the way to go. If you haven’t watched them yet, stop right now and go have a binging party.
Beware of spoilers in the rest of the article because this is my ranking of the Twilight movies from least to most favorite. Even though I love them all.
#5: “THE TWILIGHT SAGA: Breaking Dawn Part 1”
In the fourth movie, Bella and Edward graduate high school and get married shortly after. They have a beautiful outdoor ceremony at the Cullen family’s house in the forest surrounded by friends and family.
The couple then honeymoons at Edward’s private island retreat in South America where Bella becomes pregnant. The rest of the movie deals with Bella’s tumultuous pregnancy.
Bella and Edward’s wedding was magical, and I think anyone who wants an outdoor ceremony should take notes.
I also think the wedding scene was a nice transition for the franchise to move out of the high school setting and into Edward and Bella’s new life together. The montage of speeches made me laugh, too.
This movie has a slower pace than the others and focuses a lot on the emotional turmoil that goes with Bella’s pregnancy rather than action or fighting scenes.
It makes for an interesting watch when you’re fully invested in the lives of all the characters, but I think the other movies have a better mix of both action and character development.
While I love this movie, I have to rank it last because of how traumatized I was by the final scenes. I still get queasy when Bella’s back breaks and we have to watch as Edward, Jacob, Rosalie, and Alice perform the C-section.
#4: “THE TWILIGHT SAGA: Breaking Dawn Part 2”
In the final movie, Bella adjusts to life as a new vampire. She and Edward also delight in life as newlyweds and parents to their daughter Renesmee.
Things turn for the worse when the Volturi finds out the family has birthed a half-human, half-vampire baby, an incredible crime in the vampire community.
A huge vampire war ensues with the Volturi on one side and the Cullens and their allies of distant family members on the other.
Where Breaking Dawn Part 1 was a little lackluster in the action department, Breaking Dawn Part 2 makes up for it. All the vampires get to show their personal strengths and powers as they prepare to fight to the death.
The final battle scene provides such a plot twist, too, when Alice uses her powers to reveal to Aro exactly what would happen if they did engage in face-to-face combat as they planned.
I get teary at the final scene every time Bella and Edward reconnect at their old meeting spot in the woods, surrounded by spring flowers and reminisce on their life together so far.
#3: “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse”
Number three chronologically, Eclipse is also third in my rankings. Some might consider this placement controversial, but hear me out.
After the loss of her soulmate, James, in the first movie, evil vampire Victoria returns for payback. She creates an army of young, super-powerful vampires that she plans to set loose on the Cullen family.
Luckily, the Cullens are able to call on their neighbors, the werewolves, for help despite their history as blood enemies.
Some rankings place Eclipse lower because it doesn’t necessarily fit with the other movies and doesn’t progress the story in a meaningful way. Also, all of the new characters die by the end of the movie so viewers barely have time to sympathize with their stories and connect with them.
Personally, I like this movie a lot because of how it develops the love triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob.
In the scene on the mountain, I love how Jacob and Edward are able to talk things out and form an understanding with each other over their shared goal to protect Bella.
#2: “Twilight”
No notes.
From the low saturation and blue tint to the mystical Washington scenery and even Bella’s unforgettable character quirks, I absolutely love the original Twilight film.
I was still in elementary school when I watched Bella and Edward fall in love for the first time, but I’ll never forget the feeling.
I wanted to be Bella, the high school junior who moved from sunny Arizona to the misty and mysterious town of Forks, Washington. I could only dream of finding an Edward for myself, the self-loathing vampire who deems himself a monster but vows to protect Bella with every fiber of his being.
There are so many iconic and unforgettable scenes in the first Twilight movie that perfectly portray the indie, campy vibes.
I don’t know where we’d be as a society without the scenes of the Cullens playing baseball in the thunderstorm or Edward smelling Bella’s hair from across the room in biology class.
#1: “THE TWILIGHT SAGA: New Moon”
This movie might be second in the franchise, and much lower on a lot of lists, but it is always first in my heart.
Edward is largely absent from this movie, but that’s the only negative I have to say about it.
The plot focuses on Bella’s ability to cope without Edward in her life when he suddenly deserts her, even if he does think it’s for her benefit.
Without the love of her life, Bella falls into a deep depression. The scene of her wilting away in her bedroom, staring out the window as the seasons change around her is nothing short of masterful.
Her friendship with Jacob is also developed in this movie. While I never really thought that Jacob and Bella would have made a good couple, I believe their friendship is what kept Bella alive despite her reckless behavior.
We’re introduced to the Volturi in New Moon as well, the group of ultra-powerful vampires that rule over all other families and play an integral part in the rest of the franchise.
From the very beginning, when Edward leaves Bella in the woods, to the very end, when they reconnect in Italy as Bella runs to embrace Edward and save him from self-destruction, this movie is fraught with emotion.
I’d be hard-pressed to name a movie that makes me feel quite as intensely as New Moon.
Whether it’s fans who have read the books, watched the movies and deep-dived into the lore and history or critics who think the movies are too silly to sit through, the Twilight franchise has left a powerful and far-reaching impact.
Though Robert Pattinson despises his involvement with Twilight, and Anna Kendrick often forgets she was even in the movies, I surely hold a different opinion.
I love these movies. In fact, I think it’s just about time for me to sit down with a big bowl of popcorn and watch them all straight through.