As expected.. mostly.

Rating: Null/10 (25 September 2003)

Yet another action based vampire movie. Yet again, enjoyable to watch but very shallow in execution. Yet again, a new director who shows promise in being able to pull a professional film together but who's ability to direct is obviously immature.
I just read Roger Ebert's review and he very accurately likened Underworld to a porno. While there is no sex to speak of.. and hardly an ounce of eroticism (save the 'gothic requisite' abundance of tight fitting leather), the movie flows like a porno in many respects. Ebert left the analogy at the opening and closing of doors, but I believe much more was implied. The dialog is minimal and purposeful.. like a porno's. The action is abundant and full of cliche.. like a porno's. The scenes between action are merely showcases for the characters to posture themselves as objects that we should feel drawn towards.. you guessed it.. just like those of a porno. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but unfortunately for this film, an otherwise half decent story is drown out by too much action, a tad too much posturing, and way too little characterization.
Ebert managed to get a key element of the plot completely wrong (did he walk out halfway into the film? seems like it) so I'll try not to harp on his other criticisms. If he'd paid attention he might have awarded this flick another half star.
The use of CGI in Underworld seemed constrained to advancing the story line by showing us the internal transformations of creatures into and out of their human forms, and moves such as impossible jumps and creatures running on walls. Many of the scenes could have been made more cheaply with loads of CGI instead of live action costumes and I applaud the move by the director/producers to keep as much live action in front of the camera.
If poor acting was this flick's worst bramble, Shane Brolly (Kraven) was it's biggest thorn. I kept expecting to see some inner conflict that might round out his character and allow the audience to second guess his next move.. but from the very first word out of his mouth, to the last, we know he's the antagonist Kate Beckinsale (Selene) will need to keep her eye on. A good villain is someone the audience can mutually feel at odds with and understand... we never understand Kraven. We get a hint at his motives, but they're too briefly bothered with for us to give him any consideration.
The short of it is: were they to make a special edition of this film.. cut out some of the gratuitous action (yes, there was too much for even an action flick) and insert some well acted dialog and character development.. they might have a cult classic on their hands. As it is.. it's merely a shallow summer movie wearing goth clothes. Speaking of.. Selene's character is enough to make even a preppy dude like myself wish he had been lost in the goth crowd (maybe some of the posturing worked it's magic on me).
The attempts at making suspenseful, horror film-like scares were disappointing.. or maybe I'm just jaded.. several did incite some laughter from me though. Seemed like whenever things got quiet you could count to 5 (not unlike the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch) and something with fangs would hop into view accompanied by a very loud noise. I couldn't make a scary movie if my life depended on it.. so I digress.
I give it 6.5 stars out of 10 for the excellent costumes, makeup (including the very sexy teeth), set design, use of both a Maserati and Bentley (hard driven, too), lots of eye and ear candy and intriguing storyline. It loses massive points for the overdone action scenes (mostly the finale), poor acting and lack of character development.
I've been reading a few user reviews and keep seeing Matrix comparisons. That's funny, because the Matrix's best scenes were copied from a vampire action film. You'd think the Matrix was the only movie many of these folks had ever seen. If the Matrix had never been made, I believe this movie would have ended up very much the same.
**spoilers**
An interesting bit of trivia actually. The name Selene is from a Greek word meaning 'moon'. This brings about an interesting fateful dynamic when you consider Scott Speedman(Michael Corvin)'s ability to be 'struck' by her as quickly as the full moon itself.
With the realization that the Lycan were once slaves/daytime-guardians to the vampires, did anyone else find it a little over the top when the silver studded bullwhips (wielded by a lithe white vampire) were used on none other than a muscular black man (errr.. werewolf)? I had flashbacks to Kunta Kinte learning his name.
Plot hole...? UV light bothers/kills the Vampires and not the Lycan.. why on earth didn't the Lycan use a few readily available gro-lites here and there in their "den"? I can't think of a better security system against vampires.
Ohh.. Has anyone yet mentioned how good Kate Beckinsale looks in this film?