"Underworld" - Not just another action flick

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2004)

***Spoilers ahead****
I have to admit, I was bored and quite aggravated with this movie within the first 10 minutes. I thought it'd be another substance-less "shoot 'em up with some lame-o excuse reason" action flick. I was ready to turn it off and return it to the video store, but I figured, "Hey I'm paying $3 for this, might as well see the whole thing."
I'm pretty glad I stuck with it. The storyline finally grabbed my attention - too bad it happened 1 hr and 30 min. into the movie. Before this point, I kept asking myself "What's the deal with Michael's blood?" and "Why do the vampires and werewolves hate each other so much?" among other questions. It's good when movies have this particular element of suspense/questioning where the viewer is left to try and fit the pieces together or, in this case, wait until the plot is revealed. Unfortunately, this movie waited too long to do that. For the viewer who does not find much pleasure in the underlying thematic issues of a movie, this movie is not for them.
I was not particularly impressed with the action nor the "stern-faced Trinity-like" demeanor of Selene and the filmmaker(s) kept dragging on the hidden secret surrounding "Michael". However, once the reason for the war was revealed, I realized that this movie is a commentary on an actual struggle that has existed for centuries in multiple societies. That war is between the haves and have-nots, the upper class and lower class, Whites and Blacks, etc. I especially saw the likeness to U.S. slavery when Lucian said lycans used to be the servants of vampires.
In the beginning the filmmaker set it up as if we should be on the vampires' side through the use of various character visuals (e.g. we tend to associate the bad guys as unkempt-looking characters - all of which the lycans embodied). The beginning of the film is also mostly told from the vampire perspective so we might tend to identify with them. However, once the crucial fact of Lucian's lost love and Viktor's aversion to species-mixing was revealed, I was completely rooting for the lycans by the end. The movie does a brilliant job in allowing the viewer to switch allegiances. I was involved in the story.
Point blank, Viktor was the head racist, like a Hitler or KKK member. Using the example of US slavery, Viktor could be seen as the White slaveowner who would rather kill his daughter than accept that she is in love with a Black slave. I appreciate the end of the movie when the species-mixing finally happened: Something incredible can occur when you combine two supposed opposites. Similarly, many people who are the children of parents of different ethnicities are some of the most beautiful people, i.e. Halle Berry, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey.
Overall, although the action was not very impressive and the moodiness of the film was annoying, I took great delight in the social commentary aspect of the film. I don't know whether it was intentional in this case, but it's always great when an action film can provide some food for thought.