Bloody boring

Rating: Null/10 (1 September 2004)

This movie was a messy mish-mash of genres and ideas, plain and simple. At first I enjoyed "Underworld" for its very pretty visuals and action sequences - even though some of those were also outright stolen from other movies (i.e. Cyborg). Even some plot elements were okay; the idea of a human caught in a war between vampires and werewolves is not original, but can be a rich starting point for an idea. Sadly, the writers and the director ran in a zillion different directions, never following one plot thread to completion. Vampire clans filled with lame political "intrigue", species wars, romance...you're given a taste of these things, but never enough of one thing to satisfy, until all of the characters seem like caricatures and as hazy as the "rules" of this imagined world are, you *know* just how this movie's going to end about 15 minutes into it. There were very few surprises. I enjoyed the actors who played Viktor and Lucien, even if they were hammy, but everyone else was plain awful. Scott Speedman played an important plot device, but he barely emoted at all. How could he? It seemed like he had no lines, not even a half-hearted backstory to give his character any kind of depth. There was ZERO chemistry between him and Kate Bekinsdale, who just pouted and frowned her way through this garbage.

Even the visuals get dull after awhile - I'd be laconic too, if I lived in a world entirely colored black and blue.
If you want vampires and action, rent Blade II instead - much of the same themes are discussed there, but by better actors and a better director.