Selene returns in bloody fun 4th adventure

Rating: 7/10 (20 January 2012)

As a fan of the Underworld series I was both eager and apprehensive about this 4th installment but, as the credits rolled I had a smile on my face and had a good time. For starters, Kate Beckinsale is back in black latex returning as Death Dealer Selene. The story opens as man has discovered both lycan and vampire and Selene has been separated from Michael, captured and cryogenically frozen as the war to cleanse the world of these supernatural species is underway. When released 12 years later, Selene finds a police state where lycan and vampire are all but extinct and she has a 12 year old daughter who's unique nature makes her central to a sinister experiment. To save her daughter and her people, Selene finds herself with unexpected enemies and allies and that's just fine with her. At barely 90 minutes Underworld: Awakening is all about the action and there is plenty of it. It slows down to give us some story here and there and is surprisingly good at utilizing the time to move it along without stopping the momentum and the film does move quite fast. Selene is thrust into doing what she does best quite regularly and it is fairly well staged and gruesome at times. The only real weakness here is the CGI which was never very strong in this series. Otherwise it's a brisk, fast paced fun time which won't convert any new fans but, should please those there are. Sure we wish we got to know some of the new character's a bit better such as Charles Dance's vampire elder filling the void of Bill Nighy's Victor and Steven Rea's bad guy scientist with a secret is a fairly generic villain. But, there are enough gun fights, explosions, spurting blood and shots of Kate Beckinsale's perfectly shaped black latex wrapped butt to keep everyone well entertained till the final scene which hints that the sexy and lethal vampiress may not be hanging up her guns or fetish gear quite yet. And that's fine with me.