Better than I expected, but considering how low my expectations were...

Rating: 6/10 (2 June 2004)

Back when I first saw the trailers for this film, I immediately thought; "Oh. Another cheap rip-off of The Matrix... and it seems like they stuck some Blade and The Crow in there, too, for good measure." I was fairly surprised when I saw it, but it didn't really show me something that fascinated me, like The Matrix and its sequels did. The action in it is reasonably good, but several of the scenes were confusingly filmed; you couldn't really keep track of where the different characters are at any point, except for when they're on screen together. The action also almost only consists of shooting guns, which really doesn't get a lot of results in the film; I found it to be far more exciting in the rare situations where the Lycans were transformed and fighting the Vampires. The very last fight scene in the film was also great, very intense and unpredictable. The special effects in the film are very well-made, both the CGI and in general the creature effects look very good. The film somehow seemed to focus more on the plot than the action or the effects, which is a pretty big mistake with a film like this; first of all, it's a film made in a time where this sort of film is made to be bigger and better than the last, which mainly refers to action and/or special effects, second, the story isn't that great nor very original. I think they overrated how good the story is, not to mention all the unexplained new things they introduce to the concepts of Vampires and Lycans. I do think the story was fairly interesting, and it is somewhat original(I guess). I think one of the things that annoyed me the most was that a lot of the time, I wasn't entirely sure who were the Lycans and who were the Vampires, since they basically look the same, in their human form. The plot is OK, reasonably original, but the film makes a mistake in making it so plot driven instead of focusing on at least a little more action. The acting is mostly decent, no fantastic performances, but what can you expect from a movie like this. The characters are hard to comment on, since just about everyone apart from the two main characters either are jerks from the beginning, or turn out to be jerks somewhere in the film. The cinematography is nothing special, at times it's even very bad. I have to congratulate the crew on what a good job they did on the creature effects; just before writing this review, I found out that nearly no CGI effects were used at all. That's very impressive, considering how good the creatures look. Great job on that. All in all, the film does look like a rip-off, but only on the outside. On closer inspection, the film does have a few original thoughts in it. I recommend it to fans of dark, gothic films, containing some action and special effects, with a decent plot. Don't expect to see loads of great action sequences, or huge effect-filled scenes. Don't expect a great plot. Actually, about the action, if you've seen the trailer, maybe you shouldn't even bother seeing the film, because most of the good action sequences are shown there anyway. Only watch this if you *really* love this type of films. 6/10