Release Date: September 19, 2003
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Shane Brolly, Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy
Directed by: Len Wiseman
Written by: Danny McBride
Distributed by: Screen Gems
MPAA Rating: R (strong violence and gore, some language)
Yes, a movie about an underground war between werewolves and vampires sounds quite intriguing, especially when its cinematic style looks like a cross between The Matrix, Blade, and any of a dozen John Woo movies. In fact, that must be the only reason Underworld was made. But The Matrix and Blade each had a lot more going on beneath their sleek and shiny surfaces, whereas Underworld dives head-first into the world of monsters and never once considers adding a human element or an ounce of emotion to the story. If it didn’t take itself so seriously, and if it didn’t look so darn good, there would be very little reason to care about this story has to tell us.
What some may not know is that a video game company sued the makers of Underworld just before the movie’s release for copying “several” aspects of a series of video games that also happens to feature an ongoing battle between vampires and werewolves. Chances are this fact won’t make a difference to people who want to see this movie regardless, and that will definitely help in Underworld’s success. These same fans will also more than likely overlook the fact that the film caters only to them and leaves the rest of us trailing behind with little incentive to catch up.
The movie starts out by immediately trying to explain what exactly is going on here: While all of us mortals haven’t been looking, a war between vampires and Lykens (werewolves) has been going on for nearly a millennium. The main character, Selene (Kate Beckinsale), is part of an elite group of vampires called death dealers who specialize in the execution of werewolves. Something is brewing on her opponents’ side and she thinks it involves her own master, Kraven (Shane Brolly), and the head of the Lykens, Lucian (Michael Sheen), in a joint effort to bring the war to its final stage. In between these plot elements screenwriter Danny McBride has written a lot of Tolkien-esque terms and phrases, but he fails to give us, the human audience, any reason to get engaged in a story that doesn’t bother to concern the human race.
It’s sort of like those old bear-baiting spectacles they would put on the Middle Ages: a bear is brought into a ring and made to fight three hunting dogs. The crowd has no interest in either species; they simply want something to gamble on, and, oh yeah, to see some death. Likewise for the audiences who go to see Underworld -- there’s little reason to specifically like or hate either the vampires or the Lykens. Selene, the vampire heroine, is a nice gal who fights for what she believes in. But nothing is said about whether Lykens feed on human flesh, or if vampires prey only on children, or if one species is just plain uglier than the other.
Certainly, this is strictly a fantasy film, but so were Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and even Blade. All of those films revealed something about the human condition in one way or another while also delivering a wildly imaginative world for viewers to become engrossed in. In Blade, the most comparable film to Underworld, there’s reason to get excited because the hero is hunting vampires for our benefit -- he’s essentially trying to save the world. The characters in Underworld, on the other hand, are merely trying to save their own skin, and the best thing that can happen is if both races wipe themselves out so there’s not a sequel.
Luckily, the actors make the characters as interesting as possible and director Len Wiseman uses his previously acquired skills in art direction to add an appealing visual flair. Everything from the sets, the costumes, and the high contrast photography takes the viewer into this dark and scary place. Whatever the setting -- be it the present day or a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (we’re never told) -- it looks good.
The screenplay, too, has solid structure. You know what the characters are doing and, for the most part, why they’re doing it. The action serves a purpose and the dialogue isn’t trite or aimless. It’s not that the plot is hard to understand, follow, or even believe, it’s just that there’s little motivation to want to believe it. Maybe in the imminent Underworld 2, the filmmakers can tell us that the werewolves have bad breath or something, so there’s at least one reason to root against them.
-- Andy Zientek (zfilm@earthlink.net)