Rating: 
Summary: While flawed, Underworld does offer some entertainment.
Review: Perched on a ledge high above a dark, rain soaked city, a woman and her companion watch and wait. For Selene (Kate Beckinsale), this is a night like many others where she will seek out Lycans (werewolves), and eliminate them in accordance with a centuries old blood feud between the two mythical races. With the Lycans thought to be on the verge of extinction the vampires are preparing to form a new coven by merging with a powerful overseas clan. Towards this end, members of both houses plan to awaken one of their two great leaders to guide the vampires into a new era of prosperity. Selene is troubled by the plans, as she believes that the Lychans are massing in greater numbers under the leadership of their leader Lucian (Michael Sheen), whom the vampires believe died centuries ago. Further complicating matters is Selene's concern that the present leader of the vampires Kraven (Shane Brolly), may not be willing to release the power he now holds and that the Lichens interest in a mortal named Michael (Scott Speedman), may indeed be the key to a larger threat to her people. Selene is forced to defy Kraven and leave the safety of the vampire mansion to locate Michael before the Lychan hordes are able to and use him for their sinister plans. While the action in 'Underworld' is loud, it never seems to have the intensity that it should, as the sense of urgency and tension seems to be missing. The cast is good, but they do not display much emotional depth and this hinders the efforts of the audience to form a connection with the characters and care for their fates. That being said, 'Underworld' does a fantastic job with breathing new life into the vampire genre. Director Len Wiseman bathes the viewers in images of eerie translucence that combine various color hues to create a look that enhances the action by surrounding it in an otherworldly ambience. Writers Kevin Grevioux and Danny McBride are to be commended for breathing new life into the genres as he gives us a tale that entertains yet expands upon the traditional lore of the creatures and if for nothing else, that alone makes 'Underworld' pure entertainment and a must see film for fans of the genre. 3 stars out of 5 Gareth Von Kallenbach www.sknr.net
Rating: 
Summary: Underworld Rocks
Review: I was greatly surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. At first, I thought that it would be a Blade Runner type action movie and have little in regards to character growth or a well conceived plot. I was going to wait until the DVD release, but then decided to see it in the theater since I have enjoyed Ms. Beckinsale's work on other pictures. I have now seen Underworld three times! The plot was complex and in the end, I could tell that there was an effort to talk about the problems that we still have with race relations. However, it was Kate's performance that really won me over. The character of Selene was thoughtfully brought to life with Kate's performance and I believe it was this that made the movie a success. It was very wise to focus a lot of the movie on Selene's character growth. At first, she was a Vampire warrior. At the end, she was closer to rediscovering her lost humanity.
Underworld proves that a movie with a modest budget can still delight fans with excellent characters, particularlly Selene, and a well constructed story. I look forward to revisiting this world many times in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Expected.
Review: Upon watching UNDERWORLD for the first time, I wasn't expecting to be very interested. I had read so many negative reviews and heard so many people say that it was a rip-off of ROMEO AND JULIET, that I just wasn't expecting much. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised when the final credits started to roll and I was left sitting in my seat thinking, "What? It's over already?". As many have already stated, the film is about a vampire death-slayer (vampires who hunt wearwolves) who falls in love with a human who has been bitten by her most hated enemy, the werewolf overlord who was supposed to have been killed centuries before. The film starts off somewhat slow then rushes into a fighiting frenzy, then slows down, then rushes into a fighting frenzy, then slows down. The entire movie is paced this way. Some find it irritating. However, I felt that it added to the mood of the movie, the pace of the film accompaning the transformations that the characters undergo both physically and psychologically. The lighting and costumes seemed to fit the dark underworld that is the setting for most of the film. The only time the tones lightened up were in flashbacks to centuries before when the wearwolves and vampires weren't at war, suggesting a more pleasant era. The characters in the movie aren't allowed to develop much, except through narrative. However, I didn't find that this took anything away from the movie. Much like all franchises (as UNDERWORLD is sure to become), this film sets up everything that is to come in the next. This isn't a thinking person's movie nor is it a full blown action piece; in the style and tone the movie has more of a literary feel than anything else. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough conflict between the wearwolves and the vampires; so much time is spent on setting the tone, mood, and narrative that there wasn't much time left for action. Nevertheless, I still found that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and look forward to seeing it again.
