Underworld 

Total Score: 45 

Plot: 8 

Originality: 6 

Acting: 5 

Genre: 5 

Entertaining: 9 

Directing: 5 

Script/Dialogue: 7 

Misc: 7 

Plot: The premise of Underworld is about a blood feud between vampires and Lychens(werewolves) that has been raging for the better part of 1,000 years. While the concept seems interesting for a film of this genre this project falls miserably short. 

Kate Beckinsale (Pearl Harbor) stars as Selene, a vampire death dealer, sworn to hunt down and kill all Lychens one by one. Selene discovers that the Lychens are recruiting a human (Michael) that they plan to use to strike back against the vampires once and for all. 

Originality: This film had a very original and fresh new idea, however, it gets lost in all of the uninteresting and needless scenes of insignificance. They could've done so much more with this movie and really set themselves apart from all the other mediocre supernatural movies in recent past. 

Acting: The cast in this film delivered a performance that left quite a bit to be desired. There's no way around saying it was bad, painfully so. Beckinsale as well as the supporting actors did little or nothing to provide charisma or character to the roles they portrayed. Dialogue is delivered in monotone mostly with few exceptions. No emotion or feeling whatsoever seemingly in this film. Ironic that the actors are portraying the undead because I at times wondered if they had a pulse. A robot or android could very easily have delivered a performance to match or rival the professionals in this film. 

Genre: Unfortunately this movie should have and could have re-established the vampire/werewolf genre in mainstream films. Instead it leaves so many continuity flaws and many audience members shaking their heads. This film picks and chooses which "rules" of vampirism to acknowledge and which to completely ignore, thus making no sense of itself. 

Directing: The direction of this picture was both hot and cold. While Len Wiseman wastes no time grabbing your attention from the start, there are no surprises or twists which makes the experience extremely predictable. The audience consistently knows exactly where the movie is going at all times. 

Entertaining: I found this film to be vaguely entertaining at best. Most of the fight scenes were decent, nothing spectacular and nothing we've not seen before. The action is just enough to keep your interest. It's obvious that the film tries to capitalize on the popularity and success of the Matrix franchise imitating things such as costumes, fight sequences, slow motion gun fights, right down to the exploding tiles surrounding combatants. It has the feel of a low rent Matrix knockoff. Much more was expected from this movie from the excellent marketing that was done to hype it, however, it fails to deliver while it was definitely capable.

Script/Dialogue: The dialogue in this film was mediocre, not overly horrible yet nothing flashy or memorable. If you can't recall any catchy, funny, or outstanding lines from a film, how good could the script really be?

Misc.: I give this movie a 7 in the miscellaneous category because although there were many shortcomings elsewhere, the creative team did a pretty good job coming up with some new gadgets and interesting new weapons that the clans use against each other. Ultra violet and silver nitrate bullets are just the beginning. Kudos to the creative team in this category. The special effects were also very well done, especially when the Lychens morph to and from human form.

Overview: All in all I feel that this project is worth a watch for true vampire/werewolf fans but don't expect it to reinvent the genre because it is quite lacking. The fight scenes are decent but the story is very weak. I left feeling as if the movie may have been rushed through production because they could've done so much better with the excellent original idea. I kept thinking where are the other death dealers and why is Selene so important? Why does it matter if she fails or succeeds? The vampire race would continue to exist. Aren't the vampires immortal after all?

10-9-03