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Underworld (Full Screen Edition)

Underworld (Full Screen Edition)

List Price: $19.94
Your Price: $17.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: had to buy it again
Review: I love this DVD. I had the original release but had to buy the unrated version. Totally worth it just for the comic book and sketch booklet alone.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Skip extended version, buy the widescreen theatrical release
Review: I was blown away buy the widescreen version, and assumed an extra 23 minutes of Underworld was worth another $20+. Wrong! They cut these scenes for a reason. The sound on the extended version is terrible compared to the original release.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's okay . . .
Review: . . . but it doesn't live up to either its hype or its pretensions.

It wants to be _The Crow_. It wants to be _The Matrix_. It wants to be _Blade_. It wants to be _Dark City_. It wants to be _Lara Croft: Tomb Raider_. It wants to be the Next Great Vampire/Werewolf Movie. And it isn't any of them.

What it _is_ is a pretty good (and fairly novel) film in the gothic-horror genre. But that's all it is.

The idea here is a perfectly good one. Kate Beckinsale is Selene, a vampire who hunts 'Lycans' (werewolves, from 'lycanthropes'). Apparently there's been a war between these two species for lots of centuries, and there's a human being (Scott Speedman) who has something or other to do with a recent burst of Lycan activity.

The whole thing is fairly well handled (including the special effects), and it's at least fun to watch even if the characters are rather one-dimensional. If you want to see a sorta-PoMo/SF-inflected leather-and-guns goth wetdream, this is a good choice. It even bears up pretty well under repeated viewing.

But you'll be disappointed if you expect it to be everything it's been billed as. It ain't. The look is excellent and the production values are high, but it's mostly surface gloss: there is, let's say, a high style-to-substance ratio.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: They've waisted our time with a re-release
Review: The movie Underworld was a good movie, granted not the gothic Blade meets Romeo and Juliet that it was billed to be, but it had solid action, a decent story and great effects. Yet they have seen fit to re-release the movie with additional footage, not a bad idea, when the footage adds to the story, like with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the added footage there is noticeable, enriches the story and let's face it is just plain cool. But I digress, this "added footage" that they are making a great stink over is not even noticeable, there were times when I thought something looked a bit different, like a camera angle, or the way lines were delivered, but it was vaguely noticeable and easily forgotten about within two minutes. There is no added footage here that enriches the plot, deepens the story, high ten's the senses or just plain makes you go "WOW". The footage, in fact, is so unnoticeable I honestly thought there was a 14min epilogue added, and I kept checking the counter on my DVD player to see if the movie was indeed any longer. The bottom line, if you own this movie already, don't buy it again, if you don't own it, buy the cheaper version if you must have it, because you wouldn't notice a thing different between the two, and lastly (for you movie directors/ producers / or studio executives) if you intend on releasing a movie on DVD and then almost a year later re-release it because you've added or reworked footage, make damn sure it's noticeable and stop wasting our(the consumer's) time and money.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Liked it much better the second time around!
Review: I rented this Dvd when it first came out in January and I wasn't that impressed, though I liked the old school FX and of course the yummy Kate Beckinsale. I heard about the extended cut, and since I had some extra money laying around I bought this newer version along with LOR: Return of the King today. I liked this version way better because it fills in the many plot holes and helps flesh out some pretty thin characters. If you want to buy this movie be sure to get this feature loaded Extended Version.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sound Familiar?
Review: This movie is about a dedicated warrior (Beckinsale) who has been duped into fighting an interminable and ultimately senseless war, by an unscrupulous leader who is using the war to further his own very secret and twisted agenda.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better than most
Review: Kate Beckinsale stars as Selene, a vampire at war with the Lycans (werewolves) in Underworld, a startling action packed horror. Underworld also stars Scott Speedman as Michael, a human who for some reason is hunted by both groups and Shane Brolly as Kraven, the leader of the vampire group.

I was not expecting too much out of this when I sat down to watch it having just recently seen the awful Van Helsing but was pleasantly surprised. Underworld was not only great to watch for the awesome action scenes but it had a real plot that held my interest, that is where Van Helsing suffered. Also, the visual effects were brilliant and for once they were not CGI. The Lycans were frightning and realistic, far more realistic than the video game like characters in so many movies today. I really appreciated the movie makers here going to the effort to create these monsters, it looked great. Watching them crawling along the walls was really awesome.

