Rating: 
Summary: From the pages of Vampire the Masquerade...
Review: Okay not really, but this movie comes so close to VTM that White Wolf Publishing, Inc sued the filmmakers. The funny thing is that it's the similarities to VTM that are this otherwise shallow and hokie movie's redeeming features. See this film is entertaining, it's not horrible, but it's not great either. It's certainly better than any other vampire movie I've seen of late, which is sad really... It's just disturbing to me that the only thing I really enjoyed about this movie was watching for subtle not-so-unintentional similarities to Vampire the Masquerade.
The irony is that having been a rabid White Wolf addict-fan for the last thirteen years I have had my level of expectations for vampire movies and literature raised so high that even White Wolf themselves can't always meet the expectations because so much of their past work has been beyond excellent. Its difficult for anything to live up so such expectations without ripping off the World of Darkness completely, and while I don't think that was the intention of this film they did come pretty close to doing that, and I really hate to say it, but if they had just ripped off more elements of Vampire the Masquerade and Werewolf the Apocalypse the movie, including the brilliant narrative of the White Wolf writing staff, and we would have had a masterpiece of a vampire movie, up there with Interview with the Vampire. Instead all we have is a few (like 60 according to White Wolf's lawyers) points of similarities mixed in with Romeo and Juliet, minus the tragic ending, and without any real character development, or decent dialogue, plus characters who don't realize that when you're pumped full of silver nitrate you're supposed to be dead, as in no getting up... I think the lesson that needs to be learned from this movie isn't "don't rip of Vampire The Masquerade" it's "For crying out loud you know you want to, just make Vampire: The Masquerade into a movie!" There's more than enough material to go on there, you could even make a 13 volume movie series based off the clan novels, I mean really they're great! Let's stop making these cheesy wanna-be vampire movies and go for the real thing! Come-on Sony! You know you want to! Only be sure to get Justin Achili to write your screenplay.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than you'd think
Review: Underworld looked fairly light and cheesy in the previews, so I avoided a theater trip and just rented the DVD. I was mistaken. It's actually an entertaining romp that is mostly eye candy but does have some interesting acting in it. The somewhat goofy premise is as follows:Long ago, a human was born whose body was able to rapidly alter itself to resist environmental conditions. This allowed him to survive a plague that destroyed his village. His children inherited that trait. One was bitten by a bat and spawned a race of vampires, while another was bitten by a wolf and spawned a race of werewolves (a.k.a. lycans). A third did neither and hence the trait also survived in 'normal' humans. This divergence of races was long ago forgotten, and vampires and werewolves are now at one another's throats (har har) over a millenia of real and imagined slights. Kate Beckinsale plays a melodramatically-named 'Death Dealer', a vampire devoted to fighting lycans, who falls in love with a lycan candidate. Unbeknownst to all but a few tricky lycans, that candidate is a descendent of the 'human' strain of the original sire of all three races, and has the potential to become a hybrid vampire/lycan. Much mayhem and throat biting commences. Now, it's pretty obvious from the get-go that logic needs to get chucked out the window. Similarly, there's about as many sparks flying between Beckinsale and her love interest as there is between the mayonnaise and bologna in a bad deli sandwich. However the film does a surprisingly, almost effort-savingly good job of representing the various packs of night critters involved. The lycans impressively shape shift into massive, combat-oriented werewolves whenever angered (quite similar to another underappreciated recent film, 'Dog Soldiers'), and while the vampires don't do a lot of typically vampiric things like mind control or turning into packs of rats, they at least manage the 'gaunt and world-weary' thing well. You also get a sense of the hide-bound nature of their world, which is based on the endless rule of centuries-old elders and ancients, with newer vampires stuck in an immortality bereft of change or advancement. There are some great action sequences, a lot of fine back stabbing, and generally a great deal of enthusiasm on all sides when the fur starts flying. It really is almost enough to make up for the paper-thin plot and makes for a perfect summer movie..grab some popcorn and just enjoy the ride. On a side note, the general plot and themes seem to have been basically lifted wholesale from an entire book/RPG system of vampires v. werewolves that has been published by White Wolf for decades, to such an extent that I thought White Wolf had sponsored the film. Apparently not, given the fact they're suing over it (see the 'quotes and trivia' link in the product description above). If you've ever heard of them, you may be interested in this film as well.
Rating:
Summary: A decent movie, but who did the sound mixing?
Review: Good movie, bad movie, whatever. I enjoyed "Underworld" despite some plot holes, ridiculous ammo counts in the guns, and general wussiness on the vampires' part. My gripe is with the technical aspects of the DVD itself. Yes, I'm behind in the times, but I don't have surround sound in my living room. I've watched this DVD at a friend's house, and it sounded SPECTACULAR. However, I've tried watching the DVD at home, and I'm just plain baffled. Guns will be raised, people will fall, and I'll have to assume someone was shot, because the gun will make no sound. There are other weird parts too, where Lucian extrudes the bullets for example. I KNOW that APC's Judith remix plays during the scene, but I don't hear it all, although the bullets landing on the floor sound crystal clear. I can only assume they mixed it for Dolby 5.1 only, because there isn't a stereo/surround-sound choice in the Audio setup, just English and French. Maybe I should watch it in French some time, and see if they get more sounds.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Matrix" meets "Blade" -- and goes home
Review: This was definitely on my list of the worst films of 2003. A boring monster flick starring Kate Beckinsale (who really is a good actress and should have known better), this movie is ostensibly about an age-old conflict between vampires and werewolves. Instead, it's a remarkably tired and predictable plot that exists mainly as an excuse to show Beckinsale in tight leather. The dialogue is awful, the storyline (ooooh, what a big mystery) was obvious from the first frame, and the climactic battle scene relied on one of those movie moments that's so ridiculous you feel compelled to shout out, "Oh, COME ON!" in the middle of the movie theater. To be fair, Bill Nighy did make a suitably creepy villain, but he deserved a better movie to do it in. Pass on this flick and rent one of the movies it tried to rip off -- "The Matrix" and "Blade." Both of them are far more worthy of your time.
