It was okay, I guess...

Rating: 6/10 (26 November 2016)

2012's "Underworld: Awakening" is probably the most underwhelming entry in the decade-old-and-counting horror/fantasy "Underworld" franchise. The first "Underworld" (2003) had an interesting premise that played on long-established werewolf and vampire mythology, and "Underworld: Evolution" (2006) was a worthy continuation of the first film's story. The prequel "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" (2009) has so far been unseen by me, and tonight I finally got the chance to see the fourth film in the series, "Underworld: Awakening."
When I say that this film is underwhelming, I mean that it really doesn't offer anything new, except for really big action sequences and questionable special effects - which says a lot for a movie that cost an estimated $70 million to make (and that should probably make it the best movie in the series thus far). And Kate Beckinsale, as vampire "death dealer" Selene, is fantastic to look at in black leather and kicking a** all over the screen.
The film's plot is really all over the place, and posits that baseline humanity has since learned of the existence of rival vampire and werewolf clans, and has enacted campaigns to exterminate both species. Selene is caught in the middle of all this, and she is captured and cryogenically frozen for 12 years. She soon escapes to go and find her vampire/werewolf-hybrid lover Michael (Scott Speedman, in archive footage). But Selene isn't alone: she has a human cop named Sebastian (Michael Ealy) and a fellow vampire named David (Theo James) helping her out, and the mysterious child Eve (India Eisley) who also holds a secret that may have the future of both the vampire and werewolf clans at her disposal.
"Underworld: Awakening" is very clearly the low point in the series, as directed by Marlind & Stein, who pump up the action and gory violence but also leave out the plot and characterization - which is really what made the first two movies in the series so great.
Best to just watch this one once to see what it's about, and then leave it at that.
6/10