Underworld

[Dolemite]

Hmm...I keep hearing it's dissapointing, but I'll still see it this weekend. It looks good, even though it looks like a total Blade/Matrix rip-off. I love the hardcore gothic look the movie has.

[sleeve]

sleeveboy, were you aware that White Wolf is suing the makers of Underworld due to over 35 points of similarity? WW says it's too obvious to be just a coincidence. I don't play WW games, but a friend of mine does, and he's super pissed. The lawsuit comes too late to stop the theatrical release, but it could hit the studio for proceeds and may stop DVD distribution. We'll see what happens.

Yeah, I've been following that lawsuit. I haven't read WW's complaint yet, but I know the gist of their claims. WW argues that the movie infringes on its "expression" of vampire and werewolf society. While there are quite a few things that were obviously borrowed from WW source material (the Masquerade, calling vampire/werewolf hybrids "Abominations"), overall it was less infringing than I was led to believe.

Kate Beckinsale's character does, however, resemble one of WW's signature characters a little too closely (Lucita).

[Werewolf]

Yeah I was hoping it might be better, I'm still going to check it out though

How much do they show of the werewolves, I hope they get a decent amount of screen time

I have a love hate relationship with White-Wolf Studios, I love their Werewolf series but... I hate how they pretty much do nothing with it any more and they never came out with the games I so desperately wanted

Penny Arcade had a funny strip up about the lawsuit, here it is...

[maruchan]

This still looks like the Monster Squad meets the matrix...

[Despair]

Not that its a bad thing, since Monster Squad kicked ass

[AaronChance]

Yeah I was hoping it might be better, I'm still going to check it out though

How much do they show of the werewolves, I hope they get a decent amount of screen time

Read the review on AICN and set your expectations to as low as they possibly can get. Or just watch Werewolf in Paris again.

Was this made by the same people making the upcoming Punisher movie? Because it sounds like it has similar problems and similar incredibly stupid decisions.

[Despair]

Well, I will bew seeing it in a few hours.

For now I post Eberts review of the film. As usual its a alot of words about nothing, but he mentiones computer game called Castlevania !!!!

http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert...rworld19f.html

I just hope that movie delivers.

One more review. 2.5 Stars here.

http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/mo...nderworld.html

He seemed to like some parts of it.

[Delta]

it sucks. I KNEW IT!!!

[Despair]

Well, Just came back from seeing it. While it did leave me dissapointed, it had a share of GOOD things in it. But they could have done much more.

Delta, Shut up please.

I will post more detailed review later today.

[Despair]

Ok, Review time What do ya all think?

The idea of vampires fighting werewolves always intrigued me. It is such an interesting concept, and all the cool possibilities that it could offer if done right. The theme was begging for a movie implementation, and when I heard first news about plan to bring the idea to the big screen, it made me excited. The project name was Underworld, and it was a tale of vampire, a member of elite Werewolf slaying team, out for revenge, to avenge the death of her family, which died in werewolf attack. But as project grew, new ideas were tackled in, such as somewhat Romeo & Juliet like story of forbidden love. With the film hitting the screens today, you may ask me: How is the final result? Well, Decent but disappointing. Much, much more could have done with the idea, and if they ever decide to make the sequel, I hope that they will make it more streamlined.

First lets talk about the style. I love dark fantasy and gothic look in films. Crow, Dark City, Blade series did excellent job setting the base for where Underworld borrows its look and feel. Seemingly permanent night, almost constant rain, and all of the film shot in bluish tint, gives it desolate look, and sets up the mood for the dark adventure, Shot in Prague, its full of old, gothic buildings, dark underground ruins, and atmosphere of decay. Production design team did a great job with sets, lighting and perfect locations. I just wish that story were as good as the sets.

I am always open to give a chance to first time directors. While many are indeed turn out to be hacks, once in a while you get a genuine talent. Unfortunately, Len Wiseman who directed Underworld is not one. While he tries his best, not all of the techniques he uses work, and middle of the movie slows down quite a bit. He also doesn’t seem to be very proficient in setting a good action (I will discuss this a bit later). In the interview I saw, Wiseman said that he was trying to concentrate on dramatic aspect of the story and characters, which would have been fine, if the story they use indeed was deep, but alas it wasn’t the case. Not to say that I completely hated it, but it had few unnecessary complications, that made it less understandable. I did like the sad and tragic love story subplot, and the events that cause the great war, but the conspiracy and betrayal bits were pretty clichéd.

