Lots of gunfire and gadgetry in use (old weapons don't cut it anymore, don't you know) as Selene wanders through an old sewer system chasing baddies. At one point we see (and Selene hears) a bunch of guys watching two werewolves battling it out. Turns out that it's kind of a werewolf "Fight Club", which does not impress their leader once he arrives on scene.
Selene returns to the vampire mansion, which once inside reminded me of a scene from Eyes Wide Shut with people sitting and lying around decadently. She suspects that the werewolves (who are referred to throughout the film as "Lycans", which I suppose sounds more hip) were after a human: a med student named Michael Corvin (played by Scott Speedman) for reasons unknown. The current leader of the vampires (make that leader of the "Coven"... more hipness), doesn't believe a word of what she says. Members of the coven think she's infatuated with Michael, but of course it turns out that he is a key factor in the long-running war.
Underworld starts out as an MTV/Technopunk kind of movie but does at some point rise (slightly) above that. It's certainly no Blade, but except for some boring stretches it did manage to entertain. Unfortunately this was in production when The Matrix was the big thing, and it draws from that film heavily as far as visuals: Form-fitting black leather and long coats are everywhere, lots of wirework in the stunts, and even one scene reminiscent of Neo waking up in his gooey pod in the Matrix.
Towards the end the action turns pretty non-stop, with the exception of the film intermittently cutting to Michael strapped to a table trying to get free. It was very odd and out of place as they cut to that multiple times. Kind of reminded me of the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail where during the "Knights of the Round Table" sequence they cut to the old guy hanging in the dungeon and clapping his hands.
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Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
SR, very well-done review, thanks! We saw it a couple of weeks ago on cable and had the same mixed feelings, basically coming out on he positive side. Re the plot, it was actually the most interesting aspect and the twists and turns about who constituted the "bad guys" turned enough times to keep my interest as well as head swimming by that time of night.
Beckinsale was quite good, as was Michael Sheen as the Lycan leader, and Bill Nighy as Beckinsale's mentor. Shane Brolly as Kraven, the temporary head of the vamps was actually quite awful, dragging the movie down in a key role.
The other thing it succeeded in doing was make me think about some of the practical implications of immortality and the imperative of the survival of the species.
2 - Vic
Thanks Eric. Yeah I agree that Shane's performance was pretty bad. Kind of soap opera-ish.
Vic
3 - John Lars Ericson
Nice review, SR!
Kate Beckinsale was surprisingly well-cast for this, although I thought the movie itself was headache-inducing. I guess I just tire of that blue-and-black dreary color scheme.
4 - Eric Olsen
it WAS very moody
5 - visualsimplicity
I enjoyed this film too (mostly because I'm a fanboy of Kate Beckinsale). However, I can see why people wouldn't like it. I had mixed feelings about the movie too (but because of Beckinsale, it tipped towards positive--which I can't really say about Van Helsing, her presence couldn't exactly save that film).
Regardless, I was mostly interested in the history, backstory, and world that was created from this movie if anything else. I guess you could say I enjoyed the film more for it's potential rather than any actual product (which is odd). It's a rich world, much like Blade, Matrix or any other sci-fi-ish thing, and I can only hope in the long run (in one of the sequels) there'd be something spectacular to come from it.
6 - Eric Olsen
good point Vis, I was trying to say the same thing about the world it created, but movie-wise it wasn't all there