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Dan Owen reviews
Underworld: Special Edition 
- Cert:
- Running time: 105 minutes
- Year: 2006
- Released: 20th January 2006
- Widescreen Ratio: 2.35:1
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Director:
- Len Wiseman
(Underworld, Underworld: Evolution)
Producers:
- David Coatsworth, Gary Lucchesi, Danny McBride, James McQuaid, Tom Rosenberg, Skip Williamson & Richard S Wright
Screenplay:
- Danny McBride
(from a story by Len Wiseman, based on characters created byKevin Grevioux, Danny McBride & Len Wiseman)
Cinematographer:
- Simon Duggan
Music:
- Marco Beltrami (Terminator 3)
Cast:
- Selene: Kate Beckinsale
Michael: Scott Speedman
Marcus: Tony Curran
Corvinus: Sir Derek Jacobi
Viktor: Bill Nighy
Tanis: Steven Mackintosh
Kraven: Shane Brolly
The first Underworld was a huge disappointment.It promised Matrix-stylevisuals mixed with a ferocious werewolves versus vampires storyline withplenty of bite. What we got was low-rent Romeo & Juliet, seen through theeyes of a director weined on MTV music videos. Its saving grace was somesporadically entertaining action sequences, Kate Beckinsale’s sultry poutand Bill Nighy’s eminently enjoyable turn as uber-vampire Viktor.
Given the first movie’s critical panning, it’s something of an achievementthat a sequel was even discussed, let alone released theatrically with itslead actress intact just a few years later. Oh, the price of marriage, ehMrs Wiseman?
Underworld: Evolution continues the story from the exact point we left it -after a text legend that recaps the film’s mythology and a fun flashback tothe Middle Ages where horse-riding vampires raize a werewolf infestedvillage to the ground. Despite these attempts, this sequel will stillconfuse newcomers and no doubt leave them bamboozled until the basic thrustof the story finally gels together towards the end.
You see, while the plot is hardly taxing, its execution is choppy andreliant on huge cliches even Stephen Sommers wouldn’t dare write (oh, wait,I forgot aboutThe Mummy Returns).The upshot is that “death dealer” (ie,”vampire assassin”) Selene is on the run from fellow vampires with her hunkyboyfriend Michael – who’s actually a cross-breed of vampire and Lycan (ie,”werewolf”). The age-old battle between vampire and lycan is still ongoing -but now Marcus, the first vampire, needs Selene’s blood so he can locate theresting place of his brother William – the first lycan.
It’s a plot straight from a Playstation game, which is what this resemblesmost of the time, and one where a few of the story’s turning points areactually given away in the opening legend! Arse.
Still, amazingly Underworld: Evolution is still an improvement on itspredecessor, but only through virtue of better special-effects and absenceof a mid-section slump in action sequences. Fundamentally, Evolution is muchmore of much the same, but blessed with a satisfying villain in Marcus (TonyCurran – well, powerful when in full make-up anyway…) and the acting chopsof Nighy (a mere cameo, but fun) and Derek Jacobi (good value, yetcriminally underused).
We expect ageing British thespians to take the pay cheque and run with sillyHollywood bunkum like this, but promising young starlet Kate Beckinsale isso much better than this tripe. After her “breakout” role in Pearl Harbor,she could have put Underworld down to a misstep, but to sign up for itsunnecessary sequel is just sheer dumbness – no doubt encourage byhusband-director Len Wiseman. Here’s hoping Wiseman allows his wife tocontinue her career trajectory to better things – even though Evolutionleaves the gate wide open for an even more pointless sequel. Maybe once theHoneymoon period is over…?
However, there’s no denying that Beckinsale is a believable action heroinewith the limited range her character embodies. Despite her small waif-likestature, she can shoot guns like a good ‘un. But that’s all Selene is,really – a gun-firing waif in a skintight catsuit with a pout.
Elsewhere, Scott Speedman reminds us why his career stagnated after thefirst Underworld. If you want a boring all-American jock with good pecs -he’s your man. Speedman is again condemned to grimmace through make-up thatmakes him look like a particularly non-threatening combination of a blueIncredible Hulk and a Neanderthal man. A risible “twist” at the end with hischaracter also beggars belief.
As always with these movies, the dependable British actors in villainousroles somehow get away with it. Nighy and Jacobi phone in theirperformances, true, but they’re nevertheless watchable onscreen presences.Tony Curran (The League Of Extraordinary Gentleman) makes a strongimpression as new villain Marcus, particularly when hidden by layers ofNosferati-esque prosthetics and aided by some fantastic killer wings.
The special-effects aren’t a quantum leap from the first movie’s, but thereare more of them and they’re generally better refined. The werewolftransformations are smoother, all the CGI creatures are more believable(save for a few dodgy shots in a mediavel village) and the resulting fightsequences are often quite bruising. A scene with vampire Marcus flappingbat-like around a truck being driven by Selene is a particular highlight, asis the climactic showdown (just don’t mention the animatronic wolf straightout of Dog Soldiers…)
Overall, Underworld: Evolution is silly, derivative, aimless, and actinglow-points for all concerned, but it’s also an improvement over the firstmovie due to pacing and effects work. You’d be advised to watch the firstmovie before coming to the sequel obviously, as Evolution is, essentially,the first movie’s “Act IV”.
The fact the door’s open for “Act V” will be the cause for alarm or joydepending on how well you can take two hours of vampires beating upwerewolves. Personally, take this on its own merits and it’s anentertaining, yet instantly forgettable, way of spending a few hours…
PERFORMANCES
PLOT
MUSIC & SOUND
SPECIAL FX
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.