Pitch perfect Goth comic book come to life!

Rating: 10/10 (27 February 2007)

It took me a long time to see UNDERWORLD. I only heard bad things about it and the trailer didn't evoke anything in me. So when I finally rented the movie and played it on my home theater system, I was totally knocked-out. From the opening sequence, with the narration provided by Kate Beckinsale, I was hooked.
Is it a profound film? Not really. Is the acting brilliant? Not really. Is the story complex? Not really. Does the film look good? Yep. Are the action scenes well conceived? You betcha. Is the Goth atmosphere a near perfect blend of old and new? Yes, yes, yes.
I like UNDERWORLD a lot. I believe it's the best "comic book" film ever made. It evokes a lot in me, the Goth in me. Personally speaking, I think UNDERWORLD is a near perfect blend of Goth aesthetics: it mixes the old (vampires, werewolves, myths, old world setting, etc) with the new (the sleekness of technology, androgyny, DNA, bleakness of the future...). All of this in one sexy package.
It's Grand, almost over-the-top and yet it's very minimalistic in its approach to the story/action. It takes itself very seriously but fortunately, it never crosses the line into camp, which would have made the seriousness intolerable.
I usually don't care for action movies with a lot of guns and shooting but here, the gun play is almost part of the soundtrack. The repetitious gunfire is almost hypnotic. When I watch UNDERWORLD, I'm almost in a trance. The composition and look of the film are near perfect. I wouldn't change anything about it. The battle between Selene and Viktor at the end is simply great and razor sharp. Arf. The only weak point in the film is Shane Brolly as Kraven. Wow, what a bad actor! But the weakest link can be easily overlooked when everything else is almost pitch perfect.
There are very few films made these days that make it on my favorite films list. UNDERWORLD is on it and it's one of my favorite films ever.