When I first heard about the premise for this movie, I thought it was gonna be one to watch.  A MUST-SEE even.  Simply put, that premise was the dynamic of Romeo & Juliet set in the world of vampires & werewolves.  I was so very excited to see this movie!  Through all the trailers and TV spots.  With all the months passing by, I only got more anticipatory of this film's release.  But in the week of the theatrical release, I starting reading the reviews.  They were bad.  Even the horror sites were saying it was a dull, boring, unoriginal, unimaginative movie.  Bloody Disgusting, Diabolical Dominion, and Creature Corner all gave it BAD reviews.  After that, and numerous visits to RottenTomatoes.com, I chose against going to see this film that I had been so anxious to see all year long.  Now, after its release on DVD, I finally decided to plunk down some bucks to rent it, and all I can say is that all the reviews were right.  But before I go any further, let's TRY to lay down the plot for this quite dull and highly non-innovative film.

Kate Beckinsale plays the vampire Selene, a Death Dealer whose job it is to hunt down and kill off the Lycans (aka 'Werewolves').  At film's start, she gives us a nice expositional voice over to help with the film's general setup.  A war between the two species has raged for 600 years, and despite the fact that no one truly knows how it all began (digging into the past is forbidden amongst vampires), the war continues.  Though, the vampires believe that the war is soon to end, it would leave Selene's kind, the Death Dealers, as an obsolete faction among the decadent lifestyle the vamps have adopted.  Meanwhile, two werewolves are shadowing the footsteps of a mortal man, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman), but for what purpose, that is not revealed for another HOUR, maybe more!  A shoot-out goes down in a subway station between the vamps and the 'wolves, amongst humans.  We get our first look at the werewolf transformation, and it's not half bad.  Now, at this point I would like to rush the plot synopsis quickly along, but there is too much to simply sum in one paragraph, but I'll try.

On the vampire side of things, it is only a short time before they are to reawake one of their elders from a centuries' old sleep.  These elders are held in a tomb of sorts inside the Victorian-esque mansion all these vampires live in.  In the meantime, their acting leader is Kraven (Shane Brolly), a very self-minded bloodsucker who is Selene's greatest obstacle.  This becomes even more evident when Selene's interest is peaked as to why the Lycans were following Corvin, and she ultimately is forced to go against everyone's orders to discover the truth.  While investigating Corvin at his apartment, a small pack of Lycans come looking for him, including their leader, Lucian (Michael Sheen).  During this encounter, Lucian takes a heep of a bite out of Michael's shoulder, and damning him to become a werewolf, in time.  At the tailend of this encounter, an amazing stunt is performed where Sheen chases after Selene's luxury import car, and just runs up atop of it.  How it's performed, I'll tell you later, but no wirework was involved.

Anyway, to find guidance and wisdom as to what plans the 'wolves might be forging, Selene awakens the one who made her into a vampire: Viktor (Bill Nighy).  He is awakened in a manner not far off from Hellraiser.  He must be regenerated via the absorbtion of blood, but they throw a nice twist on it.  Now, even though Viktor has been awakened, Selene STILL is faced with adversity where she believed that she would have an ally.  It only forces her into an even more rebellious state to uncover what treachery has occured amongst these immortal enemies.  There is, of course, more to this film, but I will not divulge such spoilers to you.

