Cool concept and stylish directing salvage a weak screenplay

Rating: 6/10 (6 April 2008)

Anyone with a love or soft spot for creature-driven sci-fi/fantasy can appreciate what the writing trio led by Len Wiseman attempted to do when they conceived "Underworld." Creating a world where vampires and werewolves (Lycans) live amongst humans and are engaged in a secret thousand-year-old war is at the least interesting and respectable for fans of the like and so conceptually, "Underworld" at least has something to work with. Putting their vision on the big screen? Not as easy. The film is riddled with bad dialogue, bad acting and scenes that seem to lack any kind of contextual clues--not to mention bullets, lots of bullets.
"Underworld" stars Kate Beckinsale as a "death dealer," named Selene--you know, that troubled, martial arts-savvy vampire charged with the responsibility to perpetuate the violence between vampires and lycans by killing lycans and never questions it until, of course, the film is about twenty minutes in. The rich history the writers have concocted makes it a bit more interesting, but it would be nicer to see it than have characters waste time telling us about it through dialogue with other characters. Selene begins to question these things when she catches on to a vampire/lycan conspiracy hundreds of years in the making and tries to uncover the mystery and how a human being hunted by lycans named Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) is tied to it all.
The film foremost but least obviously dodges the obstacle of explaining how vampires and lycans can wage their war without humans knowing. It gives no time (assumed the future, but who knows) or place explanation. In fact, daylight never happens in the film, it's all about the vampires and lycans. There is also nothing done to really get the viewer to grasp the conflict. You start to pick sides in your head as to who is right or wrong, but you never once feel the conflict through any of the characters and Selene seems to be a very odd and unmotivated heroine. All you get is one scene highly reminiscent of "Silence of the Lambs" of her telling her story to Michael and at that point it's too late for it to make a serious impact on the movie.
The acting is mostly bland, but that could be more due to a horrible script. The script wouldn't have been half as bad if it spent less time explaining. Bill Nighy is the exception to the poor acting as vampire lord Viktor who Selene awakens in a desperate attempt to figure out what's going on. Nighy brings some actual character to his role and some serious evil. His performance was no doubt that which landed him his role as Davy Jones in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.
The directing and art direction does offer this film a visual saving grace. Wiseman does some really cool transitions and some strange, but cool-looking action sequences. The film does seem to not-so-obviously cover its budget constraints in this manner, however, in that the best visual effects are in short snippets. Also, either they were steering away from anything that was going to garner an R-rating or they simply didn't have the money to show most of the violence, something that would have made the film feel a bit more real. Lycans go to maul people and Wiseman cuts away, leaving you doubting if the person actually got mauled.
Basically, if I weren't a sucker for films with a mythology placed in a futuristic sci-fi setting with similar art direction, this film would have been horrendous. Viewers with a genuine interest in story like that and sci-fi action sequences are sure to at least get a bit of entertainment out of "Underworld," but that's about all this film has to offer.