Acting wise, I liked Kate Kate Beckinsale as Selene. She had that dark, gothic beauty, with her deadly, leather clad warrior image. And she did well in the action, where it allowed her character to perform some cool stunts. I didn’t think that Scott Speedman, was all that bad as Michael Corvin, the only human in the film. While his character wasn’t written all that well, he acted the part, and I liked him, especially at the end.

But Shane Brolly, as slimy and backstabbing vampire Kraven, who lusts for Selene, was overacting in quite a few scenes. Too bad they chose to concentrate more time on him, instead of Victor, leader of vampire clan. Bill Nighy who played him, did a good job, portraying ancient but very powerful vampire. Unlike weak vampire king from Blade 2, this leader could kick some serious ass and then some. Michael Sheen as Lycan leader Lucian was also good, and his back-story added a lot of tragic tones to the main story. Too bad he didn’t get involved in final action scene.

Now, the most important part, me as action junkie was looking to – the Action. And unfortunately, it was uneven affair. Some action scenes were done perfectly, but then other came out sloppy, badly staged, and just not fun. You would think, with idea of 2 types of immortal creatures engaged in total fight to the death, the creators would go wild with spectacular action? I thought too, but not here. Don’t expect Blade or Crow here. While again, there were some actually good scenes, such as opening (which was spoiled by unnecessary overuse of slow motion), some of later gunfights, fight between Victor and Lucian right-hand man (wasn’t really a fight, but very effective showcase of power), and whole ending action sequence, rest of just uneventful and in good need of good action planner. I am always happy to see good old 2 gun routine put to the good use, but I also prefer it to be done not only stylishly but also excitingly. I just wish it were John Woo who had directed this. While this film does bare a resemblance to Matrix, it wasn’t a total copy. At least heroes didn’t engaged in forever going fights J. Fighting here was more brutal (well, you would expect two unhuman species to fight with primal ferocity), but again, too bad that it wasn’t much more balsy.

But where other ares of Underworld were disappointing, the special fx were first rate. SFX team did a great job on this project, and Lucan transformations were some of the best use of CGI in transformation sequence. Underworld also boasts a pretty good dose of blood and gore, some of which brought the smile on my face. I already mentioned set designs in the beginning of my review, but I will do it again. The look of the Underworld was first rate.

Some spoilers, where I want to talk about few things that excited me, few things that I hated and one thing that left me somewhat confused:

Man, I loved these werewolves. In hand to hand fighting they were kicking vampires pale assess. It just too bad we didn’t get too see much of it L.

Victor had awesome scene, when that huge werewolf jumped on him, and he simply held it by the throat and broke it. Damn.

Some of Selene’s shooting moments were also cool, like then she was fighting 3 werewolves in the hallway, and had to switch sides and flip to get them.

The whip fight was also cool, and I loved how it ended

I liked the final fight between changed Michael and Victor. And Face Slice was cool. They should have added blood spray to it though; it would have had much better effect.

Question, What the hell happened to Kraven? They never really showed that, and I assume the he escaped, possibly to come back in the sequel.

Overall, I found it entertaining, but quite disappointing. I kept my expectations low, and that helped me to appreciate it more, but it makes me sad to realize that it could have been much more. The way they end, they set it up for possible sequel, and if it ever comes to be, I just hope they make it better.

I cant really say that I recommend seeing this in the theaters, but it’s a definitely a decent rental. The theme, some of the execution, cool fx and blood and few decent action scenes, make it watchable. But unnecessary convoluted story, somewhat lame action direction, jumpy pace, overacting and more, makes it less enjoyable at the end.

P.S. I just saw the teaser trailer for RE2, before Underworld, and it was pretty cool. As I reported before, its done in the form of Cosmetics ad, but with the twist at the end. I thought it was stylish and different. It didnt had any of actual movie footage though, since it still little too early for that