Yes, I know, that was more than one paragraph, but I tried.  I guess the first thing that I realized with this movie was that the action sequences are really nothing new.  How many shoot-outs have we seen in movies?!  Far too many to even consider counting, I'm sure.  And that's basically the only way the vamps and the 'wolves fight.  They pull out guns and a few other weapons.  Both sides now have bullets designed specifically to kill their rival species.  The 'wovles have irradiated ultraviolet bullets, and the vamps have bullets which induce silver directly into the 'wolves blood stream.  Also, it is clearly stated that werewolves are allergic to silver, and so, that answers THAT!  But a lot of other rules are tossed completely out the window such as vampires now have reflections, don't seem to have any bit of flying ability, and well, don't really have much powers at all.  They are undead bloodsuckers that are incredibly agile, nothing more.  And any charm or verocity that have become characteristic staples of vampires are certainly drained from THESE vampires.  Though, the werewolves don't seem to have much of a change, except for the fact that they can now switch between their two forms at will, but it takes a full moon to initially trigger their transformation after they're first bitten.  Also, if you are bitten by both a vampire and werewolf - YOU DIE!  It's made clear that no one has ever survived a bite from both species.  I don't mind the vampires not changing into bats - I left that part FAR behind since John Carpenter's VAMPIRES.  I mean, HELL, none of the vampires in The Lost Boys ever change into bats (though, they COULD fly), and so, it's nothing that annoys me in the slightest.

Now, since the action sequences are tired and bland, the next question has to be:  Is the movie fun at all?  No.  Everything and everyone is taken very seriously here.  Not a singular joke is cracked, not one witty play, nothing humorous of the sort makes its way into this film.  Which makes for a very dull 121 minutes.  I don't even think anyone in this movie even cracks a damn SMILE!  Doesn't seem like THEY are having any more fun than the audience.  Also, the film never really delves much past the surface of these characters to give us any sort of emotional involvement with them.  And in fact, the only character I really, really liked was Lucian.  I don't know if it's his look, or his performance, but I really thought he was a bad ass character.  Kate Beckinsale IS quite seriously sexy in her skin-tight PVC leather / rubber cat suit and corset, but it's a hard thing for an attractive young woman to NOT be sexy in such an outfit.  Her character is the heroine, but despite the script's best efforts, she's rather mono-emotional (as practically all of the characters are).  The acting isn't really bad bad, it's rather dry, and maybe somewhat overacted more times than one should be subjected to, but it is decent considering the material the cast had to work with.  Though, there's no emotional depth here at all.  So, we're left with rather flat characters.

Now, we hit the assessment of the plot (and yes, the film feels, at least, as long as this review).  The plot is very tiresome.  Not that it's reptitive or anything like that, but because we keep getting more and more elements added to this plot without reason.  Well, without reason until the last 30 mintues of the motion picture.  And by that time, you REALLY don't know who to root for.  Those who you believed to be the villians aren't REALLY doing anything villianous, but some of the despised characters are despised for a reason.  Though, some of the protagonists become deserving of all that they have coming to them.  So, through the whole film you're acting like Michael Corvin after being bit saying, "What the HELL is going on?!"  You get tired of waiting for the plot to progress to a point where you actually know WHAT the real plot is!  And once you get there, there's not much left of the film to hold any bit of interest in you.  Though, one bit of backstory was a rather familiar idea, as I thought it up back in 1999 for a script I still have yet to write!  That concerning what service the werewolves provided for the vampires, centuries ago.

And for the final bit of assessment, the special effects.  I am so very glad that director Len Wiseman chose to do as much of the effects practically as possible.  The werewolf designs are very impressive, and certainly helps to inject much to the feel of the film, keeping it as grounded as possible.  Though, the werewolves don't happen to showcase much movement or flexiblity in this form, but when they're crawling rabidly along the walls, they are very animated (not in the CG sense).  Also, remember that stunt I mentioned earlier involving Michael Sheen running up atop an accelerating automobile?  That was executed using a tarp of sorts attached to the back end of the car, and Michael Sheen simply ran up that tarp while the car was in motion, and thus, making him seem like he was actualy running at 35 miles per hour.  Very cool, yet simple stunt.  You can catch that on the DVD.  Now, the vampires don't have much makeup of effects work aside from their fangs and contact lenses, but Viktor is a whole 'nother story.  As he goes through a regenerative process, a series of progressive effects were designed for him.  They were full body casts, no suits.  The DVD documents it well, and is one HELL of a creature effect undertaking that was WELL worth it.  Though, the design of the vampire-Lycan hybrid was HIGHLY disappointing!  He's not impressive or intimidating in appearance at all.  In fact, it looks like any one of the werewolves could slash him to BITS!  It's basically a vampire with an odd ribcage and deep, dark blue skin, nothing more.  His abilities are more impressive, but it's still a grave disappointment on both counts, to me.  Nothing impressive at all, as is practically everything with this movie.

