Underworld: Evolution reviewed by Mike
I feel so sorry for vampires. They have so much bad crap made about them. Think of all the horrible vampire films, comics, and video games that are out there. Seeing all the garbage makes me really want Underworld to succeed, because I long for a good vampire movie.
The first "Underworld" movie from several years ago had a premise that couldn't fail: Vampires vs. Werewolves with lots of guns and black leather. The original had a great look to it--the tone was great, and the action was pretty awesome. Too bad the story and script fell so short and kept the movie from being truly great.
The new sequel tries to fix these problems, but in my mind, still falls short. Don't get me wrong--the tone of the movie is still great. Its eerie darkness is perfect for this kind of story. Everything looks great--the black leather costumes, the creepy blue eyes in all the vampires, the overall gothic-ness of it all, and of course, Kate Beckisale's incredible beauty. I'll take any excuse to watch her for two hours. Not only does her costume look great (shes hot in all the usual ways) but shes got one of those beautiful faces that just looks so awesome--the shining blue eyes, the fangs... it's all so gorgeous.
The story picks up literally right where the other left off (one of the guys killed at the end of the last movie is still layin' there...), and since I had only seen the orignal once way back when it came out, I was a bit lost at first. But some flashbacks quickly give you all the information you need. Too bad the flashbacks seem like obstructions to the story. The movie has a distinct feeling of "okay, listen to exposition, now to the action! Wait--stop again for 20 min of exposition, ok--now fight again!" Despite this staggering rhythm, it's worth watching for the fight scenes. Wonderfully executed, the fights are just plain sweet to watch. There's one moment in particular when Kate is fighting some humans in the woods--she moves so fast that she only appears as a creepy shadowy blur on the screen, flying from person to person, taking them out in ways that would make Batman proud.
All in all, this movie feels like a great idea waiting to happen. Its a great premise with a great tone and good action--and a weak story and poor scripting. I would even say the director is good but thats because every frame feels like a comic book panel. Of course, I love that. but the flaws just keep this movie down. For example, most of the action takes place outside, in the woods, or in old abandoned buildings. Where's the cool urban dirtiness of the city? The black leather and cool tone feel really out of place in these locations. And there's not nearly enough guns. for a movie whos premise is about vampires fighting werewolves, theres not much of that kind of fighting. The vampires fight themselves, mostly, and the werewolves are almost nowhere to be found, until the very end. Instead of presenting the werewolves as worthy adversaries and dangerous foes, this movie paints them as mindless animals.
The fact that I refer to the main character by her real name is noticeable as well. Who knows what her characters name is--character development was clearly not an issue for this movie. In fact, the only character development at all seems to be the gratuitous and pointlessly graphic sex scenes. I guess you don't watch a Vampire movie for deep characters, but the lack of development and the second-hand scripting really hold this movie back from being truly awesome. With a little more time and better story development and characterization, this could have been a really good movie.
It looks like they're trying to get a trilogy out of this thing, so I can only hope that eventually they'll get it right and finally give vampires and werewolves a movie to be proud of.
The first "Underworld" movie from several years ago had a premise that couldn't fail: Vampires vs. Werewolves with lots of guns and black leather. The original had a great look to it--the tone was great, and the action was pretty awesome. Too bad the story and script fell so short and kept the movie from being truly great.
The new sequel tries to fix these problems, but in my mind, still falls short. Don't get me wrong--the tone of the movie is still great. Its eerie darkness is perfect for this kind of story. Everything looks great--the black leather costumes, the creepy blue eyes in all the vampires, the overall gothic-ness of it all, and of course, Kate Beckisale's incredible beauty. I'll take any excuse to watch her for two hours. Not only does her costume look great (shes hot in all the usual ways) but shes got one of those beautiful faces that just looks so awesome--the shining blue eyes, the fangs... it's all so gorgeous.
The story picks up literally right where the other left off (one of the guys killed at the end of the last movie is still layin' there...), and since I had only seen the orignal once way back when it came out, I was a bit lost at first. But some flashbacks quickly give you all the information you need. Too bad the flashbacks seem like obstructions to the story. The movie has a distinct feeling of "okay, listen to exposition, now to the action! Wait--stop again for 20 min of exposition, ok--now fight again!" Despite this staggering rhythm, it's worth watching for the fight scenes. Wonderfully executed, the fights are just plain sweet to watch. There's one moment in particular when Kate is fighting some humans in the woods--she moves so fast that she only appears as a creepy shadowy blur on the screen, flying from person to person, taking them out in ways that would make Batman proud.
All in all, this movie feels like a great idea waiting to happen. Its a great premise with a great tone and good action--and a weak story and poor scripting. I would even say the director is good but thats because every frame feels like a comic book panel. Of course, I love that. but the flaws just keep this movie down. For example, most of the action takes place outside, in the woods, or in old abandoned buildings. Where's the cool urban dirtiness of the city? The black leather and cool tone feel really out of place in these locations. And there's not nearly enough guns. for a movie whos premise is about vampires fighting werewolves, theres not much of that kind of fighting. The vampires fight themselves, mostly, and the werewolves are almost nowhere to be found, until the very end. Instead of presenting the werewolves as worthy adversaries and dangerous foes, this movie paints them as mindless animals.
The fact that I refer to the main character by her real name is noticeable as well. Who knows what her characters name is--character development was clearly not an issue for this movie. In fact, the only character development at all seems to be the gratuitous and pointlessly graphic sex scenes. I guess you don't watch a Vampire movie for deep characters, but the lack of development and the second-hand scripting really hold this movie back from being truly awesome. With a little more time and better story development and characterization, this could have been a really good movie.
It looks like they're trying to get a trilogy out of this thing, so I can only hope that eventually they'll get it right and finally give vampires and werewolves a movie to be proud of.
posted by Hankinstien at 1:34 AM
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