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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: 4 stars
Summary: Felt more like a ploit,
Review: Now here is a movie I have been waiting for : A vampire vrs. werewolf movie done right !
I am not gonna say anything about the plot ,all except that it was good. Yet , as one reviewer had said "they didn`t have enough time for the story ". I am in full agreement with that . Despite being two hours this movie felt like it should have been longer. It`s goal was the action , but it had such a great story that more attention to it would have been nice. I agree about the whole character development as well. There wasn`t much . But through out the entire movie I couldn`t help but think that this was just some ploit of things to come .
I do hope a 2nd movie will appear in the future . Maybe it will have what the first one was missing (think X-men.).

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Really bites the big one.
Review: Vampires, werewolves, black leather, heavy metal music, jumping from high places, and walking down hallways very dramatically. That's about all you can say for Underworld. A kind of new idea (though still quite cliched) but this film turned out to be a Blade/Matrix wannabe. Everyone wears tight black leather with long black trench coats and guns with weird bullets. And so begins the vampire vs. werewolf war! For hundreds of years the vamps and lykens (werewolves) have been at war. The head of each group have been at each others throat forever and now the fight is more important than ever. The lykens are searching for a human that holds the blood that can be used to mix both species to create a very powerful beast. That's most of the plot right there. The rest of the movie looks to be a way to show off special effects and just how many times they can open the double doors with one motion (which is a lot!). Kate Beckinsale did do a show a good performance but that's about it. The movie really fell short of my expectations. There's not much else I can say, a lot of corny lines and actions (but it is a vampire movie so you can't blame it too much), and a whole two hours of disappointment.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good update...
Review: Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman play opposing sides of a war. Think of it as a cross between 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Dracula'. More on the 'Dracula' side, though. Vampires and werewolves have been at war for the better part of 1500 years, though we are not sure why until the flashbacks begin. Good story, acting, and CGI effects.
But what I found most fascinating about the movie is how updates are made to the mythologies of vampires and werewolves. Example: vampires do reflect in mirrors. A lot of people will hate such a change, but I think such changes help make the monsters scarier. Because this makes them more difficult to distinguish from 'us'. A good combination of action and horror.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: strange but watchable
Review: It was fairly easy to guess that this wasn't going to be the must-see that its trailer promised, but Underworld is at least a little more substantial than, oh, about 80% of the big summer blockbusters I've had the misfortune to sit through this year. I'll give it that, anyway..

The main word that sprang to mind after seeing it was... well, 'odd'. Odd that anyone would make the choices they made in editing, in casting, in scripting and plot, after all the obvious work that has gone into backstory for this particular fantasy world. The trailer, surely one of the most enticing for a long time, remains a vision of what this film could have been - and I'm convinced this would have been pretty good, had a decent script editor and film editor been let near it before release.

What struck me somewhere near the end was the sheer *laziness* that went into the promo line quoted in every review: "Romeo and Juliet with vampires and werewolves". Right. Has anyone quoting that line: a) have any knowledge of Shakespeare's plot in one of its hundred incarnations or b) actually watched Underworld? The emotional heart of this film is fairly cold, distant, and pretty damn unromantic. I have never seen anything so sold as having a major romantic element, and so absolutely shying away from the subject. Its not so much done badly so much as not done at all; I have never seen anything less like a grand romance in my life!! Just a warning...

Still, there's fun to be had in spotting the movies that director Len Wiseman liked in the past few years... As much as Matrix paid homage to Dark City stylistically, so Underworld sneaks in as many little Matrix tributes as it can reasonably manage (the modem-sound backing music, the old-fashioned phone ring, all those long black leather coats, a lobby-scene wannabe, yada yada yada). Kinda cute, in a way... sadly, these are more like the original Matrix than the overblown Reloaded could manage, but that's another story altogether...

Like most of the lead characters, Kate Beckinsdale is pretty much wasted playing Selene,the kinda vamp Buffy could stake in her sleep.. never have vampires been so.. well, useless, as they are here! Jumping off tall buildings gracefully and firing guns are pretty much all their talents, but the Lycans get to do all that and way, way more. Bit of a shame, really. Beckinsdale goes for an 'Angel without the wisecracks' performance, which just adds to the general gloom - the character really is weak - and irritatingly stupid on occasion. Scott Speedman coasts through looking dazed and confused, while the actor playing Kraven manages to wreck every scene he's in - and that's quite a few - by being the only American vampire in a cast of Brits. Thats all well and good, but his clenched teeth acting and strange, strange accent contrived to make me cringe whenever he showed up. Near the end, he lapses into an odd Scottish accent (shades of the embarrassingly bad Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle at that point) which just serves to confuse more... weird.

