All Style, No Substance (spoilers)

Rating: Null/10 (22 September 2003)

Is this what passes for entertainment these days? This was a bad movie, for several reasons- which I will explain: 1) The movie had plenty of style. It looked good, and the actors looked good (when they weren't spouting out cliche' dialogue). But once again we are treated to enormous amounts of gunfire and explosions, instead of a story. The movie was so loud I had a headache by the end of the first act (was there a first act?) 2) Since when do vampires and werewolves need machine guns?? Vampires are supposed to be sexy, stylish creatures of the night, who get by on their wits- and their teeth. Werewolves are men by day, beasts at night. I thought it was ridiculous to see these two creatures fighting each other like they were modern day gang members. 3) This movie is so cliche'. Did anyone catch the direct Matrix rip-offs? Why can't the filmmakers create an original movie? Do they have to copy other successful films (that actually have a story) because their movie has no real backbone to it? This really bothered me. Be original people. 4) The first act was all violence- I had no idea what was going on, until the end of the second act, where the exposition takes place. It is long winded, and heavy handed. 5) Nothing is explained very well- if vampires can live forever, then why must the elders be put to sleep for centuries, then reawakened? Why can't they always be awake?? Where are these creatures living? Are they in Europe, with American cops? Wherever they are, the sun never shines- it is always dark (not even England is like that!) 6) The original idea for this movie had potential- but it was not executed or told very well. There was no intrigue, and no mystery. All we got for two hours was Kate Beckinsale blasting away her automatic weapons while wearing tight leather outfits, and pouting. It was like a video game. I didn't care much for any of these characters- they all seemed bad, and when it finally ended, I was thankful.