Surprisingly intact plot

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 2003)

Spoilers
Both Matrix Reloaded and Underworld start with the heroin, clad in body-tight leather, leaping from a height. The landings however are markedly different. Carrie-Anne Moss's landing is the stylish Yuen Woo-ping choreography, with left leg completely bent and right leg fully stretched, cushioning the impact of the touchdown, and ending up in a cat-like posture and frozen for a moment. Kate Beckinsale's landing is effective and down-to-earth, with both legs just slightly bent to a semi-crouching position, and immediately standing up and walking. This right away sets the tone for the movie: down-to-earth, no-nonsense. One other thing is that while attires are strikingly similar, with Beckinsale it's an infinitely lovelier countenance which, nonetheless, commands no less respect.
Most impressive however is the integrity of the plot, which is unravelled skilfully throughout the movie. The following synopsis does not completely follow the sequence in the movie.
(start of synopsis)
The Vampire world is ruled in rotation by three powerful leaders, with two sleeping at any point in time while the third is ruling. At the start of the movie, however, all three are temporarily sleeping, but Marcus is due to be waken in two day's time (we end up never seeing him). Kraven, temporarily in charge of the clan, oversees preparation for the waking ceremony which will be attended by a neighbouring clan led by Amelia (we end up seeing very little of her). It is generally believed that the Vampires' arch-enemies, the Werewolves, are close to extinction after their leader Lucian was killed six hundred years ago. Vampire Selene (Beckinsale), the top Werewolf hunter, stumbles into a plot involving Michael, a human. She then discovers that Lucian is not dead and, what's worse, has traitor Kraven working for him. In desperation, she wakes her mentor Viktor (out of turn) who had rescued her just after her entire family had been butchered by Werewolves. Lucian is on the move, first biting Michael to turn him into a Werewolf and then engineers an ambush at the train station and massacres Amelia and her entire consort. Next will be an all out storming of the Vampire stronghold.
Things however are not what they seem. First, we learn that Michael is descended from a line of humans with a rare genetic makeup. Unlike others who will die upon acquiring both Vampire and Werewolf bloods, he will instead become immortal. The most convoluted twist is that Lucian turns out to be more of a victim than a villain. Once a servant of Viktor, Lucian dared to love his daughter Sonja. Upon learning that his own daughter was bearing a child with pure Vampire blood `contaminated' by Werewolf blood (sounds familiar, doesn't it), he killed her right in front of Lucian, who then escaped. The plot comes around in full integrity when Selene falls in love with Michael, who has become a Werewolf after Lucian's biting. In an exciting final skirmish, we first see Kraven fatally wounding Lucian before escaping. Lucian, in his dying breath, reveals another twist (which is quite predictable): Viktor, not Werewolves, was the real murderer of Selene's folks. He also bids Selene to bite Michael to infuse him with her blood, thereby completing a Vampire-Werewolf union. So the finale is the show down between Michael and Viktor, but the final blow of vengeance is dwelt by Selene.
(end of synopsis)
The movie is well paced between action and story telling and there is a lot of story to tell, even looking at the already simplified synopsis above. As to action, except for the finale, the action is mostly in shooting. Beckinsale's twin pistol is mostly John Woo style and her execution is effective and convincing. There is firepower galore from both sides, complete with updated technology as Q would have provided James Bond with. The Vampires has improved on silver bullets (which the Werewolves can extract, albeit painfully) to silver-nitrate bullets that immediately get into the Werevolves' bloodstream. Not to be out-done, the Werewolves have bullets infused with sunlight, and I don't need to explain how those affect Vampires. For those craving for more brutal, close-up action, the final series of consecutive fights should be satisfying, displaying various deadly devices including fists, claws, twin whips, bites and swords. One final thought: there is nothing more different between Beckinsale in Seredipity and Beckinsale in Underworld. Yet she is just as captivatingly charming in both.