Kudos to Bill Nighy, even if he does pretty much sleepwalk through the role of Viktor, and especial praise to Michael Sheen, who can console himself from getting dumped by the leading lady with the thought that he pretty much carried the movie. Great actor, the only character with any depth, and a joy to watch. Interesting...

All in all, it's a film thats been marketed better than its been put together, but the sheer amount of potential there drags it through. It's damn good to look at most of the time (it may help if you turn your brain off during most of the plot exposition; it's less painful that way) and if immortals in leather coats and fabulous dresses with lots of guns are your idea of fun, you can't go far wrong here. In my humble opinion, it's more watchable than most of the films I've sat through this year (Yes, that's you, Matrix Reloaded, Charlie's Angels 2, Tomb Raider 2, X-Men2 and the excruciating Daredevil). It's a shame that it sacrifices an ending to what amounts to a plea for a sequel (and a sad little plea at that) but the SFX are impressive and there are flashes of brilliance throughout. No, it doesn't live up to the trailer, but here's hoping they greenlight a sequel that actually learns from its mistakes...!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good movie... hopefully a better DVD
Review: I'm not going to delve into the story line as others have already done that. Overall, I enjoyed this movie. At 121 minutes long this movie seems that it was limited in how much of a story it could tell. The film makers are tasked with explaining brand new societies of vampires and wherewolves including new rules (which I don't mind... these are FANTASY characters afterall) and unfortunatley character developement did not get all of the screen time that it should have gotten. The visual feel of the movie was great, almost Gothamesque and the soundtrack matched the film perfectly. The Audio / Visual effects were very good too.
I sincerly hope that a extended DVD will be released with 30 minutes more footage to explain the story a little better.
Still, after seeing this movie last night I felt that my money was well spent. In its present form... this is a entertaining movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Amazing to look at!
Review: Well, I will begin by saying that I thought this movie was stunning to look at. The make-up, special fx's, and fight scenes were amazing. Like many others the story itself had a few problems, but I still enjoyed the movie and will probably see it again and definitely buy the DVD when it's available.
I saw this movie again and liked it better the second time. The movie is fast paced and I missed a few things the first time. I still can't get over the look of this movie the special Fx's are absolutely fabulous. As for the story I think they cut it a little too deeply for my taste I'd have liked a longer story with some more information, but it was the best vampire/werewolf story I have seen since Brotherhood of the Wolf.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good movie
Review: this was a great movie, the acting was good, the action scenes were good, but i gave it a 4 because of the lack of action. it was alot more about getting towards the idea on why the war between the vampires and lichens was started and why it has lasted long. overall this movie was awsome, and u should go see it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An average movie
Review: The movie could have been very good if the character and story line would have been further developed. You always felt that you were droped in the middle of a story. If more of the questions would have been answered than it would have been a very great movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fabulous
Review: Hey, this is eye candy, pure dark fiction. If I expected deep drama, I would have rented Hamlet instead of seeing Underworld. A few reviewers were dissing it so far, but I happened to enjoy it.
It was dark, rainy, fast paced, interesting story line that really makes you want to get to the core of it, thight leather clothes, flying, shooting, running, picturesque fighting sequences.
I'm glad i saw it, dont let them tell you otherwise.
Also the lycans (werewolves) looked really cool, big raw cats, and the transformatin you got to watch was really some oscar worty special effects.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Five stars with an asterisk
Review: Okay, here's the deal: if you are looking for deep character development and an airtight plot than you had no intention of seeing a modern action movie in the first place. So why are the critics so cruel? I think a lot of professionals felt that they got on the Matrix bandwagon too late and to compensate they are trying to jump ship before the genre starts sinking. Stylish action flicks were en vogue the past few years and I'm sure Mr. Ebert has the hate mail to prove it.

Regardless, Underworld in what it appears to be. A stylish, frenetic action film with the right mix of CGI, thin but compelling plotlines, and jaw dropping action to warrant an addition to my DVD collection when it gets distributed. It's a winner. To think otherwise...well, you would have had to be looking for something that is wasn't nor should it have been. For its genre it's an exceptional piece of cinema.


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