Yawn

Rating: 4/10 (19 January 2004)

I saw the previews for this film and it looked awesome. I couldn't wait to see it, but could never find anyone interested enough to go with me. I finally rented it and was fairly disappointed.
The storyline sounds incredible. Werewolves (called "Lycans" in the film to make them sound cooler) vs Vampires? How much cooler can you get? Unfortunately, the coolness factor doesn't expand beyond the concept. Yes, the film does feature Lycans battling Vampires. Unfortunately, the only way you'd know this is by the occasional glimpse of teeth and shot of a full moon. They fight the entire movie with guns. I felt like I was watching a bad splice of The Matrix and Blade. What is the purpose of showing these two historical enemies fighting if they're going to be running behind each other with Uzis?
Almost no typical vamp/wolf lore was explored. The ONLY thing the vampires do to show they're vampires if bare their fanged teeth and can jump from big heights. They don't shy away from the sun, turn into bats, suck blood, or anything else which makes vampires cool. The film even refers to them at one point as "bats" yet you never see it.
Scott Speedman provides a forgettable performance for all of his 15-20 lines in the movie. The ending is VERY anticlimactic and is just a very watered down gun fight that would have been too boring to make it's way into The Matrix. I had to watch this film over 4 days because I kept falling asleep. What's more, the lycans looked absolutely ridiculous when they changed. The werewolves from "The Howling" 20 years ago had better make up.

If you want to watch vampires, get "Blade" or watch the television version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you want a good action movie with people running up walls to dodge bullets, get "The Matrix." If you want both, you're out of luck because "Underworld" just doesn't cut it. This is a film I was looking forward to seeing for months, and the end result was a yawnfest who's only success is a pretty cool looking poster.