So, to sum it up.  Underworld is a mix of Blade and The Matrix (maybe a bit of The Crow woven in), but it lacks any of what made those such entertaining films.  There's no fun, no excitement, or character depth to be had in Underworld.  A whole boat load of plot that just weighs this film down FAR, FAR too much, and it's not even that great of a plot.  Add that to the fact that the characters' emotions are practically as flat as a board.  Also, I agree with a few others that the role of Michael Corvin was miscast.  Scott Speedman just doesn't play it with anything but weakness.  And when the finale comes, he is not one bit convincing as the bad ass that he should've been.  Other cast members are simply uninteresting, and aren't really worth our time....or attention (except for Sheen & Beckinsale).  And as I've said for a couple of movies on this site, great creature and makeup effects do not a good film make.  And as strange as this may sound, I stick with a quote by George Lucas from the time of the original trilogy: "A special effect a tool, a means of telling a story.  A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing."  It is VERY true.  You can have the very best special, creature, and makeup effects ever in the history of cinema, but if everything else in the film is bad, then you're film is going to be very boring, no matter how well-made or spectacular your effects might be.

Now, wrap ALL of this together and add in the most obvious and cliché of sequel segue endings, and you've got Underworld.  A greatly disappointing film that could've been a great, fun ride with fabulous creature effects, stunts, and at least, somewhat interesting characters.  The script was done all wrong, and took itself FAR too seriously.  Not opening itself up for some fun.  It's all played rather grimly without as much as a single one-liner from anyone.  We get so much plot, a good deal of backstory, but belated answers and no character depth.  Plus, the look of this film is tired as well.  All blue and gray filters that make the film's look as grim as everything else in it.  The whole movie takes place at night, in shadows, indoors, or in subterranean enviroments.  It makes the film feel very visually dull and bland.  And I'm not even gonna BOTHER critiquing the leather-heavy costume department as this has been a BIG trend since The Crow, or even moreso since The Matrix.  Can't seem to outlive this trend, can we?  Simply put, this is a painfully derivative film that takes ideas, production designs, costumes, action set pieces, and pretty much anything else you can think of from other sources.  And other, better ideas that could've injected some life into this rather dead film are jettisoned for bland, tired ones.

So, you think this review has gone on long enough, huh?  Well, now you know how long this film feels!  In the very conclusion, I have rated this one a 4.5 out 10, or more specifically, number TWO on my list of the five WORST Films of 2003 on my homepage (right behind of the even MORE painful disappointment that was Dreamcatcher).  I never got excited or deeply invested in the plot or characters during the viewing of this movie on DVD.  I don't think you should avoid it like the plague (there were a great deal of horror films released in 2003 that GREATLY deserve that tag), but it's not one you should rush out to see.  A disappointment?  Indeed.  Greatly.

Well, I believe I should have given this movie a second viewing quite a while ago.  After seeing and enjoying the sequel this past weekend, I chose to seek out this two-disc extended cut of the original Underworld.  Things are more enjoyable, and more importantly, coherent in a second viewing (even with two solid years between viewings).  Anyway, this version of the film has 12 minutes of additional footage with 11 minutes of replacement footage.  The audio commentary with director Len Wiseman and cast members Kate Beckinsale & Scott Speedman help to mark the new footage (quite important to me only seeing the theatrical version once).  More backstory is revealed on our leads, and a few other tidbits are injected.  Now, there's really no extra gore here, and so, don't let the "unrated" moniker get you excited.  It's just a marketing tool for horror fans, plain and simple.  Now, I will endeavour to make a far briefer synopsis this time out.

