An interesting idea but final product is lacking

Rating: 5/10 (27 January 2005)

Underworld could have been an interesting and unusual movie which combined the genres of action and horror in a unique way and which successfully explored its rich subtext (class and racial tension). However, the movie's script is so weak and poorly developed that it's just a little glue holding together a bunch of action set pieces. The acting is all over the map, ranging from very good (Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy as the leaders of the werewolves and vampires, respectively, who manage to give their characters much more depth and dignity than you would think possible given the script) to downright horrible (Shane Brolly--watching his scenes with Sheen is like seeing some sort of class demonstration of how to do a B movie villain badly and how to do one well). As a strict action movie, Underworld doesn't entirely succeed either because its action sequences are hit or miss--some are quite cool (vampires jumping off of buildings and crawling on the ceiling) while others are shot confusingly, so poorly lit you can't even see what's happening or just plain boring (Kate Beckinsale standing stock still while shooting at something off camera, and then moving a few feet and doing it again...and again).