Ranking the Twilight Saga: Which Movie Comes Out on Top?

The “Twilight” movies, while undeniably entertaining, are often seen as melodramatic and whimsical, aimed primarily at a teenage audience. Nevertheless, even if your high school days are behind you, there’s an undeniable allure to these films, which take the concept of “forbidden love” to fantastical and sometimes absurd extremes. So, how do the movies in this saga stack up? Which ones shine, and which fall short? As you read on, be prepared for spoilers if you’re yet to experience the “Twilight” saga!

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Michael Sheen
Director: Bill Condon
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 115 minutes
Where to watch: HBO Max

The remainder of the movie, despite its lack of conflict, fails to capture much excitement. Following the events of “Breaking Dawn – Part 1,” Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) has finally transformed into a vampire, joining the Cullen clan. Together with Edward and their half-human, half-vampire daughter Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), Bella spends her time hunting with her husband and engaging in arm-wrestling matches with her super-strong brother-in-law Emmett (Kellan Lutz). While “Twilight” fans anticipated a joyful conclusion, did it have to be so… uneventful?

A humongous structural problem with the second half of the last book in Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series, “Breaking Dawn,” is it doesn’t have a massive battle in its final act; instead, Edward Cullen’s (Robert Pattinson) adopted vampire sister Alice (Ashley Greene) has a vision of a battle that could happen, but doesn’t. The movie that adapts this back half, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” actually shows us the extremely cool battle that might have been, including a heartbreaking moment where the Cullen family patriarch Carlisle (Peter Facinelli) gets his head ripped off by an enemy vampire. None of it’s real, though; Alice communicates it, via her visions, to the ancient and evil Aro (Michael Sheen), and everyone just sort of goes home.

The rest of the movie, non-conflict aside, isn’t really much more interesting. After the events of “Breaking Dawn – Part 1,” which we’ll return to in just a moment, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is finally a vampire just like the rest of the Cullens, and alongside Edward and their half-human, half-vampire daughter Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy), and she spends her endless time hunting with her husband and having arm-wrestling contests with her super-strong vampire brother-in-law Emmett (Kellan Lutz). “Twilight” fans all knew that this story would get a true happy ending, but did it have to be so … dull?

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Director: Bill Condon
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 117 minutes
Where to watch: HBO Max

The biggest problem with “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2” is that it’s uneventful and boring; “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” isn’t boring, but it is extremely dumb. Finally, Edward and Bella tie the knot — directly after their high school graduation — which only means one thing to Bella: Edward will finally turn her into a vampire like he promised. (This whole situation is a metaphor for Bella losing her virginity, but the story also gets pretty literal about that whole thing when Edward and Bella consummate their marriage on their honeymoon, despite Edward’s understandable reservations about his superhuman strength.) Here’s the problem: after literally one night of married bliss, Bella realizes she’s pregnant, and Edward panics, hauls her home from the honeymoon, and alerts his doctor “dad” Carlisle that they have a huge problem.

We then learn that vampires are not supposed to impregnate humans (and no, we don’t actually ever learn how that’s possible either) because it can result in a half-human, half-vampire baby, a creature forbidden by vampiric law. As the baby grows, Bella gets sicker and sicker and resorts to drinking blood for sustenance; meanwhile, her best friend and the third part of the franchise’s love triangle, werewolf Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), grows increasingly concerned that the baby will kill Bella before she can give birth. He’s half right — the movie closes out on what can only be described as a “vampire C-section” performed by Edward himself, who bites the baby out before turning Bella — and while a lot of this is wild and exciting, it’s ridiculous even by this franchise’s standards.

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Director: David Slade
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 123 minutes
Where to watch: HBO Max

Every young adult romance series needs a love triangle, and in the third movie in the “Twilight Saga,” subtitled “Eclipse,” that geometric shape forms thanks to Bella, Edward, and Jacob. As “newborn” vampires — meaning recently-turned vampires who are stronger, more vicious than older vampires, and absolutely starving for human blood — descend upon Seattle and threaten the lifestyle of the “vegetarian” Cullens who survive on animal blood, Bella finds herself in a conflict of her own. Will she stay with the handsome, sparkly, century-old vampire Edward, or will she hook up with the hunky, always-warm werewolf Jacob, whose Native tribe, the Quileutes, are natural enemies to the Cullens and all other vampires?

Here’s the issue with “Eclipse” — there’s never really any suspense about who Bella’s going to pick. She’s literally obsessed with Edward, and Jacob never really has a shot. Still, the movie does its best to create some believable push and pull — notably, the scene where the trio is camping on a frozen peak and Jacob, keeping Bella warm and alive with his body heat, gets to utter the immortal line “I’m hotter than you” — and while it’s not as absurd or dour as either of the “Breaking Dawn” movies, it lands firmly in the middle of the pack. (Also, the newborns get defeated pretty easily, so that conflict doesn’t really work either.)

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 121 minutes
Where to watch: HBO Max

The first-ever “Twilight” movie set the standard for all the ones that followed, and honestly? It did a great job! Under the direction of Catherine Hardwicke, an independent director who made a name for herself with the gritty teen drama “Thirteen” — which co-starred Ashley Greene, who reunited with Hardwicke as Alice Cullen for the “Twilight” film franchise — the first “Twilight” film opens as Bella moves from sunny Arizona to rainy Forks, Washington to live with her estranged dad Charlie (Billy Burke). After starting her tenure at Forks High School, Bella finds herself fascinated by the pale, closed-off Cullen family, who famously never interact with the other students; that changes when Edward takes special notice of Bella and even saves her from the path of an oncoming car in the school parking lot.

Once we get the big reveal out of the way — Edward and his family are ageless vampires — the movie gets to have a little more fun with the material. From Edward’s infamous instructions to Bella as he takes her, piggyback, through the woods (“Hold on tight, spider monkey”) to the fully ridiculous baseball game the Cullens play with Bella, “Twilight” keeps its story grounded and gives into its silliest impulses at the same time, which is just an impressive feat for Hardwicke to successfully pull off. Still, it’s not the best … because the best movie in the “Twilight” series manages to turn one of its worst books into something actually special.

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Director: Chris Weitz
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 130 minutes
Where to watch: HBO Max

“New Moon,” the second book in the “Twilight” novel series, can be tough to get through … but through sheer force of will, director Chris Weitz managed to adapt it into a movie that’s not only watchable, but actually really good. As the movie kicks off, Edward and Bella are officially dating, and Bella is stressed about turning 18 — because even if Edward does eventually turn her into a vampire, she’ll always be older than he is — when the Cullens throw her a birthday party. After Bella gets accidentally hurt at the party and cuts her forearm, the youngest Cullen, Jasper (Jackson Rathbone), tries to kill and devour her … and after all of that drama, Edward breaks up with Bella and the Cullens move away abruptly.

In the book, when you flip its pages, it passes three months by simply … writing out the names of the months. Weitz’s best move in the movie, hands down, is crafting a montage showing Bella’s mental deterioration across those three months that feels incredibly gutting and real. Sure, the overarching plot of “New Moon” is patently dumb — Bella keeps seeking out near-death experiences to see visions of Edward and then has to go save him from committing a form of vampire seppuku that involves exposing himself to humans, which will get him executed by higher-ranking vampires — but it’s a well-made movie, and it turns a lackluster book into real cinematic fun. Plus, this is where we get to see the transformation of Jacob Black, who briefly appears in the first movie and then shows up fully ripped and ready to join the love triangle in “New Moon.”