Decent Movie

Rating: 8/10 (10 January 2004)

This was a decent and ambitious movie by a first time director of a full length feature movie. Wiseman needs to work on making the tone of his movie consistent throughout the entire movie. Wiseman was very fortunate to have veteran actors in his cast who have the talent to connect their characters to the atmosphere of the movie themselves. Their talent keeps the movie from being completely bad. I enjoyed the dialogue between Viktor and Selene. Also, I thought the parts of Lucian and Michael were well cast. I think a big mistake was the casting of the actor who played Kraven. I don't like to trash actors but I think the part required more depth. As a whole, the movie was okay. It worked and was a good showcase for Beckinsale in an entirely different role were she proved to be believable. I also thought that Bill Nighy brought a lot of presence to this movie. Again, I think it was the actors, with one exception, who ultimately made the movie better than it should have been. I was intrigued to find out what was really going on throughout. I certainly don't think it belongs on a Worst List of 2003. I saw many more inferior films in 2003. I also did not constantly think of The Matrix or Blade while I watched this movie. Though they belong to the same genre, they each have a different story to tell.