An Average Film in an Above Average Series

Rating: 5/10 (16 October 2012)

Kate Beckinsale once again turns in an excellent performance as the Death Dealer, "Selene". Only this time, she teams up with a vampire named "David" (played by Theo James), a human police detective named "Sebastian" (Michael Ealy) and her young hybrid daughter "Eve" (India Eisley). As our story evolves, we find that the humans have now become aware of both the lycans (werewolves) and the vampires and they have launched a massive purge to eliminate both species. After several years of fighting the humans mistakenly believe that the lycans have been totally annihilated and turn all of their focus on exterminating the vampires. But while this was going on, the lycans were secretly rebuilding their ranks and 12 years later have reentered the war on the side of neither the humans nor the vampires. They begin by seeking out Eve for experimental purposes involving genetic manipulation. But in order to capture her they must contend with Selene. Anyway, having given a basic rundown on the film, let me just say that it had some good things going for it--and some not-so-good things as well. First, this picture has a great deal of action and computer graphics which the directors (Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein) use to keep the picture flowing at a very brisk pace. Unfortunately, there is too much action and not enough dialogue, which causes this film to seem a bit shallow. Another factor involved "Michael" (Scott Speedman) who was noticeably "missing in action" from this movie. Fortunately, Kate Beckinsale once again dominates this film and it is quite likely that she is the only irreplaceable person in this series. Along with that, I liked the addition of David and his presence also helped fill in any gaps that were missing due to the absence of Michael. On the other hand, I didn't care for the addition of Eve as I believe adding another "hybrid" to the story doesn't really add anything significant to this series. Likewise, the fact that she is a 12-year old kid takes a bit off from the "sleek and sexy" quality of past films. In short, this film had some good points, but it had some bad points too. As such, I consider this to be an average film in an above average series. Hopefully, they will realize some of these faults and return to some serious dialogue and plot the next time, instead of just relying on action and CGI to carry the film.