5. Jacob's Transformation Into A Werewolf - Twilight
The Plot: A vacuous vampire, ancient and all-powerful decides that he's in love with a young girl simply because he can't read her mind. She's torn between him and a werewolf, before deciding that she loves him: she has his child, her werewolf ex-suitor falls in love with her newborn child, and she becomes a vampire. It's a strange turn of events, if nothing else. That's without mentioning the fact that the films take us for granted: why should we care about Edward and Bella if you don't give us reason to? It's one thing to blatantly aim a franchise at a teenage audience, but to patronise them is another thing. The entire world has a bone to pick with Twilight, but it could've been so much more interesting had it have focussed on Jacob, the werewolf, and not Bella. The Subplot: Jacob is a young Native American boy, part of a tribe, who discovers that he has abnormal abilities. The films suppress this development, in favour of giving him a more brooding tone; if there's one thing cinema should have learned from superhero movies though, it's that coming to terms with your powers can make for the most interesting scenes. Jacob discovering that he's a werewolf is far more compelling a tale than an accidental romance; it requires drawing on actual emotions, developing his character, and his werewolf tribe could provide an interesting supporting cast. Of course, the bit about Jacob falling in love with a child could be scrapped. So could the following four sequels. There was an actual progression hidden somewhere in the Twilight franchise. Honest.
