Crystal Hohenthaner

Vampires vs. Lycans (werewolves). Why hasn’t anyone thought of this premise before?

I, for one like it. Throw in a dose of star-crossed lovers, a lot of beautifully choreographed and photographed fight scenes, as well as some high fashion and Underworld is the result.

Here’s the plot: Vampires and Lycans have been fighting for the better part of a millennia and the Vampires have been winning (no explanation of why is given), and it is practically a cold war by now.

A special group of vampires hunt down the Lycans and kill them. Kate Beckinsale’s character, Selene, is one of these Lycan-hunters. She’s also quite mixed up in the internal politics of the Vampire world, with the leader of the vampires, whom she dislikes, digging her hard-core. This makes for a rather irritated and lonely leading lady.

Time to bring in the plot twist. Enter the mysterious human that the Lycans want for something. Selene wants to find out why. And, honestly so does the audience. But the writers don’t let us in on why until the last half-hour of the movie.

Why you’ll like it: If action scenes and high fashion do it for you this movie gets it done. Or, if you just love movies that are sure to be video games at some point, this one’s all you.

For the film aficionados out there, the art direction and cinematography are superb and beautiful. Also, Beckinsale, unlike her fellow actors in the film, does a rather good job acting the part of the vengeful vampire huntress.

Personally, I like to see the bad guys get it in the end and get a bit of hope for the future mixed in. This flick did these things for me. Plus, even though it is rated R it wasn’t too gory for me to deal with. I must admit to being a bit of a pansy.

There are a few creative gadgets in the film used for fighting both species for all you gadget fans out there too.

Why you might not like it: Let’s just say no one’s getting a best acting Oscar for this one, even poor Beckinsale. Although the acting isn’t stellar, I don’t think the fault falls entirely to the cast. A movie can only be as good as it’s script and I found myself wondering how an actor could possibly deliver Underworld’s lines well.

As well as difficult dialogue, there are a few plot holes. Furthermore, as a purist, I feel the script departed a too far from the lore surrounding both werewolves and vampires – I mean, there wasn’t a single wooden stake in the entire movie!

The Good/Bad news: There is a sequel in the works. I liked the film, so I am hoping they can pull it all together, take a few action lessons, fill in a couple of holes and get me a sequel I can enjoy. I must say the ending had me wanting to see what would happen next.

Of course, this could be bad news because sequels are notorious for being worse than the original. If they don’t keep the good cinematography, the great fight sequences and the fab clothes, we are talking BIG flop!