Rating:
Summary: See the sequel next year..
Review: This movie was made with a sequel in mind, just look at how it ended! But I did enjoy this film, I liked the atmosphere and the characters and the story is pretty interesting (hard to follow?? - no way.) Why such bad reviews? Who knows, maybe the critics are Lycans and the moon was full when they saw the movie.
Rating:
Summary: What, you want high cinema?? This movie was just fine.
Review: Augh, I get so tired of people slamming movies just to make themselves appear to be some sorts of cinema gods who think everything's supposed to be high art. This movie was perfectly enjoyable for what it was. I even went to see it twice, and I may go again. I am a huge horror genre fan, werewolves in particular. Ever since I was a kid I've had a fascination with them. So, when I heard this movie was coming out, I flipped with excitement. And I was not let down, for the most part. Granted, the acting in this movie WAS a bit cheeeezy, but so what? Not the first time I sat through a fine movie all the while tolerating bad acting (Titanic's Leo anyone?). Beckinsale did a great job with what she had, though I would have liked to see just a bit more emotional range in her character. Speedman was...okay..for the small part he had. He too needed a little help in the emoting department though. God help us..many of the vamp crew's acting was absolutely hilarious. Especially Viktor's slight hillbilly accent here and there. But, I can deal with that. Its not like this movie had the budget to hire a whole slew of A listers AND supply them with their 30 mil-a-piece paychecks AND bow to their expensive whims and demands. We'd have had paper vampires had that been the case, cause that's all they'd have been able to afford. And now, the werewolves. I am extremely judgemental when it comes to the depiction of these fantasy creatures in movies and books. I dont find any other fantasy creature quite as horrific and cool as the werewolf. So when I saw the trailers for UW, I thought, "Oh God no..not more CG 'Paris' hairless dogs!!" For the life of me..I wish cinema would go back to the good old days of fabulous make up work and leave the CG where it belongs...(in the Matrix). HOWEVER, I found myself quite surprised when I saw them in the film. They're well done, well lit, and the CG is very limited. There are suits and makeup involved in close shots whereas the CG is only used for specific scenes...namely the 'wall crawling' scenes, which WOULD have been cool had they been better animated, but they were okay nonetheless. Also, they werent shown in full light too much. The very shape and sound of them was enough to scare you. The trick to good horror is not showing stuff...leave it to the imaginations of the viewers, and they'll be a lot more afraid. I do wish the wolves would have had just a little more airtime though...they really were very cool, and coming from me that's a big compliment. Overall, this movie was quite good, despite some obvious flaws. So it wasnt strikingly fresh and original...but is anything these days? Please... Go see this movie for what it is: a good gun-fightin, monster-warring goth fantasy flick. Dont go in expecting Evian and peeled grapes and tormented actresses portraying deaf british writers...if you want that, go to an art house, and leave us plain-jane horror movie fans in peace.
Rating: 
Summary: no, quite ridiculous.
