It shouldn't be good, but it is.

Rating: 9/10 (7 November 2005)

Let's face it, this movie has a stupid premise. Vampires and werewolves fighting? Okay... What this movie teaches us, it seems, is that if the writing is good, the story is good, the plot twists are good and the characters are good, it's okay if the premise is a little stupid.
Underworld surprised me, and that doesn't generally happen. The non-spiritual take on vampires and werewolves was a real treat, and Michael's flashbacks remind me of nothing so much as Niel Gaiman at his best, but I'd have to say that the most appealing part was the almost skeletal way they played the romance: The hero and heroine have only known each other for two days and... act like they've only known each other for two days? Brilliant! It made what was there so much more resonant and believable and highlighted the paranoia of certain other characters.
The biology referenced in this film was close to accurate, although not perfect. For Hollywood, it was Mensa.
There was one thing that I found particularly jarring, though: "Lycan," sounds too much like "lichen" for the name to be particularly intimidating. That and the ending was a little bit too "Hulk smash!"
Word of advice: I've seen the regular cut and the extended cut, and I have to recommend the former. Many of the "extra" scenes were good, but they just didn't fit into the whole.