Rating: 
Summary: A good movie with a twist I wasn't ready for.
Review: Underworld, for those not in the know, is a Vampires vs. Werewolves (Lycans) movie. My first initial reaction to it when I saw the previews on TV were, "Oh no! Not another Matrix ripoff!"The scene where Kate Beckinsale's character shoots through the floor to drop down to the floor below it, as well as the shoot out in the subway, scream "Matrix". The sad thing is that those two scenes alone almost do an injustice to the movie for those that have not truely given it a chance. Other than those two scenes, the movie itself is NOT a Matrix ripoff. It only borrows some ideas from the Matrix series. I'm glad that I finally went and purchased the DVD and watched the movie. It was refreshing and a twist in the plot had me going. Underworld has a story line to it, unlike Matrix Reloaded (which I still enjoyed, BTW). Rather than throwing in a lot of action and trying to weave a story into it, this movie has a story with the action supporting the story. The darkness of the sets helps to bring out the broodishness of the war between the two factions. In many respects, it reminded me of The Crow and the first two Batman movies, giving a Gothic feel to it, which sets the tone for the movie. For fans looking for a fast-paced action movie, you might want to look elsewhere. This movie is more about a war between two factions that hate each other. At first, you are given the belief that there is no known reason for the war except that there is an extreme hatred between Vampires and Lycans, but clues are given as the movie advances and the real reason will eventually be revealed, and for me, it was out of left field! Who do you root for? The Vamps or the Lycans? You decide! The only problem I have is that the Vampires cast reflections! For me, that is such an integral part of the Vampire lore, but I can overlook it in this case. Also, it might seem weird with Vampires and Lycans shooting at each other, but the ammunition is not your standard grade of ammo. It's actually ingenious with the types of ammo they came up with for this movie. Why shouldn't the Vampires and Lycans be with the times? Better to use the technology at hand I say to give yourself an advantage. Besides, this ISN'T Buffy the Vampire Slayer, another one of my favorites (the TV series, that is!) The ending seems to leave room for a sequel. However, I think it might be best left alone and we are left to just wonder what is to become of the war between the Vampires and the Lycans.
Rating: 
Summary: Underwhelmed
Review: Okay, the premise was interesting, Vampires versus Werewolves (Lycans). But who wants to see them duke it out with GUNS??? Adding to the stupidity, the Vampires shoot silver nitrate bullets, and the Lycans shoot (I'm not joking here, folks) daylight bullets! The acting is rather hammy. The dialogue is such a waste, many times it really seems as though it is simply there to fill time. I will admit that the movie got better as it went on, and in the end, I would call it midly entertaining. Really, though, nothing more than a hybrid of The Matrix and The Crow movies. Unless you are a serious comic book geek or insatiable g*th cow, skip it.
Rating: 
Summary: Jungle Fever
Review: Underworld. I have come to hate these kinds of films. The kind of films were art direction is the soul of the movie, and the script becomes an afterthought. Maybe even less than that. With its decadent costumes and constant visual blasts of post-industrial color schemes, Underworld is obsessed with its own image. For two hours, we are taken for a ride through a monochromatic labyrinth of boredom, where a nameless gothic paradise (we may call it Budapest) is the center of an apocalyptic war between vampire and "werewolf" that has raged for, oh, ages. Only in this image obsessed film, the old-school term werewolf is replaced by the much cooler title of lycan. YAWN. But this war isn't about justice, vengeance, freedom, or ideology, although it pretends it is; no, the conflict in Underworld is about action scenes so sadly derivative of The Matrix, they look like out-takes (Blade and The Crow also pop in to say hi). Once again, instead of well choreographed action involving skill, we get camera tricks. And lot's of bullets. What's up with that? Instead of supernatural combat, we get mundane, unoriginal street gang warfare. YAWN. What skeleton of a plot the film does have has something to do with an annoying racial metaphor between werewo, er, I mean lycan and vampire. It seems the CGI lycans were once slaves of the vampires, and treated like, well, dogs. And of course, wouldn't you know it, one of these savage, inferior lycans had an affair with the daughter of the Grand Dragon of the KKK, or rather, the lord vampire, who, as it turns out, is the best thing in this film. HA! You can guess what happened once he found darling daughter shaming her blood. From there, the plot attempts to establish that miscegenation is a revolutionary act, one that will ultimately lead to a better race. YAWN. However, this garden-variety liberal noise is buried by self-conscious poses and variations in grey. You know, the important stuff. Kate Beckinsale does a wonderful job of, well, scowling, and, er, everyone else looks cool, I guess. The digital transformations of the lycans only makes one yearn for Rick Baker, while the soundtrack is so nice and trendy. In the end, Underworld is another reminder as to why horror films are on the bottom of the genre food chain. I'm done.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing action and in-depth story.
Review: I want to begin with 'Underworld' is not for everyone. It is hightly specific for a certain kind of audience. The audience that knows the rules and behaviors of Vampires and Werewolves, because they don't go into detail about that in the movie. Not everyone will love it, but to those people who love vampire, werewolf, myth movies, (myself included), it was great!!! One of the first to combine the unlikely combinations of Vampires vs. Werewolves ( or Lycon as in the movie ). The story was true to many beliefs (Vampires are stuck-up upper class, and werewolfs are more savage) and explored a plot line that revolves around inter-species connections. It was fanastic, the movie was very well done, with the color palette being a mix of dark blues, and gloomy atmospheres. It was something out of movies like 'From Hell' and 'Interview from a Vampire'. The actors were of course not all that good, but hey, what actors are really good in movies now a days? The heroine, Celine was good for the part in looks, and her counterpart, Micheal was not a bad match either. They seemed compatable, but not to flashy in the romantic department, which was nice for the action-lovers, but a little lacking for a vampire movie. Whatever you are looking for in this movie, its there and i, along with hopefully many other fans, will be looking for a sequel or two to this mysterious and cryptic story.
