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Underworld (Unrated Extended Cut)

Underworld (Unrated Extended Cut)

List Price: $34.95
Your Price: $27.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Dreadful waste of potentially wonderful idea
Review: 'Underworld' tells the tale of Selene, a huntress involved with the dynastic struggle for power that exists between the Vampire and the Werewolf. She uncovers dastardly plots and Vampiric civil unrest as she strives to protect mortal Michael from the biological machinations of the Werewolves.

Directed by Len Wiseman, 'Underworld' is an excellent idea for a movie, and strong performances come from Kate Beckinsale as Selene, Michael Sheen as Lucien and Bill Nighy as Viktor. It's also a hugely visual film, with gothic interiors and neo-noir direction beautifully capturing the feel of two ancient races locked in a modern struggle for supremacy. Excellent special effects and some truly gorgeous fight sequences (and thankfully, no matrix-esque posturing here!) all add to the excellent visual impression made by this picture.

So where does it go wrong?

Well, first of all it takes some wonderful ideas (like UV bullets, cross-breeding and technologically-advanced settings) and totally negates them with ridiculous plotlines about Vampires being able to fall pregnant and Werewolves being able to expel silver bullets. Surely the first rule of authenticity is not to rewrite the rules? When such huge changes are wrought on some of our most beloved myths we will reject them, but when they are done with such a crude, offhand manner it's unacceptable. It totally negates any credibility the film could have had. Similarly, the explanation behind why Vampires and Werewolves could cross-breed is presented to us in such a cliched, hackneyed way that it's just not inkeeping with the aesthetics of the movie.

And unfortunately, for this reviewer, that;s the overall and lasting impression left on me by 'Underworld'. A truly wonderful idea with decent performances and gorgeous settings, totally overshadowed by its own foolish script and legend-tinkering. A horrible waste of essentially a fantastic idea.

One to avoid.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wanting more.
Review: Yes we'll have to say that Underworld has a lot of faults. From the story line of the elders being really fuzzy to the vampires themselves being, lets face it, a little weak. And how many bullets does a handgun clip hold? Up to 13 for a .40. How come during some firing scenes with Selene I was reminded of the movie "Commando" where Arnold never seemed to run out of bullets in one clip? But I admired Danny McBride's vision of what it would be like to have an actual conflict between two great species. The only problem is that we need a bunch of holes filled within the story line to make things more interesting. That means we need a sequel that surpasses this one. Overall I have to say even though you could pick Underworld apart it was very enjoyable.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good, But Not Great
Review: First of all this movie tackled a very hard plot about a war that has existed between vampires and lycans(werewolves) for many years. I thought they did a really good job considering the unbelievable plot that they tackled. The character development in the movie was fair but it seemed as if at times the acting was a little bit to melodramatic. The movie focused mainly on the vampire culture and did not focus much on the werewolves. The graphics were excellent and the werewolves looked great. I recommend that you rent this before you buy it, it is a great DVD to watch but you may want to review it yourself before purchasing.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Pretty movie...but that's all there is
Review: Underworld is a movie about an invisible world within our very midst. A shadowy world of vampires and werewolves, fighting a blood feud that goes back several centuries. The main storyline is about Selene, a vampire warrior or death dealer, aligned with a coven of vampires that has become drunk with their arrogance and decadence.

Despite the fact that the vampires have nearly wiped out the werewolves, or lycans, Selene is convinced that they are behind a
plot that will ultimately lead to a new war that will threaten their existence. Of course, no one believes Selene. In an attempt to save her kind, Selene sets out on a course that leads to the truth on how the war started, betrayal, death, and the ultimate test of her allegiance.