A war between vampires and lycans has raged for numerous centuries, but the reasons why there ever was a war is unknown to most everyone.  Digging into the past is forbidden amongst vampires, and that's just the least of what's forbidden.  There are many unknowns that none question, but the vampire death dealer Selene (Kate Beckinsale) soon raises all those questions.  After tracking a pair of lycans and subsequently engaging in a shootout in a subway station, she becomes convinced that they were after a human named Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman).  She persists in unravelling this mystery, even moreso when met with resistence from the decadent second-in-command Kraven (Shane Brolly).  He pushes so hard against her that she becomes even more suspicious, and goes to desperate measures.  She awakens elder vampire Viktor (Bill Nighy) a century ahead of schedule, and seeks his help.  With his power of command and physicality, he easily reaffirms control of things.  Meanwhile, the lycans' plan slowly is revealed, but not fully until far later in the film.  In any case, this plan has everything to do with Michael's bloodline, and with the survival of the lycan species.  Selene soon becomes Michael's only ally when it seems all are gunning for him, and neither of them know why, not truly.  Ultimately, all the lies, deceit, deception, and secrets are made known, and the consequences of them all will change everything for both species.

When I first watched this film, it was very confusing and tiring on a mental level.  There were so many plot twists and turns that from one scene to the next I didn't know who was a villian, an ally, or a hero.  I was completely lost on the geography of this plot, let alone where these characters stood within it.  By the end, nearly everyone you believed was a protagonist or an antagonist flipped sides, and it was all very confusing.  I felt like Michael Corvin wondering just, "what the fuck is going on?"  This time through, I was fully aware of where the plot was going, and everything made much more sense.  A second viewing allows you to be "in the know" about the intentions, schemes, and treachery of all.  It allows you to enjoy the film more since you are not trying to re-decifer the plot every few minutes.

Now, I still find the action sequences to be lacking.  A shootout is a shootout - every action flick has one.  Granted, it would be silly for the vampires and lycans to be doing battle with swords and battle axes since these are technologically evolved times, but after seeing the sequel, Underworld: Evolution, there are other ways to create multiple action sequences unique within one film and make them exciting and dynamic.  Since I had already seen this movie, I knew what to expect from the action sequences, and so, I was able to enjoy them more.  But still, they could have been much more impressive and unique.

I still give major praise for the effects in this film, both practical and computer generated.  They are exponentially better than the cheesy, third-rate CGI in Van Helsing, and nothing here comes off cheap.  It's all wonderfully designed and executed.  After watching some of the featurettes on disc two of this set, I got to appreciating the development of this film even more than before.  I do retain the belief that this film could have benefitted from a bit less dreary visuals.  The desaturated colors really bring down the potential beauty of this motion picture. The Crow absolutely had an insane amount of darkness, and a heavily gothic look to it, but it is a beautiful film.  It didn't use desaturated colors, but instead used the contrast of light and dark.  I believe the same could've been done here, and made the visuals much more compelling.  Still, the cinematography is fabulous, and the production design is deeply intricate.

The music as well as the costume design is directly in line with that of The Matrix - industrial rock remixes and tight black leather n' latex.  Yes, it's been done to death, but it certainly works fantastically well here.  Kate Beckinsale looks all the more beautiful and sexy the more you see her.  The lycans have a far more down n' dirty look as they live a more low class lifestyle than the aristocratic vampires.  I guess leather attire will always be some undefinable symbol of coolness (hey, I have a leather trench coat and biker jacket).  So, despite my previous negative attitude towards said choice in costume desgn, I really won't knock it now.  It's cool, and I'll leave it at that.

The quality of the acting doesn't change in this extended cut, we just get more of it.  I speak nothing negative about it, and knowing where things ultimately lead up to not only in this film, but the next, I truly understand the coldness of some characters.  Those that survive this film definitely show far more depth in the sequel.  Though, I still have to praise Michael Sheen for bringing such a great character like Lucian to life.  He does an incredibly intriguing job with him, and by far, proves Lucian to be the most in-depth and emotionally invested character here.  The rest of the cast has acting chops to spare, and while Speedman may seem miscast in this film, I think him coming into his own in the sequel really makes up for anything he may appear to lack in this film.