Review: dont see this movie in the theatres. dont buy it on dvd. watch it on cable, rent it as a bargain price or borrow it from a friend if you must see it. patience is only a mild form of despair after all and actually paying more than three dollars to see this movie where you can't pause it no matter how big the screen is is just not worth the time, money, without factoring the oppurtunity cost of what you could be doing instead. let's face it. kate's hot, the cinematography was pretty, and we are familiar with enough movies like this that were good, alien 1-3, terminator, matrix, batman, the crow, that it would be easy to say yes i liked. but people are so no and i am glad people have more sense. i dont care if they paid for a decent soundtrack. that's a marketing peripheral people hollywood learned from sinatra or jean kelly, but was revitalized with the in the early 90s etc. anyway, plot? hah. like scooping up a trash can full of frogs, and stomping in it to see if youll squash one. i will only say that it is ridiculous to attribute all of the morphological changes and powers of these creatures which seem to break not just constraints of biology and evolution but mechanical physics as well to viruses. viruses to make you turn into a giant monster and back again violating conservation of mass and energy both times. it's ridiculous. people are afraid just to say "it's magic" so they have to invent bogus science like "silver nitrate" bullets or "irradiated" bullets. you know if uv kills vampires, you could just get a bunch of uv bulbs and blast them at your convenience without even having to use guns. in a similar fashion the werewolf tunnels could be flooded with silver nitrate. why silver nitrate was not employed by vampires when it was discovered about three hundred some odd years ago by alchemists. if the military can provide them with weapons of mass destruction not just guns but grenades, how is being an "immortal" better than just being a human with access to high tech weaponry. i thought it would be nice if they had actually somehow adapted to 21st century technology and culture unlike the blade movies but apparently not. long live the brides of dracula and peter cushing.
Rating:
Summary: Leapin' Lycans
Review: Do not be led astray by the excellently edited theatrical preview for this film, it is neither a successful Matrix-esque actioner nor a star-crossed romance pic. It is, 'underneath it all' a blood feud movie between werewolves and vampires. It has more in common with 'West-Side Story' or an old mob movie than its oft compared 'Romeo and Juliet'. Though, on the surface, it is exactly 'Romeo and Juliet': Selene (Beckinsale) and Michael Corvin (Speedman) are in love and play for opposite teams. Their respective families are bound by the omnipresent 'covenant' to keep them apart. However, their romance is too underdeveloped and too unbelievable to serve as story. They share almost no dialogue with each other and have zero chemistry... what their attraction does lead to is the real story of the film, which is what's behind this thousand year feud between vampires and werewolves. And fortunately for us movie-goers, the answer to that question is entertaining enough to save this movie. If you can stick with the 'Undeworld' through the first half, you've pretty much got it made. The plot progresses ploddingly through varying degrees of action sequences set in noticeably digitally-enhanced sets. The action itself is sub-par, as Beckinsale seems clumsy with her weapons, and the slow-mo editing of all the acrobatics doesn't disguise well the fact that all the actors are connected to harnesses. The sequences are often over-long and timed irregularly. For example, I can suspend my disbelief enough to allow for a war between vampires and werewolves, but I can't believe that it would take three werewolves ten minutes to run down a ten foot long hallway. That said, once the halfway point hits and the actual story begins to unfold, the action (though still choppy) at least has some emotion invested in it. The plight of ... (I'll leave this blank so as not to spoil anything) ... is engaging and somewhat of a surprise. The apparent villains shift around from character to character until the final sequence in which every character seems to have a justifiable reason to be attacking/attacked. It all leads to a tremendous (if somewhat heavy handed) finale that rescues a two star movie and nearly boosts it up to a four star movie. Anyone looking for a good time will surely get it here, and anyone looking for a little more depth out of an action/horror/sci-fi can get it here too. Not many films in the past couple of months can claim the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Pick me up and let me fall....
Review: Thoughts : Too much hype, that is what I have to say about this movie. Hyde is right in stating that the movie is an ACTION movie with horror overtones, but unfortunately it is TOO much on the action front. Not that I totally dislike action flicks, but if I go to see a movie billed as a horror movie, that is what I expect.
Cast/Characters : Beckinsale is a tremendous actress, but not in this role. The word mousey comes to mind, no matter how much black leather she wears or how many guns she carries around. Give her some Shakespeare and see her true calling.
