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Underworld (Widescreen Edition) Customer Reviews (25 - 27 of 127 Reviews)

About both films (SPOILER ALERT)
The "Underworld" franchise exists for one reason: to punch you in the face. It accomplishes this with its cold visuals and gratuitous violence and nudity. So you sit in the theater, constantly under the attack of explosions and gross-out shots and your attention is consequently held. But there is nothing in either of these films that you will remember by the time you get home. Never have I witnessed such forgettable atrocities. Behind the blood, the vampires, the werewolves, the underwhelming origin story, and of course behind the leather is nothing. These films are as soulless as the vampires they are about.

The lack of sentiment inspired by the "love" story is utterly inexcusable. The first movie explored the idea of a love story between Selene and the hybrid Michael. And just when I thought we were in for an interesting twist, they dropped it and didn't mention it again for the rest of the damn movie. Well, in the second installment it goes further, and fast. Before you know it there they are having sex as if that was the logical next step. I don't know about the rest of the audience, but I could have used some freakin development. And they certainly had time if not in the first film they couldve stretched it over the second. And you know what? When Michael took a fatal pole through the chest I didn't care! I felt nothing for Michael, or Selene, or the whole stupid vampire community. I'll tell you what did make me feel something: when he came back to life. Give me a break! He should've stayed dead. Or Selene should start referring to him as The One...(needless to say there were more Matrix parallels than anyone conscious for the last seven years would be happy sitting through).

Well let me end this rant by telling fans of Underworld to rejoice, because it is explicitly clear that yet another sequel is on the way. The final monologue by Selene was so transparent that it may as well have been someone from the studio saying "in summer 2007, in a theater near you..." Unfortunately only one example of the shoddy, shoddy writing. So, if you're in the mood for a mindless slasher, go for it.

Great Movie! Great Story!
Vampires have been waging a war against Werewolves for over a thousand years. This movie involves a part of the war that takes place in the 21st century streets of Budapest.
The movie builds the world of vampires and werewolves very well. It shows both the "beast" and the human sides of these creatures (the thing that makes it most fascinating I think), so that one can relate to them more as "real" characters. It is quite nice how the movie shows some science behind vampire and werewolves; a far stretch but still a good try.
This movie is hard-paced so there is never a dull moment. It is one of those movies that really engages you and allows you into its world. It could very well become a classic.


Silly, but amusing
Ah, what can you say about 'Underworld'? Most notably, it needs more action. The biggest action scene is at the very beginning, and then we've gotta whole lot of plot for a very long time. The action scenes are, of course, your standard John Woo knockoff, particularly this opening one. This isn't really a criticism on my part-- If you're gonna knock of a particular action director, Woo is the way to go. It's also hurt by the fact that the opening action scene is by far the best one in the film. Ya gotta pace yourself, Underworld! Still, their just isn't enough killing. The story elements are amusing in their way, but the balance is way off.

Almost equally important, 'Underworld' could really use a sense of humor. This movie is so silly and yet it takes itself completely seriously which makes it all the more ridiculous. If it had a bit of intentional, perhaps self-parodic humor I think I could take the whole thing quite a bit more straight-facedly.

The best thing about `Underwold' is the way it looks. The thing only cost like 23 million, and it looks completely gorgeous and totally creates the alternate, neo-gothic world that is 'Underworld'. This film is a classic indictment of the excessive use of CGI in Hollywood, particularly for sets-- Not only does this film cost a fraction of what something like 'Revenge of the Sith' costs, it also looks WAY better. It actually looks *real*, cause it mostly is. It has some CGI stuff, but it holds well to my personal rule that you should always use practical, real world effects when they can do the job. The werewolves themselves don't look so hot, but they're the only really disappointment, and the whole thing is really quite stunning considering the cost. It's an intensely blue colored affair, but it fits the film and feels appropriate, so that's fine. Another minor visual concern is that the film fails to differentiate between the visual nature of the vampires and the werewolves sufficiently. More specifically, the human form werewolves lack any real particular style; they just kinda wear ratty old coats, for the most part. The vampires are, of course, your Blade/Matrix style black leather neo-gothic night club vampires, the variant which has become utterly dominant in modern vampire cinema. It disturbs me to think that there are probably a lot of people my age and younger who just think that this is the way vampires are, period. Not that I particularly care for classically styled vampires or anything, I just fear they lack any perspective. Anyway...

Performances tend to be wildly over the top, as is de rigeur for modern vampire films. Bill Nighy is especially fun as the head vampire. Everyone is pretty hammy, but he really takes it to another level. Kate Beckinsale is fairly bland, formless protagonist, but, on the other hand, she does spend most of the film in a leather body suit. (This fact which I believe has been mentioned in every review of 'Underworld' yet written, so far be it for me to break tradition.) I should note that the music is generally overwrought and often irritating. They used that glass harp or maybe just distant, squealing string sound like a trillion times here and it really gets on my nerves.

I found the plot to be vaguely incomprehensible for most of the film, but it all came together eventually, so perhaps this was intentional. Frankly, I wasn't terribly concerned with the plot. This is a film you mostly just stare at, impressed half the time, snickering the other half. The former impression is superior, obviously, but they both work, so it's not a total loss.

Grade: C+

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