Romance · Fantasy · Drama · English

Twilight (2008) Review: Watch & Download Online

★ 7.0 / 10

Director	Catherine Hardwicke
Cast	Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Taylor Lautner, Cam Gigandet
Runtime	2h 1m
Released	21 November 2008
Music	Carter Burwell
Box office	$412 million

Watch the official trailer

Official trailer uploaded by The Twilight Saga.

Synopsis (spoiler-free)

Seventeen-year-old Bella Swan moves from sunny Phoenix to rainy Forks, Washington, and falls in love with Edward Cullen, a classmate who turns out to be a 108-year-old vampire — a romance that puts her in danger when a trio of nomadic vampires targets her.

Our detailed review

Story — 7.0/10

Adapted from Stephenie Meyer's 2005 novel by Melissa Rosenberg, Twilight is Romeo and Juliet with fangs: a human girl, a vampire boy, and a love that is literally dangerous. The plot is simple and the film knows it — the pleasures here are atmosphere and yearning, not twists. The third act, when the nomadic vampire James hunts Bella, finally gives the romance real stakes, and the film earns its tension by making you believe Bella would choose this danger.

Acting — 6.5/10

Kristen Stewart's Bella is all awkward silences and bitten lips — a performance critics mocked at the time and audiences understood instinctively. Robert Pattinson's Edward is brooding, tortured and funny in ways the film barely admits, and their chemistry is the whole engine. Billy Burke is warm and grounding as Charlie Swan, and Taylor Lautner, in his first appearance as Jacob Black, hints at the triangle to come. The Cullen family ensemble, led by Peter Facinelli, is enjoyably otherworldly.

Direction — 7.0/10

Catherine Hardwicke directs with a handheld, rain-soaked intimacy that no later Twilight film recaptured: Forks feels cold, green and real, and the film's visual language — grey skies, dense forest, pale skin against dark clothes — sells the romance better than any dialogue. The baseball scene, played to Muse's 'Supermassive Black Hole', remains a perfect piece of blockbuster staging. The budget shows in places, but the mood never breaks.

Music — 7.5/10

Carter Burwell's score is the film's secret weapon: a delicate 'Love Theme' that grows into 'Bella's Lullaby', played by Pattinson himself on piano, and a 'Predator Theme' that keeps the danger humming underneath the romance. Around it, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas built one of the great soundtracks of the decade — Paramore's 'Decode', Muse, Linkin Park — and the songs and score together made Twilight feel like a cultural moment, not just a movie.

What works

• Stewart and Pattinson's chemistry — the reason the saga worked.
• Hardwicke's rain-soaked, intimate Forks atmosphere.
• Carter Burwell's score and a era-defining soundtrack.
• A $412 million blockbuster that launched a five-film saga.

What doesn't work

• Critics were mixed (48% on Rotten Tomatoes) — the dialogue can be earnest to a fault.
• The pacing sags in the middle before the hunt begins.
• Some of the effects and the baseball-scene sheen have dated.
• Non-fans may find the earnestness hard to take seriously.

Rating breakdown

Where to Watch

Streams on Netflix in the US (since 1 October 2026), where it returned to the Top 10 — note it may leave the platform soon, so check before watching. Also available to rent or buy on Fandango and other digital stores.

You can also download it in the official Netflix app on your phone or tablet to watch offline legally while it is available — see our guide on how to download movies legally.

Streaming availability can vary by country. Please check your local streaming service for the latest information.

Box Office

One of the great opening weekends of its era: $69.6 million domestic on a $37 million budget, on the way to $412 million worldwide — more than eleven times its cost — and the launch of a five-film saga. Critics were mixed (48% on Rotten Tomatoes) but audiences disagreed (72% audience score), and the film became the most purchased DVD of 2009.

Source: Wikipedia, The Numbers. Figures are reported trade estimates as of October 2026 and may vary slightly between trackers.

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