Story/Plot : I enjoyed the whole concept of the movie, that the battle has been waged for many years. It's always good to have the bad guys duking it out. Also making everything modern worked well, too. Pace : Very poor pace on this film. You would have this long, drawn out dramatic scene and just when it built up to it's peak BAM!, scene change. Far too much jumping from situation to situation.....even I got lost a few times in the movie. And HOW MANY FRICKIN' TIMES can we do a shot of Selene standing at a door and either pushing it open in the slow frame effect or just kicking it in? Oh my!
F/X : I enjoyed the special effects immensely! The changing of man to werewolf was well done and even the fight scenes (though just a few too many drawn out) were well done.
Rating : Pick me up and then let me fall. That is what I ended up feeling about this movie. This one gets a 2 star rating from me. Wait for video for sure....get the DVD to enjoy the effects but don't say I didn't warn ya! See what HYDE says about this movie at
http://horror-web.com
Rating:
Summary: Underrated by the critics
Review: This is a genre film that appeals to those of us who enjoy gothic fantasies -- of vampires and werewolves. Not so much derivative as developing the imagery of the genre. The story is about loyalty and betrayal, and the style is heavy action, very escapist. Kate Beckinsdale is beautiful and effective in this role. The visuals are dark but not tritely done -- well done. The plot moves fast, twists and surprises... Very good.
Rating:
Summary: Underwhelm is more like it
Review: I really wanted to like this movie, a lot. First, it has Kate Beckinsale, who I have loved and followed ever since she appeared in "Cold Comfort Farm" (hopefully my wife understands). She's pretty, personable, and, in this film, very sexy looking. But for whatever reason the director fails to take advantage of her presence. As far as plot goes, apparently vampires and werewolves, or as they are called in the film, lycans, have been at war for centuries. Beckinsale is Selene, a vampire who specializes in hunting and killing lycans. Early in the movie, she discovers that lycans are tracking a human, Scott Speedman, but can't figure out why (and guess what, she's a very high tech vamp). Her curiosity causes her to come into conflict with the present leaders of the vampires and to, naturally, meet and fall in love with Speedman. As the story progresses, she uncovers a plot to overthrow the current vampire hierarchy and, in the one clever twist to the plot, also learns that she may have more in the common with the lycans than she thought. The film is beautifully shot in a blue tint, but for some reason, its almost constantly raining throughout the film. Apparently vampires don't have to worry about black mold problems in their homes. There also seem to be problems with the passage of time. It seems obvious that all the action is taking place over several days, but its always night throughout the film and we never get any indication that daylight has come and gone. It is also apparent that all the action is taking place in an old, unnamed European city (Budapest in reality), but apparently Americans are studying medicine there with no language difficulties. Speedman appears to be a med student and works at a hosptial with other Americans. The special effects are, well, not too special and the overall plot is just trying to be way too clever for its own good. The filmmakers clearly want to keep us guessing about exactly what is going on throughout the movie, but its obvious in watching the actors who is going to turn out to be a bad guy (a relative term in a film about werewolves and vampires). Moreover, other than Beckinsale, most of the acting is pretty bad. There are also plenty of illogical moments, particularly given the wealth of vampire lore with which most viewers would be familiar. At one point Speedman saves Beckinsale from drowning and essentially resusitates her. Excuse me, but aren't vampires pretty much immortal and capable of being killed by only a limited number of means? Last time I checked, drowning was not among them. And other than Beckinsale and a few other key characters, these have got to be some of the wimpiest vampires to appear on celluloid. The film also seems to strain against its budget, esspecially in the special effects department. Who would think that the old Lon Chaney, Jr. wolfman could be more convincing than modern CGI werewolves (at least I think it was CGI)? But that's exactly how I felt while watching this movie. Its too bad that they've squandered what could have been a very cool film by saddling it with a bad plotline and poor effects. Still, the film is worth viewing for the excellent cinematography and Kate Beckinsale. And get ready for "Underworld II" as the ending makes it clear someone is already planning on a sequel.
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