Who turned out the lights?

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2003)

Hmmm... the trailer for this film would have you believe that this is an action packed, intense, gripping story about vampires and werewolves.
Yes, it's action packed. Yes, it has vampires and werewolves. However, the story, such as it was, was only mildly intense and completely failed to grip me at any point.
A large part of the trouble with this film was that some of the lines were just too forced. Two of the principal characters (Kraven and Lucien) were portrayed by actors who looked too much like they were trying to be Alan Rickman. Sadly, although they could (just about) manage the creepy, angry or just down-right ****ed off looks, they fell very short of the mark with their deliveries, which were just too... choppy.. in places, and just flat in others.
Many of the characters fell pray to the choppy speech problem, although even if they hadn't, the dialogue would still have been pretty low on the interest meter. Lines like "find him!", "Kill him!", "find him, then kill him!" etc. are fine once in a while during a film, but every 10th line is pushing it a little.
The film is also exceptionally dark. I do understand that vampires have some issues with sunlight, but could they not afford lightbulbs? There could have been some really interesting stuff going on in there, but it just couldn't be seen.
They also seem to have skipped on some parts of vampire lore, specifically the whole "no reflection" thing. Supposedly, one of the ways to tell a vampire is that they cast no reflection in a mirror, yet at several points in Underworld, we see vampires clearly reflected.
Although the film had a couple of good ideas (the customised ammo each side carries, for example), its only real "selling point", such as it is, is the prospect of seeing a nice lady in a tight outfit (which even for me is not quite enough). Granted, many people said the same about Charlies' Angels, but at least they managed to include a plot.
Best avoided.