Like every other pre-teen in 2008, I fell hard for The Twilight Saga. In fact, “Twilight” may have been my sexual awakening…more on that some other time. For now, I decided to rewatch the blockbusters in 2019 to see if they still hold up, or if they ever did. TWILIGHT (2008) I remember watching the first film in the Twilight Saga pretty vividly. I was 12 at the time and I was homeschooled. In May the year before (2008), the librarian in my elementary school told her students about Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. She was in love with this book and I didn’t think much of it…at the time. However, somewhere between the time that the I first heard about this book and I saw the first film on DVD (edited of course because PG-13 was too vulgar for me at the time) my aunt also fell in love with the series and I read anything my aunt read. So, I started reading the first book and I watched the movie on DVD in a “cleanflix” format at my Grandma’s house. I cried. I didn’t know anything about love at the time but this seemed pretty good to me. Immediately I wanted to read the rest of the books. (More on that later.) THE REWATCH Now, it’s 2019. I have lived through the “Twilight pandemonium” and I have matured. I now watch comic book movies. Much classier. However, I was curious if the films are actually as good as I remember them or if my hormone-driven body had other things at play that makes them seem better than they actually were. Here goes: First off, this film goes 100 to 0 in the first few minutes. Bella is like, "I haven't thought much about how I would die" and I’m like, “holy crap, moody much?” and then she follows that up with. “I'm going to spend some time with my dad. It's going to be great…I think." Man, that was whiplash from how nonchalantly she said both of those to things. The rest of the movie is just repeatedly, awkward introduction to boring character and then awkward dialogue with said character. Repeat. Twilight is like a teen drama with added NBC procedural. It works, especially for the time, but now, it's a lot harder to watch. I guess all those CW shows like Riverdale stems from the phenomenon. However, Twilight has way too much high school in the first part. I’m sure it alienates audiences immediately because of this. However, 25 minutes in and I don’t hate the film. It seems like an old dream I once had. The soundtrack is severely underused in this film. All the films have great soundtracks but this one is underutilized. The score is phenomenal too. Carter Burwell does a great job with this film and the last two. Once you get 30 minutes into the film the vampire stuff actually begins, so that’s a plus. Side note: I'm trying to watch this with me spouse. My goal was to change their mind about the film, but it ultimately has just weakened the experience for me. The last time I watched these films was probably 2011. One great thing, there are a lot of cool/notable quotes that have been lifted out of this series. Any time I see a lion or a lamb I still think about Twilight. Let’s be honest, how long will it be until this series gets a remake? It’s definitely going to happen. Okay, I am 45 minutes in, and this film is a lot slower than I remember. There’s a time paradox that exists where this film and Umbrella Academy switched places and people would hate that show and love this. I swear, it’s true. Here’s some positive notes: That baseball scene is still pretty cool. The film gives plenty of room for growth for every character. The ending is intense and I think the first installment was trying to be more of an indie vampire film that happened to have romance rather than the reverse. The bleak, grey cinematography doesn’t hold up well when compared to the warm hues of the rest of the series. None of the stakes feel quite as high as they do in this film at the end. Yet, this has the lowest stakes when compared to the Volturi’s presence in the other films. The ending was one of the biggest “oh my god” moments I’ve had in a film because my prepubescent brain couldn’t handle the idea that Victoria was a looming threat for a sequel. This was the same year as Iron Man and I hadn’t learned about end credit scenes yet. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON (2009) Okay, let’s talk some more about the books and my childhood. I remember reading New Moon in a hospital waiting room when I was 12 in 2009. I can’t remember why we were in this waiting room, but we were, and I was reading this book. See, my parents found out about the sex scenes in the final book and I was told I couldn’t read that book until I was older. They said if I finished the other three books, I could then read that one. Well, here I am Summer of 2009 finishing the second book and starting the third. My parents underestimated my need to read about sex, I guess. Anyways, THE REWATCH: So, the director changed and now we live in a much more colorful Romeo + Juliet inspired world. This one takes the gold to a new level. The movie