Entertaining action fare...

Rating: 8/10 (18 January 2006)

Vampires and werewolves in a Romero and Juliet style story? When you think about it, Underworld really should have been great; but despite being disappointing on the whole, special effects guru turned director Len Wiseman has still managed to turn out a good film. In fact, he's done quite well; as when you consider that Underworld is a story of a century old war, a love story, a Matrix-style actioner and sees the creation of a 'new' monster, it could have been a hell of a lot messier than it is. It's clear that Wiseman thinks this movie is better than it is, as it constantly takes itself too seriously and the frequent attempts at storytelling try to hard to create a story around the vampires and werewolves; but on the other hand, the mythology is well done and I'd rather Underworld be too serious than a complete joke. The plot, as mentioned, follows a war between vampires and werewolves. It's been going on for ages, but there's been a new development in the form of Michael; a 'carrier' who could become the link between the two warring sides.
Visually, the film looks great. It can be said that it looks a lot like a music video, but the slick dark visuals bode very well with the action set pieces, and music video or not; at least the style suits the film. The star of the show is very much Kate Beckinsale. I like her anyway, but she looks far hotter in this movie than in any others I've seen her in previously or since. The movie makes the best of having this fine lady wearing a tight cat suit and long leather coat, and although it does this so much that a lack of other ideas becomes obvious; I really aren't complaining. The rest of the cast is mostly made up long haired, "European" men, with only Bill Nighy standing out among them in his role as a vampire elder. The action set pieces are way over the top, yet always entertaining, and since vampires and werewolves don't really exist...they can be forgiven for going overboard. The special effects are pretty good too, considering they're CGI. They're almost always shown in darkness...but I prefer dark and good, to clear and rubbish. On the whole, this really isn't great. The romance is hardly touched on, there's better action in The Matrix and it's a little messy; but I really enjoyed it, Kate Beckinsale is awesome and it's entertaining on the whole.