Tonight at midnight is the opening of the latest movie in the Twilight Saga, Eclipse. This is the third movie of the four book series (the last book will be made into 2 movies). For those of you that don't know anything about the series, it is about this average girl, Bella, that falls in love with a boy, Edward, at her school. It turns out that Edward is a vampire, but that doesn't stop Bella from falling for him. Edward tries to tell Bella it won't work but she doesn't care. Bella has this family friend named Jacob. Jacob ends up falling for Bella. But of course Jacob turns out to be a werewolf and warns Bella of the dangers of Edward and vampires. Bella becomes torn between Jacob and Edward, but she knows she must make a decision.
Now I'm no expert on this series, I have read 3 of the 4 books and saw the first movie. I found the books to be enjoyable but nowhere near being masterpieces. They were easy to read and near the end of each book hard to put down. While reading them it's not hard to see why girls enjoy them so much. They are fairly mushy and deal a lot with Bella's feelings for both Edward and Jacob. I feel another aspect that may attract the females is the idea of forbidden love. The idea that Bella and Edward do love each other but know it may not work out because of Edward being a vampire. Another draw to the series may be the fact that Jacob and Edward will pretty much do anything they can to protect Bella and keep her from harms way.
Even if I did find the books to be enjoyable, the movies are a completely different monster. The first movie, Twilight, seems like it was rushed and made as cheaply as possible. The special effects in the movie are down right laughable. I remember sitting in the movie theater and laughing out loud when Bella and Edward are running through the forest and climbing up trees. It was so bad, you could find better effects in a made for TV Sci-Fi channel movie. Not only were the effects bad, but the acting was downright horrid. The books are emotional, you can feel the attraction, in the movies you wonder if they even like each other. There are no looks of desire and passion, just emptiness. I can't really comment on the second movie, New Moon, since I never saw it, but judging from reviews it is worse than the first movie. The reviews for the latest movie, Eclipse, have started rolling in and it appears that the consensus is that it is the best of the three movies, but not that great.
Even though the books are alright and some of the movies may be watchable, there is one thing you can't deny, Twilight is a world wide phenomenon. Everywhere you look you see Twilight this and Twilight that. Walk into any high school or middle school and Twilight is what you will hear the girls talking about. Walk down any magazine aisle in a grocery store and you will see pictures of Bella, Edward and Jacob on at least 50% of the covers. When you watch TV you will find ads asking whether you are on Team Edward or Team Jacob. Saturday Night Live is doing sketches making fun of Twilight. It's one of those things that has completely encompassed all of society. No matter who you talk to, someone has something to say about the series.
Whether you absolutely love Twilight or hate it with every bone in your body, you can't deny it's success. Will it still be a topic of conversation 15 years from now? Probably not, but it is the current sensation that you can't get around no matter how hard you try. If you are looking for a way better vampire movie based off a book see Let The Right One In. And guys if your girlfriend wants to see the movies, be lucky that they aren't as bad as movies like Valentine's Day.
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