Rating:
Summary: I liked and enjoyed this movie
Review: I have read all kinds of vampire books (and a few on werewolves) and it seems though some authors tend to stick to the same existance for both (no reflection, holy water, silver bullets), it always seems nice to me to either read a story or see a movie that is courageous enough to be different and to create their own rules. I didn't see Underworld as a love story (I guess the love between Lucien and Viktor's daughter could seem that way) and the funny thing is after it was over and my husband asked me what I thought, I told him "It wasn't gory at all but it had to have blood in it since it was about vampires and werewolves" and then I watched the movie, and one of the people said a similar thing so I guess I got what they were trying to do. I was amazed that there were REAL people in those werewolf suits (I wish they would have gotten a real person to play the Hulk but that is a whole nother issue) because they wanted the audience to see how real looking they could be made to look. I was facinated by the way Michael looked after Lucien told Selene to bite him and what happened afterwards. Even though they didn't show the vampires actually taking blood from people, I think they were actually drinking blood at one point in the movie (or at least it looked like a red colored substance in glasses). There are so many ways of writing a story like this and I believe a good job was done in the making of the movie from the settings, (being so dark and gloomy - the movie IS called Underworld) the thirst (excuse the pun) for power, a struggle (that was based on a lie) between two species and an ending that leads me to believe that there will be a second Underworld.
Rating:
Summary: Spare us this, Sony.
Review: I have seen some pretty over-rated movies before, but not like this. It's a MTV music video discussied as a movie with terrible acting, direction, and very bad cgi effects. Sony makes cheap everything including movies and DVDs. If you want to waste your money on this and other Sony films, go ahead. I'm going back to Warner Brothers for great film entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing special, but a good way to spend an hour and a half
Review: Underworld is nothing more than what the cover shows: a slick looking action movie with vampires and werewolves. That is all it really needs to be, in my opinion. This movie doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does have some tightly shot action sequences, and Kate Beckinsale breathes uncommon life into the usual cardboard cut-out 'bad girl'.
Rating:
Summary: "The war has begun."
Review: This is a fantasy/horor film about the war between the foulest of denizens lurking in the underworld. Werewolves and Vampires have been locked in a battle that has lasted for centuries. If this movie is taken at face value and simply enjoyed as a violent, gothic horror story, then it is very entertaining. The problems arise when I noticed plot flaws and/or parts of the story that were mentioned early then completely forgotten by movie's end. Also, there are scenes stolen nearly frame-for-frame from "The Matrix." Kate Beckinsale, dressed in black latex and wet leather, could very well be Trinity's younger sister. While I first scoffed at this thievery, I then realized that although they were stolen, they were also pulled off professionally. I also noticed that the sun never rose during the course of the movie, which conjured images of another gothic-tinged film, "Dark City." Some of the acting is sub-par, but this film is not meant to challenge the Oscars for acting achievement. It is an action film with blood and violence and, to my absolute surprise, a good story.
Rating:
Summary: For the Sake of Humanity!
Review: In the world of cinema, there are always the awful films, but there are also those films which are not necessarily written poorly or are incredibly stupid, but are just as abominable. Underworld, starring Kate Beckinsale, is a film without purpose and a film that millions of dollars on which should not have been spent. Out of the goodness of my heart, I decided to lend myself to another for a few hours--I decided to watch this pile of garbage to be nice. I knew it was going to be boring and inane, but yet I agreed. To my chagrin, at the end of the first scene my eyes were already beginning to glaze over. "This soon?" I thought and wanted to die of boredom--thinking of the tedium of the hour and a half to ensue. All right, all right. I've made my point. I don't like this film. Surely there are people that do, and to you I say, "Whatever." Underworld does have nice special effects, but the effects are definitely ones we've seen before. The thing about this movie which is most unbearable is its inhumanity. There was nothing human at all in this film. Thus, I would say to the makers of this film, "You don't write about anything that is human, so why would you think any human would want to see this?" Well, I suppose there are a lot of crazy science fiction fans running around, liking all of this automaton crap. But I don't like it. I'd rather be a human. Anyhow, I implore you: instead of wasting your time watching Underworld, why don't you read a book, talk to a friend, help somebody out, learn to play a musical instrument, stare at the wall and use your brain for a couple of hours? Write an Amazon review! For the sake of mankind, don't waste your time watching Underworld.
Rating:
Summary: war, action, and a little underplayed love story
Review: I enjoyed this movie, why not I like movies about vampires and wearwolves. This one has a lot of familiar looks and action. For some it might be too familiar as it simulates a bit of matrix in its look and style. There is a tail about love and the cause for the war beginning that seems could have been played up more and you really don't quite get what its all about until you reach the end of the movie. All through the movie you do seem to be left hopeing for more action and chemistry between the two main characters, and yet you can almost understand the hesitations. The movie moves along quickly and smoothly enough though that any disappointment in the lack of chemistry displayed between them doesn't seem to bother you much. It doesn't drag on and on like some reviewers might make you think.
the thing that kind of threw me was why no female wearwolfs. It could have had a little more original style and costumes, but it was still a good movie.
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