Twilight: New Moon is the second movie in the franchise and deals with the repercussions on Bella when Edward decides to leave Forks. The 2009 sequel has a few interesting elements, with Edward being a hallucination for Bella throughout much of the film, Jacob finally becoming a werewolf, as well as the introduction of the Volturi. Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 was also badly rated by critics, the fourth movie in the franchise. The film maintains a different focus, which is somewhat controversial, with the newlyweds Bella and Edward dealing with a sudden impossible pregnancy.

While most fans of the franchise rated the first and last Twilight movies as the best, the other films maintain steady scores. However, critics seemingly disliked the more romance-based stories of the vampire saga as the three highest-rated Twilight films via Tomatometer all have some elements of action to them. Twilight gears up for James’ (Cam Gigandet) fight, Eclipse has a battle with Victoria (Bryce Dallas Howard) and the newborns, and Breaking Dawn – Part 2 delivers a large-scale skirmish for its conclusion, therefore demonstrating that critics disliked the “brooding” and slow romance stories and preferred the franchise’s action.

Twilight Could Have Been An Action-Fantasy Franchise Instead

The Saga Would’ve Been A More Mainstream Success

According to Rotten Tomatoes data, if Twilight had focused more on fighting and developing its interesting world instead of its small-scale romance plot, the franchise may have seen more mainstream success, reversing critical opinion. Twilight‘s romance storyline somewhat limits its target audience, despite its popularity. So, if Twilight had shifted its focus, the saga could have potentially become one of the best action-fantasy movie franchises of the 2010s.

While Twilight‘s visual effects were nowhere near the level of other blockbuster movies at the time — New Moon and James Cameron’s Avatar were released in the same year — the franchise’s fight scenes are dynamic, and the CGI isn’t always as bad as Renesmee (Mackenzie Foy) suggests. In fact, Twilight‘s fight scenes demonstrate real potential for the saga as they offer an enjoyable level of action amidst the romantic plot. Therefore, it’s not hard to see why critics favored Twilight‘s more action-based movies, due to their brilliant execution, and I could definitely see it as a major action-fantasy franchise.

Why The Twilight Saga Still Works Better As A Romance

Twilight’s “Bookish Tone” Is Why It’s So Great

However, there’s a reason why the franchise was a historical box office success, and why Twilight is considered one of the best romantic vampire movies despite critical reviews. Book-to-movie adaptations are always a challenge. Yet, the Twilight saga did its best to mimic the tone of the books, accurately reflecting the romance (regardless of how “toxic” Bella and Edward’s relationship was in retrospect), even including Bella’s narrations of events. This devotion to book accuracy is why Twilight worked, especially for teen audiences, and why the fan-favorite franchise holds up, despite its goofs, even today.

While a Twilight action-fantasy franchise would have been interesting, and may have even beaten its $3 billion box office earnings, making it more accessible to a wider audience, the saga still works better as a romance. Ultimately, Twilight is a book adaptation and a well-loved one at that. While the Twilight movies made a lot of changes to the books, they are fairly faithful, due to Stephenie Meyer’s involvement. Therefore, the things that critics disliked, like the franchise’s penchant for a slow-moving plot, were actually the same elements that book fans enjoyed about Twilight‘s movies.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes