Somewhere, in a rain-soaked gothic city, sometime, when monsters still lurk in the shadows, there is a war raging between two of horror's most dependable legends. Underworld wastes no time in painting the picture of perpetual nocturnal warfare between the vampires and the werewolves, two enemies locked in an ancient feud, hunting each other through the world of humans. Selene is a Death Dealer - a kind of Buffy the Werewolf Slayer for vampires, except without the humour and with a much, much tighter-fitting outfit.
After defeating Lucien, the most powerful of werewolves, the vampires have gained the upper hand, with the Death Dealers tracking down the remaining lychens and riddling them with silver bullets from machine pistols. When she comes across a huge den of werewolves in the sewers, she finds her concern is not shared by the rest of her coven, especially Kraven, the vampire left in charge while Selene's mentor lies recuperating in his coffin. Kraven is also suspiciously keen to ignore the fact that the werewolves seem to be abducting humans for reasons other than food.
In fact, humans play little part in Underworld. The entire film does not include a single daytime scene, instead being played out in the suitably imposing nighttime vistas of Prague and Budapest, doubling for some unnamed American city, probably Gotham. Which is where we first run into the comparisons with Blade.
Underworld could easily have been reshaped into a third outing for Wesley Snipes' comic book adaptation. The locations are exactly the same, as is the use of modern technology to combat the age-old weaknesses of the two monster species and the long black Matrix coats. The main difference is Kate Beckinsale as Selene, the female incarnation of Blade. Beckinsale is nowhere near Snipes in the kung-fu department, but she looks a damn sight better being all ruthless, beautiful and encased in leather, while firing big guns. Unfortunately, like the rest of the characters Selene is not very well developed (storyline wise - get your filthy mind off the costume!).
The leaders of the two factions, played by Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy are the most interesting and well performed characters, but the rest have little backstory or insight and are merely serving to further the plot, especially the human Michael (Scott Speedman) who is very poor and thankfully the much talked about in production love affair with Selene doesn't really materialise although it still manages to stamp its regrettable impression on the plot. The cinematography and sets are very impressive, while the director labours slightly under the impression that to make cool fight scenes you. haave. tooo. fiiilmm. theemm. reeeallly. slooowwlly. andthenreallyspeedthemupattheend.
Underworld is a promising, albeit very untidy attempt to meld two monster genres with the new trenchcoat gun fetishism of The Matrix. The absence of character development actually allows for a more interesting main plot than the first Blade film, and I would say it was a better movie, but is not so discernable from Blade 2. Except of course, for the occasional arse-shot of Kate Beckinsale in leather. How about Blade 3: Underworld? |
