Artivels Undescribable Perfection

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Prismark10 A comic book Gothic horror adventure film with a sort of a female version of Blade clad in leather. Plenty to enjoy apart from a derivative and wafer thin story.Vampires and Lycans (Werewolves) have been at war for centuries. Selene (Kate Beckinsale) a vampire death dealer hunts Lycans and is attracted to a human called Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) who the other Lycans are looking for. It seems he is a descendant of the head of the werewolf family and the Lycans want to use Micheal to create a vampire- werewolf hybrid.This is a shallow stylish film but entertaining with enough action and at least a backstory which gives it some interest. Some hammy acting from the vampires who do not have a decent script to get their teeth into.

Leofwine_draca For starters, UNDERWORLD is a hugely derivative film, and that's one of the biggest things working against it. The vampire vs. werewolf plot might not be too familiar – after all it's been a long time since those Universal monster flicks – but most of the scenes in the film bear the influences of other, better films. For instance the vampire society/hierarchy recalls BLADE, the clothing/action recalls THE MATRIX, and even the scene in the car in which the werewolf guy is pushing spikes through the roof is a rip on TERMINATOR 2. Despite these lame moments and lapses of originality, and the fact that the film is saddled with an unlikeable heroine, UNDERWORLD ain't so bad. The story has a few interesting things to say and director Len Wiseman holds things together well, inserting lots of style into the proceedings; suddenly I'm not so disheartened about him directing DIE HARD 4, after all.The film is packed with shoot-outs and battles and, while Kate Beckinsale's two-pistol posturing is frankly embarrassing, the violent werewolf attacks are cool and the silver/daylight bullets add some fun to the events that play out. The script, although derivative again, flows along quite nicely and, aside from the central heroine, there isn't really much to dislike. I found this film to be efficient if unoriginal. There's quite a decent cast here, with newcomer Scott Speedman acquitting himself reasonably well as the human caught up in the chaos, and Michael Sheen stealing all of his scenes as chief werewolf, Lucian. Kate Beckinsale is sometimes good – in HAUNTED, for instance - but I couldn't stand her here; she's trying too hard to be 'cool' but never escapes the fact that her character is nothing more than a Trinity-from-THE-MATRIX knock-off.Elsewhere, Bill Nighy camps it up as an evil age-old vampire and Kevin Grevioux nabs the best character in the whole film, a hard-ass, hulking werewolf who redefines the meaning of cool. Sophia Myles looks stunning, and I couldn't help wishing that she'd taken the leading role instead of Beckinsale. As to be expected/hoped, the special effects are fantastic, with CGI work coming up trumps throughout. The werewolves themselves aren't great – they recall the fuzzy shapes in AN American WEREWOLF IN Paris a little too much – but the transformations are astonishing and the head-slicing at the end, while too much like BLADE, is a triumphant moment. The film is surprisingly gory for its rating/audience which is also a pleasant surprise, making it that bit more palatable for adult audiences. Followed by UNDERWORLD EVOLUTION, this is a fun flick, not a classic but a watchable film at least.

skybrick736 Great fantasy/horror films are hard to come by and one of the great ones that comes to mind is Underworld. The introduction of Kate Beckinsale explaining the war between vampires and lycans (werewolves) was a tremendous start and hooks the viewer right off the bat. Len Wiseman really put his heart into this story, the craft is just exceptional. Kate Beckinsale was a great choice to play Seline, the lead vampire and main character. However, it was Bill Nighly that really flourished in the film playing the stern ruthless head vampire, Viktor. Great action sequences are prevalent throughout and even though it doesn't hold up today like it did in the early 2000's, it's still a great film. If you haven't seen Underworld you have really missed out on a great action, fantasy, horror flick.

Tweekums As this film opens we are told that a war once raged between Vampires and Lycans (werewolves) but six hundred years ago the Vampires killed Lucian, the leader of the Lycans and the war was over; since then the Vampires have been mopping up what was left of the Lycans. Then during one such operation Selene, one of the Vampires, senses that a nest of Lycans contains far more than had been seen in centuries. Her leader, Kraven, is dubious but she is convinced and investigates what the Lycans were doing. She is surprised to see they appear to be following a specific human; Michael Corvin.It turns out the he is a direct decedent of the ancestor of both Vampires and Lycans and could potentially become a hybrid of both! The Vampires are determined to kill him but Selene isn't so sure. As time passes she learns that much of what she has been told is untrue and if she is to survive she will have to battle both Lycans and Vampires.This is a decent fantasy adventure; they is lots of action throughout and an interesting story. The setting is dark and moody which gives the film a good feel; this is added to by the fact that the characters seem to have a thing about wearing black. This is especially true of Kate Beckinsale who looks fantastic in tight black PVC; she isn't just there for her looks though; she does a fine job in the role. She is ably supported by Michael Sheen as Lucian and Bill Nighy as Viktor, the most powerful of the Vampires. Scott Speedman is slightly less impressive as Michael but that could be seen as a deliberate attempt to make the human character less of a presence than the supernatural creatures. The action is directed stylishly and nicely updates the vampire/werewolf mythology with modern weapons used to fire special bullets that play on each creatures traditional weaknesses. Overall a solid enough film that fans of the genre are likely to enjoy.