 Movie
Reviews
with Evelyn Gough
Underworld (M)
Directed by Len Wiseman
 Fancy a quick bite? More vampire madness in Underworld.
Sick of lovey dovey romantic comedies? Want a love story you can sink you teeth into - a romance with real bite?! We're certainly not talking you average, run-of-the-mill love story here.
If you thought Romeo and Juliet had problems, wait until you meet Selena (Kate Beckinsale) and Michael (Scott Speedman). They star in Underworld, an atmospheric Gothic action-horror fantasy about the ongoing rivalry between Vampires and lycans (werewolves). It's a war that has been raging for centuries and just like the creatures themselves have evolved, so have the weapons used to destroy them. Forget wooden stakes and simple silver bullets, (like Buffy, they are just soooo 20th century). Try bullets filled with silver nitrate, guaranteed to drop a werewolf dead in its tracks. To kill a vamp? Something equally high tech and just as deadly.
Selena is a stunning, leather-clad vampire known as a Death Dealer warrior. She was made a vamp by the master vampire himself, Viktor (Bill Nighy), after her family was supposedly slaughtered by lycans. Now she lives to kill the beasts that murdered her loved ones and she's excellent at her job.
So when she notices several lycans following a human she becomes suspicious. Just what are the enemy up to? Why are they so interested in the young doctor Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) and is her vampire coven in danger?
When nobody, including her leader Kraven (Shane Brolly) believes her, Selena decides to take matters into her own very capable hands. Okay, so I kind of exaggerated when I said this was romantic, although it's pretty obvious Selena and Michael have the hots for each other, (when they're not running for their lives or being werewolf num nums!)
This is definitely more your full-on guns-ablazing action horror fest. Throw in great special effects and a totally cool "look" and you have a film that most fans of this genre will dig. Me? I love a good vampire movie, especially one that creeps me out. Unfortunately I have to admit Underworld left me feeling dissatisfied. We weren't given time to get to know the main characters, so I didn't particularly care about them and was most disappointed that I wasn't scared once.
Still, it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours and you can always play "spot the boo boo"! Vampires don't have reflections, right? Apparently the makers of Underworld forgot that very important fact!
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