Out of the way traditional mythology!!

Rating: 5/10 (22 September 2003)

Out of the way traditional mythology!! Here comes the all-new, all-different mythology!
Remember when Vampires were solitary undead creatures that fed on the blood of the living? They were scared by symbols of religious power, hurt by garlic and sunlight, cast no reflections, could mentally dominate someone weaker than them, change their form into a bat and the only way to kill them was to put a stake through their hearts.
Well, those are the "old" style, stuffy vampires (*rolleyes*). The "new" age vampires are sleek and sexy and like to hold partys in elaborate mansions. If holy artifacts or garlic bother them, there is no mention of this and there is no no-reflection problem. They like to wear tight, black clothing, roam around the urban sprawl at nighttime and use guns. A lot.
Remember when Werewolves were solitary creatures with tortured souls that were *cursed* with lycanthropy? The full moon made them turn into murderous, half-wolf creature fated to kill until someone was able to put them out of their misery.
Well, those were the "old" style, stuffy werewolves. The "new" age werewolves live in packs under the city and can change their form at will. It is not so much as a "curse" of lycanthropy, but a way to get super-hero powers of supernatural strength, agility and invulnerability. Also, they like to use guns. A lot.
It's a sad fact that what the modern world continues to call "vampires" and "werewolves" and almost completely different creatures from their originals.
Anyway, how was the movie otherwise? It was okay. As others have mentioned, it was an action style Vampire/Werewolf version of Romeo & Juliet. As I mentioned, since the original ideas of Vampires and Werewolves are long gone, you just have to assume that the creatures in this movie are doing what they are supposed to be. The feel of the movie is more like watching someone playing a video and you missed the first part. The person playing know what is going on and accept what is happening, but what is being presented to you is missing explanation.
One of the jokes about action movies is that the main character can go single-handedly against a bunch of enemies, with bullets whizzing everywhere, and walk away unscathed, while the enemies are all dead. Well, this movie goes overboard on this. In one scene, the main character, Selena is confronted by 5 machine-gun weilding enemies. She is crouched down at the far end of a room and fires her pistols, straight-armed at the enemies that are using the doorway as cover. Meanwhile, 5 of them unload machine guns into the room she is in. The result? 5 dead enemies, while she walks away unscathed. Why are these Lycans so scary?
Despite having Vampire and Werewolves (traditional "horror" creatures), this is in no way a horror movie. It is an action movie. I cant even say that this movie has nice combat scenes, because whenever Selena was confronted by an enemy, there was no suspense, no assumption that she may get hurt. It was like she invulnerable (or what gamers would call "being in God mode"). *Yawn*
I thought that the Vampires were a bunch of prissy, lad-de-da, gothic party goers and really, really wanted them to die. Even though the Lycans were "supposed" to be the bad guys, I felt pity for them because they seemed downtrodden and had little hope, where the Vampires lived the life of luxury (this is explained in the movie, though).
I also, couldnt help but notice the underlying social undertones: The brutish, animalistic Werewolves were all male, yet the sleek, sexy, charismatic vampires were males OR females, with
the lead character being a female. Of course, it was the Lycans plan to bring them all together in a form of harmony and joining and it was the Lycans that were enslaved by the Vampires.
Overall, I give the movie a 5 out of 10. The story was rather blase for the 1st two-thirds, but picked up once you found the "true" story. The action scenes were pointless, especially the ones involving the main character.