“Twilight,” written by Stephanie Meyer, is a fantasy series that covers a complicated romance between a vampire and a human. Bella Swan, the main character, is a shy, clumsy girl. After moving from her mother’s home in Phoenix, Arizona, to live with her father, Charlie, in Forks, Washington, she meets the mysterious Edward Cullen at school. Both Bella and Edward are intrigued by each other as soon as they meet, and as the series continues, their love begins to unfold, but is complicated by Edward being a vampire and Bella being human. Shortly after the publication of the last book, the series was adapted to the screen. The movies go in order from “Twilight,” “New Moon,” “Eclipse,” “Breaking Dawn: Part 1,” and concludes with “Breaking Dawn: Part 2.” While one must watch the films in order for the story to make sense, not all of the films were created equally. Starting with the worst…

“Breaking Dawn: Part 1,” the fourth movie in the series, has been rated the worst out of all of the movies with a 25% Tomatometer and a 60% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. This movie continues the love story of Bella, Edward, and their wedding. After their wedding, Bella plans on spending her honeymoon as a human, which causes a problem to arise when she finds out she is pregnant, and the child is growing at an inhuman rate. This pregnancy then creates a problem between the vampires and werewolves of Forks due to the unknown and potentially dangerous hybrid that will be born.

On Rotten Tomatoes, reviewer Debbie Lynn Elias says, “The fans, the story, and the Twilight franchise deserve better.”

Sean Collier, another movie reviewer agrees with Debbie and says, “If I could explain [Breaking Dawn] in a way that would make it less weird, I would, but there is no amount of extra explanation that achieves that goal.”

“Eclipse” is the third movie in the series, and is rated the second worst. This movie starts with numerous murders in Seattle, and another vampire, Victoria, introduced in the first Twilight movie, is out for revenge on Bella and Edward. One of the main plot points in this film is that Bella needs to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob. 

Alexa Vega, a top critic on Rotten Tomatoes, says, “I wanted terrible/AWESOME and all we got was painfully terrible. I am upset.” 

Another Rotten Tomatoes top critic, Crystal Erickson, also agrees with Alexa, saying, “Not terrible/awesome like the first two films, which I really enjoyed. This was just plain terrible.” 

Fans seemed to be disappointed that “Eclipse” did not have the same campy feeling as the saga’s predecessors, which have been deemed as cult classics. Although “Eclipse” is rated better than “Breaking Dawn: Part 1,” the reviews for “Eclipse” are much worse. 

“New Moon,” the second movie in the series, is in the middle of the pack – not the best, but also not the worst. “New Moon” is rated 28% on the Tomatometer and 61% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. This movie covers more of the friendship between Bella and Jacob due to Edward abruptly leaving Forks. Problems arise later on in this movie due to werewolves and vampires being ancient enemies, and even though they have a treaty, they are still distrustful of each other. There is also a love triangle that develops in this movie: Jacob Black, a werewolf, also falls in love with Bella. Jacob and Edward have their differences from each other, and their dislike for each other will be shown more as the movies continue. 

Mattie Lucas, a critic for Rotten Tomatoes, says, “Two hours and 10 minutes of rambling, pointless drivel, where nothing of any real interest happens.” 

Others agree with Mattie, but some agree with Keith Cohan, another critic for Rotten Tomatoes, when he says, “The sequel will not disappoint the avid readers of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling four-book series or the rabid fan base of women, especially teenage girls. The strong storytelling keeps you engaged even if you have not read the book.” 

“Breaking Dawn: Part 2” is the last movie in the series and is also rated the second-best movie with a 49% Tomatometer and a 70% Audience Score. This last movie continues the story of Bella and Edward – now parents of their child, Renesmee – and Bella becoming a vampire. Viewers learn that Renesmee and Bella both have gifts of their own. Bella can shield others to protect them, and Renesmee can share her thoughts with people just by touching them. Both of their gifts are very important in this movie. We also see everything returning to peace between the groups of vampires and werewolves. 

Jolene Mendez, a reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes, says, “Breaking Dawn: Part 2” offers readers and moviegoers the ending they hoped for. The only problem is that most will be asking for more and wishing it was not the final chapter.” 

Richard Roeper, a top critic for Rotten Tomatoes, agrees with Jolene: “The fifth and final entry in the historically successful ‘Twilight’ franchise is the most self-aware and in some ways the most entertaining.”

Lastly, “Twilight,” the first movie in the series, has the highest rating of the franchise, with a 49% Tomatometer and a 72% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. The first movie in the “Twilight” series begins with the love story between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. In the “Twilight” universe, many vampires are gifted with abilities after being turned; Edward has the gift of reading minds, but when he meets Bella, he finds that he can’t read her mind for an unknown reason that comes into play later in the series. Edward becomes more fascinated with Bella because his gift doesn’t work for her. 

There are mixed emotions about how viewers felt about the movie. For example, in Rotten Tomatoes reviews, Ben Lyons, a top critic, says, “Unfortunately, it just didn’t work.”

However, Will Lawrence, another top critic, says, “A sometimes girlie swirl of obsession that will delight fans, this faithful adaptation is after teenage blood, and will most likely hit a box office artery.” 

While each movie has faced both praise and criticism, there is no doubt that “The Twilight Saga” has made an impact on the fantasy romance genre in both literature and film.