Review of Underworld (2003) by Filipeneto — 11 Jul 2020

Vampire movies exist by the hundreds. I think there is hardly a monster capable of being more seductive and appealing than the vampire. Likewise, there is hardly a rival more suitable for those blood drinkers than the werewolf. This film will explore these and create an alternative story for both monsters that, here, have a common origin and are destined to hate each other.

The main character is Selene, a warrior vampire who devoted hundreds of years to an eternal war with werewolves, called Lycans (if anyone knows the difference between a Lycan and a werewolf, please tell me). After a routine mission, she discovers that there is a large group of Lycans who can threaten vampires. Ignored by the vampire leader, she decides to prove that she is right and the danger is real, and wakes up the mighty Viktor, an elder vampire. But Selene's inquiries will prove the threat is more serious than she imagined and all loyalties, inside and outside the vampire clan, are at stake.

This film is an action blockbuster loaded with leather, bullets, blood and testosterone, more than suitable for teenagers full of bouncing hormones. For me, it worked well but it is far from being something I would pay to see at the theater. It was directed by Len Wiseman, who we already know from "Live Free or Die Hard". He is a satisfactory director and seems to like dark material. I believe he was very inspired by "Matrix", if we take into account the leather clothes, hard-rock style and, above all, the opening scene in the subway, with hundreds of bullets fired without injuring anyone but destroying all the station, in a moment of unrealistic and absurd action. Believing that mortals live totally unaware to such blatant immortals is, at the very least, impossible. The story becomes more complex with the revelation of the past of the two clans and the creation of a myth that is never truly well explained, but supports the rest of the film.

The cast is full of well-known names and is led by Kate Beckinsale, in a role that places her, more or less, between a Lara Kroft and a porn dominatrix. She's attractive but doesn't give us much more than her own body and a hot voice. Scott Speedman is stupid and doesn't seem to know how he got here, besides there is no chemistry between him and Beckinsale for both of them to be a credible romantic couple. Shane Brolly is fine, but not extraordinary and there are a lot of actors who only show up a little without adding some significant to the film, such as Wentworth Miller, Kevin Grevioux and Sophia Myles (she seems to have been included in the cast just to please the male audience who prefers a blonde over a brunette). But not everything is so decadent! Michael Sheen is excellent, being the most outstanding actor in the film and the one that gives us more solid work. Although I prefer to see him in dramatic films like "Frost/Nixon" or "The Queen", he is good at this kind of character and would come, years after this film, to do something like this when he play Aro Volturi in "Twillight" saga. Likewise, we must see and applaud Bill Nighy's good work, with his unique voice and diction. He gave his character an air of elegant aristocratic sadism.

Technically, it is a dark film, loaded with action, bullets, leather, blood and very dark. Without a single scene with the sun or some bright colour, it is truly a dark film... I already said that? Gothic to the core, it has a nebulous and gloomy cinematography that, however, works well. Not being a romantic film, it has some hot scenes that, however, show nothing much. Even Beckinsale's ass always looks in her tights. However, sex is everywhere in the vampire world and that vampire mansion looks almost like a decadent brothel. The scenes of violence are also everywhere, but they sound so fake that even when a head is cut in half, we don't feel anything about it.