Rating: 
Summary: The best vampire/werewolf movie in a long time
Review: only one word can wrap up Underworld, BREATHTAKING! Theres action, a catchy story, awesome actors, cool effects, and just the perfect movie. About a war between two immortal species, i was hooked. I'm a fan of a lot vampire movies like "queen of the damned" "blade 1&2" "dusk till dawn" and a whole lot more. The effects in here make you feel like you are in the movie. Also the only thing they could change is the soundtrack. they should add some gothic, hard metal artists such as korn, maybe even moody. this movie kicks ass, and if theres a sequel, then WOW!
Rating: 
Summary: Worst vampire movie ever.
Review: There are certain genre conventions with vampires and werewolves. Like the fact that they are hard to kill. At one point in this movie a vampire passes out from blood loss due to a stab wound from an ordinary knife. Please. While this is the most egregious disappointment, it is certainly not the only one. The movie plays more like a Hong Kong gunfest than a vamp or werewolf movie. Werewolves were only identifiable when they (rarely) chose to wolf-out. Vampires weren't really identifiable at all, except perhaps for the one occasion when a vamp bit someone. And why are werewolves running on walls and ceilings?! The only good things about this movie are the leather outfits.
Rating: 
Summary: A high-budget version of a direct-to-video release.
Review: UNDERWORLD is not a good movie. This isn't a completely bad thing, as the film contains enough entertaining aspects to make watching it worthwhile, especially for fans of vampires as depicted in the popular roleplaying game, VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE (soon to be VAMPIRE: THE REQUIEM). Shortly before UNDERWORLD's release in the theatres, the film's producers were sued by the makers of VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE on the grounds that UNDERWORLD represents a direct steal from that game and its many supplements, novels and assorted accoutrements.Legal troubles aside, UNDERWORLD's DVD release is a slick package with quite a bit under the hood. Though not a jam-packed, double-disk release, UNDERWORLD has director and writer commentaries, a series of featurettes, and a robust selection of trailers for other genre releases. Not bad for what is essentially a direct-to-video sort of film. To be fair, UNDERWORLD isn't lazy. Director Len Wiseman, whose biggest screen credit previously was as Assistant Props Manager on INDEPENDENCE DAY, really wanted to make a glossy, sexy actioner with vampires and werewolves in it. And to his credit, UNDERWORLD looks very good. Star Kate Beckinsale is dangerously appealing in her black leather outfit, and she's surrounded by an appropriately Goth-looking cast. The film was shot in Eastern Europe for budgetary reasons, though the crumbling look of Prague and Budapest don't hurt the film's atmosphere at all. When UNDERWORLD gets moving, it sizzles. Certainly Wiseman has stolen more than a few tricks from masters of action like John Woo and the Wachowski Brothers, but that's standard practice these days. Bullets fly, plaster shatters, bodies are punctured, and (as mentioned) it all looks great. It's when UNDERWORLD slows down, and one has to pay attention to the story, that things falter. Screenwriter Danny McBride, a former stuntman who once penned an episode of OUTER LIMITS, has ideas, but can't get them to fit into any sort of coherent pattern. The raw outlines are there - vampires want to kill all the werewolves, and the werewolves want to kill all the vampires - but whenever the screenplay gets down to specifics, nothing adds up. Heroic Kate Beckinsale, as the vampire Selene, is inexplicably drawn to bland cipher Michael (Scott Speedman), who is in turn sought by the leader of the werewolves. Apparently Michael's some kind of genetic catalyst who can bind vampire and werewolf DNA together. Or something. Meanwhile there are double-dealings going on in vampiric society, a quasi love triangle between Selene and the acting head of the vampires...and that's enough. There's more, but that's enough. UNDERWORLD is overstuffed. The immediate consequence of this is that long stretches of screen time pass where a lot of talking takes place, but the story fails to move forward. Wiseman and McBride want the tale to be mysterious, leaking out detail by detail, but are forced to regurgitate huge chunks of exposition near the end of the film when time runs short. The movie is a lot more fun when it's just being flashy, and that's really where UNDERWORLD's ultimate appeal lies. Audiences wanting a smart movie about vampires are urged to look elsewhere. Those who want beautiful images and a handsome cast flying around on wires kicking butt are in for a treat.
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.
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