Had the film not taken an MTV approach, it might have been pretty good...

Rating: 4/10 (27 August 2005)

Set in some timeless world where vampires rule, clans of werewolves are being hunted and killed to the brink of extinction by the vampires. A wolf hunter, Selene, begins questioning is she's taken the right side, and slowly uncovers the truth behind how she became a vampire. Now since I like to consider myself a fair critic, I'll start with what I liked about "Underworld". For one, the overall premise is very good. I especially like the fact that we never know when or where the film actually takes place (we never see outside the city) and the timeless feel of the film. While the acting wasn't exactly outstanding, everyone was serviceable and there wasn't a single actor here I could call "bad".
Thirdly, the creature effects were awesome. Thankfully the werewolf were usually brought to life via practical effects, with CG limited mostly to the transformation scenes (I wish these too were done practically, like in American Werewolf in London or The Howling, but I guess in a year like 2003, that's too much to ask forthat's pretty sad). There was also a good amount of blood and gore too, thankfully this is an R-rated film that actually DESERVES it's R-rating. I also liked the ending, which in my opinion was clever and unexpected (well, as clever and unexpected as a dumb action film can be). This, unfortunately, is where the list of positive aspects ends. Len Wiseman's direction is wwwaaayyy too commercial for my taste (you know, MTV-style camera angles, slow-motion fight scenes, etc.), the music is crap (mostly rock musicwhat's wrong with using a REAL score these days?), the action is often unrealistic (and not in a fun way) and the CG, while not used excessively, was cheesy and unconvincing. I know that the positive aspects will outweigh the negatives in some people's opinion (in other words, I can understand why some people will enjoy this film), but for me the movie really didn't do anything.
Sorry.
4/10.