Rating:
Summary: Style and substance
Review: Great film. Although there has to be a suspension of disbelief in all of these sci-fi/thriller movies, "Underworld" tries to tie in a little science with the lore. The plot is somewhat predictable, but the action is pretty good....and Kate Beckinsale-she looks incredible in all her movies, but she's especially gorgeous in this one. She speaks with her native English accent as well...quite nice.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: Much has been written about the sparse acting and plot. The plot actually wasn't that bad (although a little Star-Trek like). I overall liked this movie except for Kraven, who just plain can't act. But once again, Kate is sooo cool and hot that she literally carries the movie on her back. Unfortunately her performance makes the other performances show as being hideous. Nice cinematography - sure it rips off the matrix. Also disappointing that it didn't show more vampire changes.
Rating: 
Summary: COULDNT HAVE BEEN ANY BETTER
Review: THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST VANPIRE MOVIES EVER SINCE BLADE AND BLADE II JUST TWISTED WITH WEREWOLVES,HEAVY WEAPONS AND NICE FIGHTING MOVES.IF YOUR INTO THE VANPIRE WEREWOLF TYPE OF MOVIES BUY THIS DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Fans of the genre will enjoy it, others probably won't.
Review: I swear, some people expect too much from action movies these days. This movie is set in the RPG world of White Wolf's Werewolf and Vampire. If you don't know what an RPG is, it's a role-playing game like Dungeons and Dragons. The whole plot, the setting, the characters and the way they interact with each other are lifted from the rule books. Is this a bad thing? No, not really. It's a good story, though a bit contrived. But there aren't many good vampire movies being made these days. Blade was okay, but after the vampire club scene at the beginning, the rest of the movie was anticlimactic. Bram Stoker's Dracula was a joke with Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves competing for the worst fake British accent oscar. Dusk 'till Dawn was fun, but not great. I think the last really good vampire movie was Dracula, the one from the late 70's with Frank Langella and Lawrence Olivier. That's not a lot of good vampire movies in the last 25 years. This movie was a solidly good one from an action movie standpoint. The weakest point was the love story between Kate Beckinsale's character and a newly created werewolf, one that was sort of the werewolf version of Neo in the Matrix or Paul Atreidies of Dune. There really wasn't much of a spark between them. I understand Kate's character being portrayed as cold and distant early on in the film, but she never really warmed up later to her so-called "love interest". I enjoyed the action and definitely enjoyed Kate Beckinsale running around in tight black Matrix-esqe fetish gear (sorry, I did). Her repeated entrance through the front door of the vampire's mansion became rather repetitive, and it's use to show off all the pretty goth vampires hanging around being terribly decadent got a bit boring. After reading the negative reviews I didn't expect much and was actually pleasantly suprised, but I'm a fan of the genre and never think an action movie is going to be something it's not.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT NEW LOOK FOR KATE
Review: I HAVE TO SAY I REALLY ENJOYED THIS MOVIE.I HAVE SEEN KATE BECKINSALE IN HER USUAL ROLES (PEARL HARBOR/SERINDIPITY) AND WAS A LTTLE SCEPTACLE HOWEVER, I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED.WHILE WATCHING THE MOVIE IT WAS HARD NOT TO COMPARE THIS TO THE MATRIX CROSSED WITH INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE BUT SOMEHOW THIS WORKS AND MAKES GREAT VIEWING..THROW IN SOME GREAT SPECIAL EFFECTS..THINK AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (NOT THE TRASHY REMAKE IN PARIS VERSION) AND THIS WILL GIVE YOU SOME IDEA OF THE FEEL OF THE MOVIE.FOR THOSE THAT LOVE A BIT OF ACTION WITH A TOUCH OF ROMANCE
YOU WILL BE SURE TO RATE THIS MOVIE HIGH..I LIKED IT A LOT MORE THAN MATRIX REVOLUTION AND MATRIX RELOADED ,LETS SAY ON EQUAL STANDARD OF THE ORIGINAL MATRIX..CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IF THEY MESS UP THE SEQUAL TO THIS AND IM SURE THERE WILL BE ONE.ENJOY I DID
Rating:
Summary: A well done re-interpretation of the vampire/werewolf myth
Review: A must see if for comparative with other films in the vampire genre. Some similarities with the movie "Blade II" seem like a rip-off, however, depicting ancient vampires in postmodern times has taken the form of desicated/emaciated mummy-like beings. Overall well done.
For those who enjoy the role playing genre of horror games you will unmistakable note similarites between this movie and White Wolf studios games like Vampire: the Masquerade & Werewolf: the Apocalypse.
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