All in all, with two years later and a fresh perspective along with the knowledge of the sequel with me, I appreciate this movie much more.  The story does drag in the middle (even moreso in this extended cut), but it really picks up near the end.  I recommend that anyone who may have disliked or was disappointed with this film should give it a second viewing.  Being aware of the plot and its progression will allow you to appreciate the overall film much more.  Your mind is more free to enjoy the film more instead of trying to keep up with plot twists.  Simply put, you'll spend much less time being confused, and more time enjoying yourself.  Checking out this extended cut should be an option for you, but it doesn't offer anything greatly important regarding the plot, let alone the action, but does offer more on the characters themselves.

For whatever reason, I chose to give this sequel a fair chance despite my very negative reaction to the first film.  It might've been my extreme absence from seeing new horror films in the last few years, or just that it may have seemed a bit more developed than the first (by way of trailers and such).  Whatever the case, this past Saturday I caught a matinee showing of it, and yes, I actually garnered some enjoyment from it.  Before I get into the critique, let's familiarize you with the premise of Underworld: Evolution.

Eight centuries ago
unknown to humanity, a blood fued raged
between a ruling class of vampires
and a rebellious legion of werewolves
known as lycans.

Legend tells that the war began
with two brothers,
the immortal sons of Alexander Corvinus

Markus, bitten by bat,
became the blood leader of the vampires.

William, bitten by wolf,
became the first and most powerful lycan.

This sequel picks up just exactly where the first film ended.  The lies about the war between vampire and lycan have been uncovered, many former allies and enemies lie dead, and the vampire death dealer Selene (Kate Beckinsale) and the first hybrid of the two immortal species, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman), are now on the run.  Meanwhile, vampire elder Markus (Tony Curran) has been revived.  He is the very first and most powerful vampire, and he shows it from the very first minute on screen following his resurrection.  He absorbs the blood memories of the lycan doctor that was slain in the crypt, and comes up to speed on all the recent betrayals and treachery.  He goes hunting down Selene to learn all she knows, more than even she is aware of.  Markus knows that Viktor deserved the end he got, as the pre-title flashback sequence shows, but the intentions of Markus are much more frightening, volatile, and lethal than those in the previous film.  As Markus tries to move his plans forward, Michael & Selene hideout wherever possible, and eventually become more intimate with one another.  More secrets and hidden truths begin to unfold, and Markus' ultimate plan is unveiled as he wants to create a new race forged by the purest of both vampire and lycan.  Unknowingly, Selene holds one major key to Markus' plans, but there is much vengence for him to reap along the way.  Ultimately, our heroes must evolve to battle this new enemy or perish in its wake.

One of the things that I first enjoyed about this sequel were the more exciting and unique action sequences.  No more are we treated to shootout after shootout, but we have much more phsyical combat on top of some nice chase sequences.  Every action sequence is different from the last, whether in context or geography.  It made this film much more lively and intense.  Secondly, Scott Speedman really comes more into his "evolved" character of the vamp-lycan hybrid Michael Corvin.  He's involved in more smash mouth brawls and chase scenes.  He's a more active member in the story despite having much less pivitol importance to it instead of riding the wild wave carrying him along to unknown desitnations.  Selene still does much to protect and guide him as he becomes more familiar with what he is, but he's not helpless by a longshot.  Also, the design of the hybrid is more evolved as well, and yes, I am using the subtitle of this film a lot.  Though, it is justified because there's a lot of evolution with this sequel.  Anyway, with a bigger budget, but not an overinflated one, this film has some upgraded effects that truly benefit the characters and story.  Corvin's hybrid creature design is more satisfying to me as it takes on a few more werewolf characteristics, and the creature itself tends to be more animalistic.

