Why The Twilight Saga film franchise mattered, what it accomplished, and why its legacy is ultimately a positive one.

In just a month, The Twilight Saga film franchise will come to an end.  Oh sure we may see spin-offs, reboots (probably in a different medium) and/or quasi-sequels in some form in another, but the five-part Edward/Bella saga will come to its apparent climax.  We can argue that few if any of the entries (including the unseen final chapter) were any good.  We can argue their morality and/or philosophy and debate what (mixed) messages the core audience took from the series as a whole.  But one cannot deny the cultural impact of the series.  Of all the countless fantasy films to follow in the wake of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, it is the only one of its ilk to actually make it past a second entry beyond The Chronicles of Narnia.  Heck, aside from the Aslan fables and the yet-unreleased second chapters in The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson, it is the only post-Potter/LOTR fantasy-lit series to even get a second chapter. But more than sheer staying power, The Twilight Saga was important in a number of ways, most of them actually net-positive. In the end, I firmly believe that the film industry is a better place because The Twilight Saga existed and flourished.

Don't think, just run! Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part II gets a goofy but charmingly dumb poster.

Umm, I guess they are all going for a quick jog.  And I'd make the joke that "Edward, Jacob, and Bella are jogging right at *you*!", but this is the rare tent-pole franchise of the last three years to never go the 3D route (and kudos to Summit for that).  Yes, this is a silly poster, which is fitting for the end of a rather silly series that I have a certain fondness for.  I have an essay hidden away until closer before the film's release about why the Twilight Saga was actually a worthwhile and important franchise, but that can wait.  For now, let us feast our eyes on the almost courageously goofy one-sheet artwork, as well as the 'epic finale that will live forever' tagline that is both too wordy and too late.  This isn't Return of the King or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II.  This is a series finale that apparently climaxes with a battle about the same scale as the 'lets all kill each other in the snow' smack-down that closed The Golden Compass.  Still, in an era with any number of would-be Potter pretenders that never made it past their initial installments, The Twilight Saga should be proud that they made it to the end and got to summarily close the book on their own franchise in their own terms.  Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part II opens November 16th, 2012.  As always, we'll see, but I've come this far.

Scott Mendelson