starts with that same climactic ending being hinted at in the beginning like the first film. The parallels are pretty cool. Not to mention, this film gives us that cool opening logo where the moon turns into the name of the movie. She’s 18...she thinks she's old....I remember that being old to me when I was 12. Man, the times have changed. I’m just going to say it now, New Moon has my favorite soundtrack, which is hard because I love them all. At this point in the saga, it feels like the series has grown and knows what it is, unlike the first film. The Volturi is still one of the coolest parts of the series and I love how Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning bring these characters to life. Fanning is an underrated actress and she deserves more work. New Moon used to be my favorite movie, but I guess I've grown out of that sad stage of my life. Shame. That said, there are four or five perfect montages in this film that I still love. In fact, this entire film is just a vampire version of Romeo and Juliet. If it's good enough for Shakespeare, Twilight shouldn't be mocked. These are good films, especially visually. I’m not sure if the story and acting is that great, but ultimately, the films are good. I’m not going to change my mind. Side note: That proposal and the "gasp" cutting to credits has always been weird to me. Good films, not perfect. Like, a 4 out of 10 stars but that’s still acceptable to me, especially when I am so emotionally attached. THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE (2010) This book I read in October 2009. I was determined to get through all of them before the next movie. THE REWATCH: Yet another director change. This film takes the cinematography back to black, but it’s a much more beautiful black than the darkness of the first film. This movie tries to expound on the lore and has a theme to tell. Cinematography is still beautiful. Still perfect soundtracks. Bryce Dallas Howard is the best change of all. I love all the quotes. THIS GOD DAMN SCORE IS PERFECTTTRTR. After the last movie, I forgot the Bella is still in high school. But she’s graduating, yay… Graduation makes this series feel so much more mature. I don’t feel ashamed to like this installment because it seems like a real movie, not a teen blockbuster. There’s a lot of dialogue. I think that's why guys don’t like these films. That said, Victoria's newborn army is fascinating and there is a real horror element that we haven’t seen before. The third film develops the characters really well yet there is still that obligatory big end battle scene. Let’s talk about the theme: The director uses white in a really powerful, beautiful way. The white and the blood must represent Bella’s virginity. Sure, this may be silly to some, but to me, it is really impactful for the story as a whole. It shows the look of these films as they are growing. THE TWILIGHT SAGA BREAKING DAWN PART 1 & PART 2 (2011-2012) Alright, so I eventually read the sex scenes, and unlike my parents, I wasn’t all hot and heavy about them. In fact, I think I was really mature. I was like, “oh cool, they are married and in love. That’s nice,” and then I moved on. I was a pretty cool 12-year-old and by the time my “Twilight Fever” had officially taken hold, I was also starting to realize that I was gay. In fact, my first sexual dream was about Robert Pattinson. Then I discovered his film Little Ashes and I had moved on to bigger and more interesting sex scenes than what Twilight was doing. Sorry, Mom. THE REWATCH(ES) Bill Condon has a unique style and he brings that to these films. That cake made from dead bodies is still great horror and I wish more people remembered that over the awful CGI baby. Who would have thought Anna Kendrick would become the biggest star out of this franchise? With Pitch Perfect coming out that same year, she took no time to shed her Twilight persona. I've always been jealous of that wedding and the sex scenes are done so well. I wanted my life to turn out like that, but my wedding was ridiculous and sex is messy. The birth scene is still really cool and really scary, I imagine more terrifying for a woman. Why couldn't they use a real baby...? You nicknamed my daughter after the Lochness monster? Even back then I knew this was a stupid line. Now, it was even worse. The ending battle is one of the most WTF moments I've ever had in a theater. I was so confused about what was happening. The very ending scene and the credits that followed will always be the most beautiful credit sequence ending a saga, ever. CONCLUSION Yeah, I know that normally these rewatches are more reflective, but there’s not a lot of meat on Twilight’s bones and I didn’t want to make fun of it. It is still a film saga that I hold close to my heart because of who I was in my life when I first watched it. [email protected] @GrahamWoodMedia
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Erick L. Graham Wood
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