Underworld is a visual journey, short on action, shallow in its character development, but otherwise beautiful to look at. But herein lies its downfall. For visual effects will only hold your attention for so long until you start wondering why the heck you wasted your money on this movie.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: cliche-flavored eye candy
Review: it's moments of lucidity can get pretty good, but this movie suffers from trying to weave too complex a plot. In addition, it frequently makes no sense and frequently looks like a game being played in "god" mode as characters never run of ammo, go to bullet-time, and actually use the drawn-out villain explanations to, ohmygosh, well, I geuss I won't spoil it for you. Suffice to say, none of these villains could take out Captain Obvious. No one acts like this unless they are reading a script. No one. Maybe pro wrestlers. . . .

Nothing in this struck me as new or fresh, just rehashed death scenes and ridiculously present mood music. Goth to be goth, for nothing else.

Is it just me, or does it look like they ran out of money for the final fight scene?

Check out Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (book beats film) for a much deeper story, characters, and your own choice of mood music.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Underworld Great! Not!
Review: I went to see Underworld with the greatest excitement in the world. Although I was forewarned a bit when I read the novelization of the book that it might not be that great. I hoped it would translate better on screen.

It did not. It sucked! No pun intended...

The writing was weak, the dialouge so chessy that in some parts was laughable. The acting was medicore, especially in the part of the vampire Kraven (Shane Brolly). I guess like anyone can be a singer nowadays, anyone can also be an actor. The cinemetography was below par. There were times when I didn't know what I was seeing. Underworld's aim as an action/romance movie didn't hit on target. The movie dragged on too much in my opinion that I was wondering when it will be over.

I enjoyed the character of Selene and Kate Beckinsale's performance. My favorite character was Lucian, which frankly was the best thing out of the whole movie. I loved Michael Sheen's performance. It's a shame that the character was axed off.

Just because you doing an action movie doesn't mean it doesn't have to be good. If your going to do it, do it right.

Underworld did Not do it right.

I give it a C+

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Under(whelming)world
Review: I was extremely disappointed in the quality of the dialogue, some of the special effects, the story, and the plot or lack thereof. I had seen the trailer in a theater and thought it looked like it would be great movie, a war between mythological immortals made sense to me (vampires versus werewolves (Lycans)). Heck it has Kate Beckinsale as the moody queen of the Vampire deathdealers! Unfortunately it was not even one of her better performances due primarily to the lack of a coherent story and poor character development. It was comfusing at times and all of the stunts were Matrix and Blade redos that just weren't as well pulled off IMHO. The greatest disappointment was that the premise of the story was a great idea but it just wasn't done in a way that made sense. Mediocre dialog between Selene and Victor (Lord of the Vampires) and Craven (his wannabe successor). My biggest question was what did all the Vampires who hung around the "Vampire Mansion" do besides lay around??
Buy Blade or even Blade II just don't waste your money on this flop like I did!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Uninspired
Review: Underworld had potential, and perhaps that's why I'm disappointed. Vampire vs. Werewolf; its actually quite simple and they screwed it up. The writers apparently thought that Werewolves needed a nerdy name, Lycans and Vampires needed redeemable qualities; they don't eat humans. The point of all this resides in one bad vampire king. I think it would have been much more interesting if neither the Vampires or Werewolfs would have had redeemable qualities. Making monsters act human for the sake drudging along an unoriginal love story with no payoff is just stupid. The only reason I gave it Two Stars is the background scenery, costuming, and some of the special effects.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Underwhelming
Review: Underworld, has vampires and werewolves in the modern world, fighting each other with guns and special ammo. The only good thing I could say about Underworld is that the special effects were good and the action scenes were well done. Now for the bad parts; the story was boring and confusing, the characters were uninteresting because they had weak dialog. I didn't like any of the characters and couldn't care less who lived or died. Kate Beckinsale's performance was very sterile. The whole movie takes place in nighttime and is terribly dark. All the scenes are so dark, even the action sequences were almost ruined by the darkness. They also kept showing very annoying flashbacks (that made no sense at all). Underworld also has a bad ending! I suggest you see "Blade" instead of this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie
Review: I thought I would not like it, but in fact I loved it. I was very amazed and await a sequel.


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