Surprisingly Good ...

Rating: 6/10 (6 April 2005)

The writing team of a stuntman, a gargantuan actor and a prop assistant probably doesn't seem like a group who could lovingly craft a Gothic mini-masterpiece about vampire and werewolves, and actually get it made. But they did.
That team was Danny McBride, Kevin Grevioux and director Len Wiseman. They pitched the story as "Romeo and Juliet, for vampires and werewolves", which is interesting as the romance angle of the story is barely even existence except for a few moments here and there. What it really is would be more like "the Matrix with vampire and werewolves", although they're probably sick of hearing that by now. But to be honest, they don't even try to hide the similarities. It opens with a shoot-out in a subway station, almost identical in visual style to the Matrix, and for no apparent reason it even has those weird electronic sound effects. Is this movie set inside a virtual reality as well? But by copying the Matrix, it does make itself an undeniably cool action movie. Probably the best thing about it is the design of the creatures and the locations it's shot at. The look of the movie is dark, Gothic and brilliant. The vampires are portrayed as a decadent, sensual race living in the lap of luxury, while the Lycans are brutal, animalistic and live in squalor -- and you don't see a single female werewolf.
The script certainly has it's short-comings but on the whole is fairly well-structured and intricate, with the politics and mythology of the universe coming through loud and clear (even if it is a rip-off of White Wolf's role playing games). It's all very well executed, and you can tell they had a lot of fun making it. Kate Beckinsale does give a great performance, constantly conveying emotion with the slightest of facial expressions. Michael Sheen is also notable as the lycanthropic leader, and Scott Speedman and Bill Nighy both fill their roles competently.
"Underworld" wisely markets itself as an action movie rather than a horror movie. It's fun, entertaining and cool, but not a whole lot more than that. If you're in the mood for an ass-kicking, leather-clad bullet-fest, this may be the one for you.