There are fewer characters this time around, but the depth of them is much improved.  There's more emotion here, especially with Selene.  She's no longer some cold killing machine, trying to fight back against everything and everyone.  She becomes intimate with Michael, opening her emotions to him, and there's no denying their love for one another.  With no other allies, Michael is all she has, and Selene is the only one that Michael can latch onto.  Without each other, I doubt they could survive emotionally or psychologically for too long.  One of the new characters is Tanis (Steven Mackintosh), a vampire historian that has been exiled for about three centuries, or so it was believed.  He's a weasel, a real piece of scum that shouts back to the majority of the cast of characters in the previous film, but is easily more enjoyable than despicable.  Not surprisingly, Tanis has interesting ties to Lucian .  Another new character is portrayed by Sir Dereck Jacobi, a revered British actor of stage and screen.  His character is wholly pivitol to absolutely everything, and is greatly responsible for cleaning up after the messes of both the vampires and lycans.  He helps keep their underworld as hidden as possible - mainly because he's partly responsible for its existence - but none have been aware of his existence until now.

And the new villian, Markus, proves to be quite an adversary for all, especially Selene & Michael.  He certainly has a swirl of emotions being manipulated and opposed by Viktor for centuries.  He seeks to free his brother William, the most ravenous and powerful lycan ever, and together, no one will be able to survive them.  Markus is truly frightening and indiscriminately lethal.  He knows what he wants, and will tear through whomever he must to achieve his god-like goals.  He's not as intriguing a villian as Lucian was (who actually proved to not be the villian at all in the first film), but he still does not disappoint.  While Lucian was someone with more carefully laid plans (one part revenge, one part survival for his species) who had patience to carry them out subversively and work with a higher level of honor than those around him, Markus is purely about revenge, and has no use for being subversive.  He's very upfront and direct with his approach to achieving his goals.  Being as powerful as he is, he has no fear, and thus, destroys whatever he wishes.  Tony Curran portrays him fantastically through and through.  I so enjoyed his performance - the strength, the confidence, the anger, the defiance - it was powerhouse.  He easily makes the movie, and he is definitely a marvelous actor I intend to pay close attention to. 

The effects in this film are even more impressive than the first film.  There are a lot of effects here that you would swear are practical, but don't seem logistically possible.  The visual effects department deserves major credit for their amazing work here!  There's not a bad or cheesy piece of CGI here, if you can even decifer what is CGI to begin with.  In any case, this is a major visual effects achievement, and everyone knows that bad CGI can completely kill any movie (especially one with such a serious tone as this one).  Yes, the dead serious tone persists here, but there's a couple of smirks to be had here and there.

The music of Underworld remains the same with the industrial rock remixes and such.  The score is also fantastic, and possibly a bit more dynamic than before (mainly due to the demands of the story and action).  We get a lot more action early on, and would have to say that there is a higher degree of gore here.  It's not massive amount of gore, but more gruesome since Markus is a far more violent character than any we saw in the original Underworld.  There's also less "technobabble" this time around because there's nothing new to describe in relation to it.  Simply put, all the medical jargon and related exposition more or less applies here as well.  It's already been established in the first film, and so, there's no need to say it all again.  There's ultimately less exposition overall, but there's still plenty of backstory to explore.

Basically, I found this movie enjoyable.  The action is far fresher than that in the first movie.  There's easily much more character depth, allowing you to really feel more for these characters, and to become closer to them.  There's not as much mystery this time around, and the scope of it all might seem smaller.  This is partly due having fewer characters than before, and this film takes place more outside in mountainous regions than inside the mansion where there was a lot of production designs to show off (as well as extras).  Though, I believe Underworld: Evolution makes up for it on many levels.  Also, after viewing the extended cut of the original Underworld, I believe both films are equal, but on different levels.  What one lacks, the other makes up for.  One film's weakness is the other's strength, and so, they even out in the end.  I believe if you melded both films together into one, capitalizing on both of their strengths, you'd have one bad ass movie, but instead we get two that are pretty damn good in their own ways.  So, I give a 7.5 out of 10 for Underworld: Evolution.