Yar, you be here: Underworld (Widescreen Edition) > Customer Reviews

Underworld (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (73 - 75 of 127 Reviews)

Underwhelming
In UNDERWORLD, vampires and werewolves wage never-ending war on each other in and beneath a city perpetually cloaked in night. Now the wolves are stalking humans, in search of...something.

The trailer for this looked amazing. Even the film itself looked great. The lighting, the design, the actors and their clothes are all gorgeous. There's just no substance beneath it all. The characters are flat and there is not nearly enough story to fill out the two hour running time. Some of the acting is quite poor as well; Shane Brolly, who plays the current vampire lord, is particularly bad. I would have liked to have seen more of Sophia Myles as his hopeful first lady. Not only did she seem competent, but it would have added a much-needed subplot.

What there was of a story didn't make sense to me, although I can't say why without giving away what happens later in the film.

UNDERWORLD is less a horror film (it isn't ever scary) than a stylish action movie in horror dressing. People are executing incredible acrobatic displays all over the place and bullets are constantly flying. It is as if John Woo had decided to shift into the supernatural genre. Nor is it a "Romeo & Juliet" story. If there is any romance, it involves a triangle among three of the vampires, but it is left by the wayside. It is a hybrid film with serious genetic defects, and it is boring. Avoid this stale, unsatisfying piece of eye candy.

Derivative schlock thriller gets new treatment
When Underworld was first marketed before it hit theaters, it marketed as a Romeo & Juliet-esque love story involving werewolves and vampires. Instead, from the first frame on, we are thrown head first into a derivative hyrbid of Blade, The Matrix, The Crow, and every goth kid's comic book fantasy (which isn't a bad thing, but it doesn't work here). A war between the vamps and werewolves and raged on for over a thousand years, and it comes to a head when a skin tight leather clad "death dealing" vampire (Kate Beckinsale) finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy involving a young doctor (Scott Speedman), and plot twists and turns are about. Where Underworld could have succeeded, it fails almost miserably. The action scenes are overdone yet unimpressive, the cast is bland and there is overacting aplenty, and where the story could have been something really special (the aforementioned Romeo & Juliet-esque love story) is what is most disappointing of all. The film is now one of the newest "bonus filled" overpriced DVD's to be released of late (check out the Texas Chainsaw Massacre Platinum Series DVD and the Mystic River 3 disc DVD set), but the new material adds nothing to the film. It's worth checking out for some, but better left on the shelf.

Lucian was the most interesting one, in this movie.
Centuries old feud between 2 races,werewolves ( Lycans ) and vampires, that has resulted in undying hatred, torture, and death. The main character Selene finds out that the Lycans plan on using a human name Michael to create a super creature, with the combination of both Lycan and vampire blood running through his veins, to destroy the race of vampires, in order to make the race of werewolves ( Lycans ) stronger.While Selene is helping to keep Michael alive and out of "harms" way, from both Lycans and vampires, She and Michael form an unlikely bond. Now to my personal opinions..Kate Beckinsale did a nice performance as the grim face vampire warrior, Selene. Eventhough, Her emotional range was not showcase in this particular movie, except from going from grim to uninterested to thoughtful to teary eye....all emotions smothered under an ever present grim look. Her character still was still quick thinking. Poor Scott Speedman's character "Michael" had to spend most of the movie, on the run and clueless, until he got bitten by the leader of the Lycans name Lucian. And, For myself, that is when this movie got extremely interesting when Lucian ( Michael Sheen ) was on the screen. There was alittle bit of storyline in which I did wonder about the past histories of the characters Selene and Michael, before they unexpectly "met", But, An entire seperate movie could be made solely on the character Lucian and what he went through in his past, to become so angry, brutal, and ruthless. Michael Sheen had the standout performance in this movie, as the character Lucian. He took his character a step above the rest by not only showing that his character was hostile, but underneath all of that bitterness, there was simply a hurt man, who wanted his race of werewolves, who were consider weakand powerless to the vampires, to be stronger physically against their enemies, and for him to seek revenge against the brutal death of his bride and unborn child. Actor Michael Sheen also showed the deep passion Lucian had, sometimes only by the look in his eyes, you could tell depth, wisdom, and experience in his character. The Flashbacks of the tortured Lucian meant to me, that there was a storyline somewhere in this movie, instead of that senseless gun battle between Lycans and vampires, on a subway deck, at the beginning of this movie. Erika ( Sophia Myles ) and Kahn ( Robby Gee ) gave a good performance showing that their vampire characters had common senseand intelligence, without solving their issues with a use of the gun. Bill Nighy as Viktor was just as good as the elder stotic vampire, who wasn't as honorable and good hearted, as one might think. The deep voice muscular Lycan/ werewolf "Raze" played by actor Kevin Grevioux did a good performance in his character, eventhough, he didn't have much dialogue, you can tell the dedication and loyality that he had, to help his race and Lucian, get rid of all vampires.Shane Brolly ( Kraven ) protrayed his character as a shallow, arrogant, spoiled vampire, who would probably be better off as a runway model, than a vampire. I mean, no one could walk up and down those steps of his mansion with ease and an attitude, like Kraven could throughout the movie. All and all, Underworld was surprisely, a good movie. Except for the over use sometimes of the characters resolving their issues with the use of their guns, instead of just using their brains for once, and thinking of a better way to do battle with one another, The movie was very interesting to see. I think anyone who has an interest in seeing a vampire / werewolf movie done alittle differently from the normal, should atleast see this movie once, with an open mind.

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

Next Page