It's 1980s B Movie!

Rating: 8/10 (20 September 2003)

5/10. Never mind any positive reviews to the contrary, this is not a good movie! It is better than, say, "Red Sonja", but not by too much. I don't have the time to describe everything that is wrong about this movie, and I'm only writing this much because I am shocked at the amount of positive response on this site to date. The biggest problem with Underworld is that not enough is done to establish sympathy and interest in the characters, apart from Selene. The premise of the conflict is set forth, the scenarios and fights are played out, the twists and secrets are revealed, the climatic fight is staged - and I barely care, apart from Selene. Even then, I only except Selene because of Kate Beckinsale's striking allure that stems from her combination of sultry beauty, fine intelligence, and faultless acting. She actually has little to do in the way of emoting, but she does her emoting well. It isn't her fault that there is almost no indication of romantic interest from her or Scott Speedman until the script calls for a kiss to establish it. It isn't her fault that this is a continuous melodrama with no significant break for comedy or romance. (Then again, she lacks enough taste to be engaged to the director of this dog.) My friend Katja put it this way: she has seen better character development in video games. And the score was inconsistent, loud, and mostly lousy. The trailers for this movie are indeed far superior to the product they have been promoting. This is not surprising after one takes a look at the director's resume on this very site and considers that the producers of the trailers probably have more filmmaking experience than he does. And there are plenty of other problems, but, as I said, I don't have the time.
However, I'll admit that there are other good things about it. Bill Nighy as Victor was impressive. Victor's awakening may have supplied one of the most memorable scenes in vampire movie history. And the Budapest Fire Department are real heroes for staying up night after night to supply the film crew with rain water for every single scene in the movie. (It's a gothic, 1980s B-movie, after all.)