Werewolves versus vampires, now that's the sort of simple and beautiful concept that you might imagine it's almost impossible to get wrong with a decent budget and some competant actors. At the very least, it couldn't possibly be boring, could it? Werewolves! Vampires! Fighting! Sadly, somehow, astonishingly, inexplicably, Underworld manages to do just that and make what should be a terrifically fun concept be about as interesting as mowing the lawn. Because there are good bits, like the smell of freshly cut grass, for instance (well, I like it anyway), but it's not enough to save the film from being a tremendous disappointment.
The crux of this frustration is with the main thrust of the plot: the lycans and the vampires are engaged in an eternal war, out of sight of humanity, but now the lycans have a plan to bring about an end to the conflict. They want to create a hybrid creature that has the strengths of both species, but the weaknesses of neither. Enter Michael Corvin (played by the wholly uninspiring Scott Speedman) a character so dull you're not really sure who you're rooting
for, you just want someone to kill him quick. This is the lycan super weapon, but he ends up in the vampire lair where our fabulous heroine, Selene (marvellously portrayed by Kate Beckinsdale) makes the horrible, horrible mistake of falling in love with him.
Cue a number of decent chase scenes and some lovely fight sequences as Selene tries to keep Michael safe from both the vampires and the lycans, and, in a rather nice piece of plotting, slowly uncovers the real cause of the war between the two species. The flashbacks in the plot are wonderfully staged, evoking a gothic horror atmosphere that is somehow chilling despite its almost cliché elements, and the fights, when they're good, are very good indeed. Both sides are shown to have a wonderfully vicious inventiveness when it comes to trying to kill their enemies: silver bullets and jagged, razor-edged projectiles for the vampires, while the lycans have developed a bullet that releases ultraviolet rays after it buries into its vampire victim. And then there're the sword fights - though it's very hard for me to dislike a swordfight - which have the best choreography of all, and never forget that the creatures fighting are not human at all.
The scene-stealer in the piece - and he's not in it anywhere near as much as he should have been - is Bill Nighy in his role as vampire lord Viktor. Ancient and terrible and looking quite, quite terrifying when he's woken up from his centuries long sleep, Viktor's a wonderfully shaded character and brought to life in an electrifying performance by Nighy. Beckinsdale just about holds her own in her scenes with him, and, impressively, somehow manages to make Selene sympathetic despite the fact that she's as dark as any of the vampires, and essentially an anti-hero fighting just to keep herself - and her unfortunate love - alive.
Also notable is Sophia Myles looking beautiful and giving a nuanced performance in a relatively small supporting part, and Michael Sheen in, perhaps, the most heroic role of all: the lycan leader trying to bring about a peace. In fact, the characters are the strongest aspect of the film and it's a real shame that the politics within and between the two societies is left at a superficial level and so much more time is devoted to the importance of Michael and his relationship with Selene. There's such a fascinating background that could have been fleshed out, full of ambiguous characters and complex motives and it's just barely touched upon.
And, really, I did want to know how the lycans procreate given that there doesn't appear to be a single woman amongst them.
A definite plus is the DVD package - a very nice set spread across two discs. Two commentaries are included, one from the director and writer, the other a technical one. The former is interesting enough as commentaries go, but not a particular standout, but I found myself unable to finish listening to the latter. Personal taste - I'm much more interested in characters and plot and the people involved in making a film than in the more technical aspects of the creative process. There're also several documentaries, the Making Of one being the most all round and most interesting of what's available. The Storyboard Comparison feature is worth a look to see how the originally imagined visuals actually translated onscreen and provides an intriguing insight into the process by which a film is made, while the music video to for one of the songs featured in the movie is not my sort of thing (it's Finch's 'Worms of Death') and the TV Spots (originally used to promote the film) are as unimpressive and uninteresting as one imagines they would be.
Ultimately, Underworld is slick and shining with some gorgeously choreographed battles, but is let down by the rather tedious central premise and the banality of Selene's romantic interest. It's not quite the film it should have been, but, if you can ignore any scene featuring Michael, there are several fabulous performances to enjoy, a decadent, dark atmosphere to admire and a decent pay-off in the plot at the end.
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Surprised you managed to write so much about this mediocre bit of cinema; I totally agree that botching werewolves vs vampires = inexcusable. Like Van Helsing! Frankenstein + Dracula + Werewolves = Bad film! How?!
Mauri 06.06.2006 12:06
This film was a little too much style over content for me but it passed the time well enough...Nice review.
Underworldis a hybrid thriller that rewrites the rulebook on werewolves and ... more
vampires--imagineBlademeetsThe CrowandThe Matrix. It's a "cuisinart" movie--blend a lot of familiar ideas and hope something interesting happens--in which immortal vampire "dea...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Underworldis a hybrid thriller that rewrites the rulebook on werewolves and ... more
vampires--imagineBlademeetsThe CrowandThe Matrix. It's a "cuisinart" movie (blend a lot of familiar ideas and hope something interesting happens) in which immortal vampire "dea...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Underworldis a hybrid thriller that rewrites the rulebook on werewolves and ... more
vampires--imagineBlademeetsThe CrowandThe Matrix. It's a "cuisinart" movie (blend a lot of familiar ideas and hope something interesting happens) in which immortal vampire "dea...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The first lady of gaming returns inTomb Raider - Underworldwith her deepest and darkest ... more
adventure yet. Ostensibly searching for the mythical hammer of the Norse god Thor, the real draw of the game is exploring the underworlds of multiple different cult...
Postage & Packaging: £4.50 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Good clean, throat-ripping, head rollin' fun. Good no-brainer. Disadvantages: Barely functional acting, threadbare plot, drags in the middle, probably requires an acquired lack of taste to appreciate, that 'Matrix' feel again...
wampyrii 29.01.2004 (29.01.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Underworld (DVD)
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