Category: Horror - Horror / Sci-Fi / Fantasy - Movie - Science Fiction
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DVD Underworld (Widescreen Special Edition)
Blade meets The Crow and The Matrix in Underworld, a hybrid thriller that rewrites the rulebook on werewolves and vampires. It's a "cuisinart" movie (blend a lot of familiar ideas and hope something interesting happens) in which immortal vampire "death dealers" wage an ancient war against "Lycans" (werewolves), who've got centuries of revenge--and some rather ambitious genetic experiments--on their lycanthropic agenda. Given his preoccupation with gloomy architecture (mostly filmed in Budapest, Hungary), frenetic mayhem and gothic costuming, it's no surprise that first-time director Len Wiseman gained experience in TV commercials and the art departments of Godzilla, Men in Black, and Independence Day. His work is all surface, no substance, filled with derivative, grand-scale action as conflicted vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale, who later became engaged to Wiseman) struggles to rescue an ill-fated human (Scott Speedman) from Lycan transformation. It's great looking all the way, and a guaranteed treat for horror buffs, who will eagerly dissect its many strengths and weaknesses. --Jeff Shannon
Review(s): DVD Underworld (Widescreen Special Edition)
Visually Beautiful, with a Flawed Plot
Visually, this movie is perfection. The crisp clearness of the movie is the high point of "Underworld", as well as Kate Beckinsale as vampire "death-dealer" Selene. Dark, vivid, and brooding, the imagery in this film is top notch. The story was good as well, though--unlike the imagery--was flawed.
Selene is a believable character, and I rooted for her throughout the film. The world she's thrown into is interesting, as well as intriguing. Even the werewolf/vampire rivalry is riveting. However, how is Master Vampire Victor allowed to be a Master Vampire is his powers hardly rival a more recently-sired Vampire? I have to add though, that Bill Nighy did a stupendous job as Victor, using his menacing, calculated voice.
Back to the grips: Why do some vampires/werewolves die by regular gunshots, but some just pull them out of their chest and get back up? Why do some vampire need to be hit with ultra-violet bullets, but some just--again--die by regular gunshots? A lot of plot devices thrown in the movie simply don't make sense with the world the writers and directors have established but it is an all in all enjoyable movie.
Oh, and before I bow out. One more problem. In the beginning, this is said by Selene: "Our war has waged for centuries, unseen by human eyes. But all that is about to change." Nothing to that effect happens. A few humans are killed, but nothing out of the ordinary. Just another inconsistency.
8/10
Actually pretty good!
A few years ago I caught a late-night "documentary" about vampires and werewolves. I use inverted commas because, as it turned out, it was not so much a documentary as a wanna-be Blair Witch-style promo for Underworld. It was slick, cheesy, manipulative and deceptive, and it gave me a low opinion of Underworld, which I decided I would never bother to see.
Flash-forward a few years: I see a cheap double set of Underworld and Underworld Evolution, and, being in the mood for something spectacular and stupid, I buy it. I get more than I bargain for. While Underworld doesn't pretend to be anything more than a "ride", it's the best movie of this type that I've seen in a while. It doesn't treat the audience like kids, it has a unique vision well executed, and it has some fine performances (Michael Sheen in particular is a nice find).
Although it is not a straight rip-off, it is not unfair to describe Underworld as "Matrix with werewolves and vampires". They do have similar looks (bluish tinge instead of green), lots of long black leather coats, and gunfights with rubble flying everywhere. But the setting and story are quite different, and there is less CGI. (Unfortunately, like the Matrix, the sequel is ruined by a bad script.)
The story is an interesting update on the horror archetypes, with emphasis more on action than horror. (The special bullets are a surprisingly neat idea.) There are a couple of weak performances on the vampire side, but Beckinsale, Nighy and Sheen are good, and Speedman is okay in a part which doesn't have much depth written into it. There are a couple of misjudgements in the direction of the performances, but these are small things that most people won't notice, and it's still damned impressive for a first-time director.
One thing, and it's not really a complaint, more a question of accuracy in advertising: The vampires aren't particularly "vampiry" - you know, that whole "living on human blood" thing. It would hardly affect the movie if they were called Atlanteans, say, or Illuminati, instead of vampires. This isn't really a negative, but it may annoy people who expect to see traditional vampires in this film.