Kate Beckinsale was very good in this movie. Not only did she look great but her brooding performance really added to this film. All of the actors did well. Hopefully Underworld will bring about a renaissance in real special effects rather than the disturbing overuse of CGI that we are seeing today, I really get sick of seeing video games on the big screen.

Rated R for some quite graphic and nasty violence, (it is a horror after all), and 3 uses of the F word. Not recommended for children or those who might suffer nightmares from watching this sort of thing.

As a point of interest to viewers, the sound effect of the Werewolf at the beginning of the film in the train station scene is taking straight from "an american werewolf in london."

Thanks for reading.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Columbia Tri-Star forces me to buy DVD again
Review: I am a very very unhappy customer of the movie studio which produced this DVD. Its one of my favorite movies in the entire world and I bought it immediately when it was released many months ago.

Now Columbia Tristar wants more money out of my wallet and they release a second cut of the movie (ASIN#B0001WTUH6). I cant believe this. The same thing happened to me with the X-Men movies. I am disappointed but its a great movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Still A Bite That Has No Teeth
Review: The first time I saw Underworld on DVD, I thought it was rather "ho-hum", filled with potential and promise, but ending up somewhere else. When I heard about the unrated extended cut though, curiousity got the better of me, and I wanted to see if this version was any better.

The film ties together two of horror's most popular mythologies, and tries to put a new spin on what we've come to expect from the genre at the same time. The story is set in the secret nocturnal and supernatural world of vampires and werewolves. These are two groups that have been at war for centuries, vampires are a secret clan of modern aristocratic sophisticates, while werewolves are a cunning gang of street thugs who prowl the city's underside. A romance develops between a female vampire warrior and her sworn enemy. Selene (Kate Beckinsale) is known for her strength and werewolf-hunting prowess. While Michael (Scott Speedman) is a peace-loving human who's recently been bitten by a werewolf, and wants to end the war.

First time director Len Wiseman, has inserted 12 minutes of additional footage, as well as 11 minutes of replacement footage for this cut. The movie is still a very stylish and good looking film, that is a bit better with the other footage. But, unfortunately still misses the mark As I said, the film is visually striking with great sets, a cast that tries its best with the material, and some cool stunts and special effects. All of these positives cannot save the story which is burried by just more convoluted doublespeak. The new cut can't erase the fact that the story "borrows" too much, from films like The Matrix, Blade, and The Crow. As I stated elsewhere, a little imitatation is flattering...but it seems as though someone decided to mix successfull elements from the past--and hoped enough of it would work. The "Romeo & Juliet" plotline is given more screen time, still, only to go so far and then, fall apart.

The DVD extras on the 2 disc set, are a mix of stuff released on the previous edition, and "new" bonus material. Gone are the two audio commentaries, in their place is a commentary with director Wiseman, cast members Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman. It's kind of strange track, knowing Wiseman and Beckinsale are an item, and the fact that Speedman leaves midway through for an audition! There are 4 making of featurettes from the other disc. There's the fairly generic "The Making of Underworld", one on creature effects, stunts, and "sights and sound". Take your pick. The all new "Fang vs. Fiction", a 45-minute documentary examining the history of vampires and werewolves is worth your time. Three new featurettes, designing Underworld, the visual effects of Underworld, and the look of Underworld, have information basicaly repeated elsewhere. An outtake reel storyboard comparision, the Finch music video for the song "Worms of the Earth", from the soundtrack, theatrical trailers, and TV spots top off the set. But that's not all... you also get a collectible production sketch notebook and a suprisingly meaty 48-page mini comic book as part of the package.

Despite the additions, changes, and deletions to the film and otherwise, I stand by my original assessment of the film. Underworld is worth a look for genre faithfuls who are curious. Too bad its borrowed ingredients overshadow its potential...no matter what form it's in.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great movie, smells like sequel
Review: First off, this wasn't intended to be a vampire/werewolf movie, it was intended to be an action movie with vampires/werewolves. That said, this is a really fun movie! You may have heard it said that all the creator did was splice 'the Matrix' and 'Blade' together, and while i can see why people would think that, the result is, in some ways, greater than the sum of its parts. The characters are good and authentic (thanks to good acting), the story is good, the action is great. What's even better: the last scene all but puts up a neon sign saying "SEQUEL". Yay! Although the inevitable sequel won't have the awesomely high originality factor that this, the original, has, it will still be awesome. SO, whether you get this extended version or the original, you will be satisfied.


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