Underworld (Special Extended Edition) (DVD)

.../> Directed by Len Wiseman, Underworld is not your average vampire film. Meet an advanced form of werewolf, the lycans, who prowl below the city and their enemies, the vampires, living in highly sophisticated secrecy. Both of these races are interlocked in a century old battle for supremacy, which could only result in the eradication of the losing race. One thing seems to be uncertain to Selene, a vampire warrior - who exactly started the war? She ...
...Award' for his role in Underworld as Michael Corvin from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA. The film also received 3 additional nominations for the saturn award, for Best Actress (Kate Beckinsale), Best Horror Film and Best Make Up. The film received two nominations from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA, for the golden reel award, in the categories of Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features and Best Sound Editing in ... more

Plot..
Directed by Len Wiseman, Underworld is not your average vampire film. Meet an advanced form of werewolf, the lycans, who prowl below the city and their enemies, the vampires, living in highly sophisticated secrecy. Both of these races are interlocked in a century old battle for supremacy, which could only result in the eradication of the losing race. One thing seems to be uncertain to Selene, a vampire warrior - who exactly started the war? She was reared by the vampires, taught that the lycans killed her family, but is she seeking justice from the right place? The Vampire High Council believe there are only small numbers of lycans left, and refuse to believe Selene's discovery that there are far more, with a plot to awaken a new and invincible species, combining the strengths of both species, and the weaknesses of neither. This could have terrifying repercussions for both sides..

Selene tries to convince Kraven, her superior, who is obsessed with her, of the threat, but he refuses to believe her, and she goes against his orders to awaken Viktor, one of the elder vampires, despite the fact it is not him who is due to be awoken, for help. Viktor took her in after the loss of her family, and she trusts him greatly - and believes she needs his help after discovering the lycans interest in a human - Michael Corvin. Why is Lucian, the leader of the lycans, so bent on this?

Cast..
The beautiful Kate Beckinsale, who did Pearl Harbour prior to the film, and Van Helsing after, plays Selene. Scott Speedman plays Michael Corvin, with Shane Brolly playing Kraven, Michael Sheen playing the lycan leader Lucian. You'll probably recognise Bill Nighy as Viktor. The image of the cast is pretty good overall, and most of the acting is decent, though perhaps lacking that special factor that makes a film a classic. It also stars Wentworth Miller, Erwin Leder, Robbie Gee and Sophia Myles, amongst several others.

Awards/Nominations..
Scott Speedman won the award 'Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award' for his role in Underworld as Michael Corvin from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA. The film also received 3 additional nominations for the saturn award, for Best Actress (Kate Beckinsale), Best Horror Film and Best Make Up. The film received two nominations from the Motion Picture Sound Editors, USA, for the golden reel award, in the categories of Best Sound Editing in Foreign Features and Best Sound Editing in a Feature - Music - Feature Film. It received one other nomination for the Teen Choice Award, as Choice Movie - Thriller, from the Teen Choice Awards. All of these were in 2004.

Opinion..
Classified as a horror, its more of a fantasy/action film. Its an upgrade on traditional vampire and werewolf films, with state-of-the-art weaponry and specialised murder methods, but with enough basis tradition for it not to make it seem odd, or over the top. Its a great storyline, with your usual betrayals and twists, and it will keep you hooked pretty much all the way through. Its a film you can watch more than once, but with all films, the first times always best. Its also the type of movie that you notice things you hadn't seen the first time when you watch it again. Kate Beckinsale is adorned in skin-tight leather, adding an incentive for fans to watch . The plot is interesting, the actings pretty good, the action sequences are reasonably impressive and the conclusion certainly invokves wonder and curiosity.
Its the type of film that throughout you'll be trying to work out who exactly are the good or bad guys. Theres a reasonable amount of blood and graphic violence depicted, so if it bothers you, skip over purchasing this film. The image of the film is probably its best attribute, along with the plot, as its quite dark - gothic and brooding.

Miscellaneous Facts..

• Kate Beckinsale (Selene) married Len Wiseman (the director) a year after the films release, getting engaged in June 2003.
• Len Wiseman chose to shoot many of the action and effects sequences live, without computer imagery.
• Sony Pictures, Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment had a lawsuit against them for copyright infringement from White Wolf Inc. and author Nancy A. Collins, on the 4th September 2003. They claimed there were over 70 points of similarity to the White Wolf roleplaying games, and that the entire plot of Underworld is based on a short story, The Love of Monsters, published in 1994 by White Wolf Inc for Nancy A. Collins. Both games and book are set in the 'World of Darkness', which Nancy Collins claims Underworld is set in.
• Selene means 'Moon' in Greek Mythology.
• According to Kevin Grevioux, one of the writers, the model for the Selene character was the Black Queen Selene, of the Hellfire Club in the X-Men comics - the psychic vampire.
• Both Kevin Grevioux and Danny McBride, the two writers along with director Len Wiseman, starred in the film itself. Grevioux played a lycan, Raze, whilst Danny McBride played Mason.

Discs / Extras..
Disc 1: The film itself; an audio commentary with Len Wiseman, Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman (quite jokey and fun); outtakes, Fang vs Fiction - 47 minutes of the history of vampires and werewolves; two TV spots and a collection of previews.

Disc 2: The Making of underworld; the visual effects of underworld; creature effects; stunts; designing underworld; the look of underworld and sights and sounds. In addition there is a music video for Worms of the Earth by Finch, a storyboard comparison, a a 16 page production 'sketch to scene' booklet and a 48 page mini comic book.

Difference between normal/extended..
The normal version has two audio commentaries not included on this one: the first with Wiseman, Grevioux and McBride, the second with creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos, visual effects supervisor and executive producer James McQuaide, and sound designer Claude Letessier.
There isn't a vast majority of added footage to the latter, though if you liked it in the cinema it'd be worth seeing. It adds many short scenes, more back-story for some characters and added gunplay in an action sequence - it also has a bigger role for Erika, with a very brief sex scene with Kraven. The main difference is the loss of the two audio commentaries, and the gain of the one included on disc one, and over an hour and a half of new featurettes. 

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