Reviewed by: Becca & Joe

Directed by: Len Wiseman

Produced by: Robert Bernacchi, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, & Richard S. Wright

Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Bill Nighy, Danny McBride, & Michael Sheen

Action/Adventure, Romance and Suspense/Horror 2 hrs. 01 min. Set in the secret nocturnal and supernatural world of vampires and werewolves, two groups that have been at war for centuries, this is the story of a romance between a female vampire warrior, Selene (Beckinsale), who's famous for her strength and werewolf-hunting prowess, and a peace-loving human, Michael (Speedman), who wants to end the war.

Well, let me start out by saying I expected less from this movie then what I got. This was a movie that tried to take itself seriously, but didn't actually do that. It had tacky jokes, and the inability to truely explain itself. You have to assume that the vampires and werewolves are like the basic vampire and werewolf from any book or movie. For starts, I HATE THAT!!!! It seemed to me that the writer of this script only knew the basic of werewolf and vampire mythology. To sum it up in one word I would pick LAME!

This movie could of been a complete blockbuster like "Interview with a vampire" was. However you find yourself involved in far to much gun play, it was more like humans fighting then vampires and werewolves. Also, they never do explain the "ways" of the vampires as to the reason why the elders rule the way they do. Another time an elder is attacked and dies, but yet another elder treats the werewolves like they are a rag doll. Honestly, wouldn't the other elder be able to do that? Ok, back to my orginal thought for this paragraph... When writing a vampire/werewolf movie you want to see hand to hand, not gun to gun with neato little bullets. The gun scenes weren't even that well done either!

You also have an anime type love story that comes to life for NO REASON what so ever. But what bugs me the most was that our hero would all of a sudden display a super natural ability that she seemingly didn't have before and had she it would of been useful several times over.... especially before the part she uses it. Now, I am a vampire fanatic... I love vampire stories, as a matter of a fact I am writing a vampire novel of my own. I have come to realize how vampires should be portrayed and explained. You just HAVE TO explain who and what your vampires are. What can kill them... NEVER leave guessing to the audience unless there is a reason, which their obviously was none. Oh and just to be real picky, I didn't like the British setting... not vampiric enough.

I am being told that an Underworld 2 is in production and we should be expecting it soon, so let us hope and pray that my questions are answered and not give me any more to ask. But hey if you like lots of blood, gore, and tacky one liners watch this movie. However I am afraid only people with the most basic knowledge of vampire and werewolf mythology will truly appreciate this movie.

Underworld is an insult to the famous play (Romeo and Juliet) on which it is based, no matter how loosely it is. Poor William Shakespeare must be rolling in his grave! The idea seemed to an interesting one, so what went wrong? A lot of things. Despite having a decent two hour time length, Underworld becomes too bloated by the midway point that by the end, it just gives up and rolls downhill. The plot has too many twists and turns to get a clear understanding of what is going on and ends with more questions then answers.

How did the vampires and werewolves start out? How were the werewolves able to evolve so that they could change at random? Why is it the werewolves and vampires seem to have this all out war against each other going on for centuries without the knowledge the human race? Some of those answers may be present in the feature but the main focus becomes so confusing that anything else is pushed out of your mind to even ponder. And even though this is a horror/monster film, Screen Gem could have taken the blood factor down a notch or two as there were too many unnecessary squeamish moments for some to take especially after gobbling down a full bucket of popcorn.

The action sequences are well done, though the filmmakers seem to borrow too many elements from The Matrix series to make them even slightly original. So despite an excellent performance by Kate Beckinsale and well choreographed action sequences, Underworld comes off as being too long, grim and confusing to recommend above superior fall fare like Once Upon a Time in Mexico.