Plenty of teeth and a darn hot vamp
I have been watching horror movies for many moons now. I know the classics and the bottom-feeders. I have written on film, created screenplays and even made a few short flicks (as well as having three produced plays to my credit). I have no problem saying UNDERWORLD is the best horror hybrid ever made, and close to the best vampire movie of all time. It is the fact of the cross-pollination between genres and subgenres that makes this franchise unique. Most of all, the vampire/werewolf legends are updated to our times with plenty of that old world feeling.
Kate Beckinsale is amazing as the death-dealer Selene. She is incredibly hot while being savage and sympathetic. Compare her turn in this movie to VAN HELSING and see the difference between acting and actually LIVING the character. She can suck my neck any time!
The direction was crisp and the action sequences splendid. The back story is interesting (unfortunately it dominated the sequel) and the production dark and fantastical.
For those who don't accept vampires and werewolves with guns in hand, welcome to the 21st century! This ain't your great-grandma's monster fest! Why wouldn't such creatures of the night use the best available weaponry? I simply loved the use of high technology by such fiends. There's nothing more sexy than a genre flick babe with a gun? How about an ultravixen vamp with a high-powered rifle (or crossbow, even)? Love it!
I am told there may be another film to complete a trilogy. My request is that the creators emphasize Selene (forget her freakish boyfriend, kill him off in the opening sequence), and take it into the future, not the past. Vampire movies have existed in the moldy depths of time for too long. UNDERWORLD needs the new, sleek, ultraviolet light of cyberia.
Related DVD's Underworld (Widescreen Special Edition)
Better action, a bit of sex, and gorier R-rated violence make Underworld: Evolution a reasonably satisfying sequel to 2003's surprise hit Underworld. Looking stunning as ever in her black leather battle gear, Kate Beckinsale is every goth guy's fantasy as Selene, the vampire "death dealer" who's now fighting to stop the release of the original "Lycan" werewolf, William (Brian Steele) from the prison that's held him for centuries. As we learn from the film's action-packed prologue, William and his brother Marcus (Tony Curran) began the bloodline of vampires and werewolves, and after witnessing centuries of warfare between them, their immortal father Corvinus (Derek Jacobi) now seeks Selene and the human vampire/lycan hybrid Michael (Scott Speedman) to put an end to the war... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Len Wiseman DVD Release Date: Released the 06 June 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Like a roller coaster ready to fly off its rails, Van Helsing rockets to maximum velocity and never slows down. Having earned blockbuster clout with The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, writer-director Stephen Sommers once again plunders Universal's monster vault and pulls out all the stops for this mammoth $148-million action-adventure-horror-comedy, which opens (sans credits) with a terrific black-and-white prologue that pays homage to the Universal horror classics that inspired it. The plot pits legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) against Dracula (the deliciously campy Richard Roxburgh), his deadly blood-sucking brides, and the Wolfman (Will Kemp) in a two-hour parade of outstanding special effects (980 in all) that turn Sommers' juvenile plot... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Hugh Jackman - Kate Beckinsale - Richard Roxburgh - Shuler Hensley - Will Kemp Director(s): Stephen Sommers DVD Release Date: Released the 19 October 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The fourth entry in the Harry Potter saga could be retitled Fast Times at Hogwarts, where finding a date to the winter ball is nearly as terrifying as worrying about Lord Voldemort's return. Thus, the young wizards' entry into puberty (and discovery of the opposite sex) opens up a rich mining field to balance out the dark content in the fourth movie (and the stories are only going to get darker). Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) handily takes the directing reins and eases his young cast through awkward growth spurts into true young actors. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe, more sure of himself) has his first girl crush on fellow student Cho Chang (Katie Leung), and has his first big fight with best bud Ron (Rupert Grint). Meanwhile, Ron's underlying romantic tension with... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Mike Newell DVD Release Date: Released the 07 March 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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"Remember, remember the fifth of November," for on this day, in 2020, the minds of the masses shall be set free. So says code-name V (Hugo Weaving), a man on a mission to shake society out of its blank complacent stares in the film V for Vendetta. His tactics, however, are a bit revolutionary, to say the least. The world in which V lives is very similar to Orwell's totalitarian dystopia in 1984: after years of various wars, England is now under "big brother" Chancellor Adam Sutler (played by John Hurt, who played Winston Smith in the movie 1984), whose party uses force and fear to run the nation. After they gained power, minorities and political dissenters were rounded up and removed; artistic and unacceptable religious works were confiscated. Cameras and microphones are... More Info about this DVD Director(s): James McTeigue DVD Release Date: Released the 01 August 2006 Usually ships in 24 hours
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