Despite the recent unmitigated disaster that was Aeon Flux I warmed to the idea of another futuristic action-chick flick. I had some slight hope given the fact that it starred Milla Jovovich who had cemented herself as a self-sufficient ass-kicker in the very fun zombie movies Resident Evil and its sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse. My expectations were increased when I heard that Ultraviolet was directed by Kurt Wimmer as I really enjoyed his last futuristic movie Equilibrium. In the end that bad taste of Flux in my mouth and the fact that, like Aeon Flux, this film was not to be pre-screened for critics tempered my expectations. None-the-less Friday morning when I decided to take an impromptu day off I immediately called James to see if he wanted to attend the first screening of the day with me. I won’t keep you in suspense ladies and gentlemen…it was bad. While at best Aeon Flux was a 1 out of 5 star rating, Ultraviolet struggles to earn a 2. It gets the other star only because of the fact that despite it being a very poor film I enjoyed seeing it.

The plot summed up from the official releases is thus:

“Set in the late 21st century, a subculture of humans have emerged who have been modified genetically by a vampire-like disease (Hemophagia), giving them enhanced speed, incredible stamina and acute intelligence, and as they are set apart from “normal” and “healthy” humans, the world is pushed to the brink of worldwide civil war (a war between humans and hemophages) aimed at the destruction of the “diseased” population. In the middle of this crossed-fire is – an infected woman – Ultraviolet (Milla Jovovich), who finds herself protecting a nine-year-old boy who has been marked for death by the human government as he is believed to be a threat to humans”.

The plot of course seems very cliched. It and its offspring have been done over and over again. But that is not my complaint. I would be the first to admit that no matter how overused a plot is if the film is a good one I can forgive that, enjoy it, and perhaps watch it over and over again. The Underworld movies are an example of movies whose plots are not entirely unique and yet they are highly enjoyable films. The plot is not the weakest part of Ultraviolet, however. Like Aeon Flux it was the way the plot was executed that left one with little faith in Hollywood’s ability to churn out quality female-driven action films. And while on the subject of plot, someone please tell movie-makers that an introductory “serious” voice-over is not necessary in every fantasy/sci-fi film. Let the audience figure out some things for itself. The last two times this was done well was in Serenity and Fellowship of the Ring. Both are excellent examples of creative voice-over introductions. I would say that if one cannot match the quality of those two films it is best to forget it and let the movie tell the story.

If you’ve seen the trailers you know that Ultraviolet has a unique, futuristic, soft-focus look. In this the movie did not disappoint. The special effects were very well done and the look of the film was one of the main reasons I left the theatre having enjoyed the film in spite of itself. The world and its inhabitants has a fascinating computer-generated look that made me think of this as a 21st century Tron. There are rich colors in Ultraviolet’s ever-changing look and wardrobe that are contrasted against the very shiny, dark and bleak look of the healthy human world to great effect. Ultraviolet is almost good enough to see just for the way that it looks. While this is one of the coolest elements to the film it is also one of the elements that make absolutely no sense. In the beginning there is an obvious reason for the deception of Violet’s appearance. After that it is obvious that the director was just trying to take advantage of Milla Jovovich’s model good looks by putting her in as many outfits as he could in a one-hour, 25 minute film.

The acting is what you would expect from a film like this. Milla Jovovich plays Ultraviolet in much the same way that she does her action scenes in the Resident Evil series. She maintains a look of serious concentration despite the fact that some of her lines are painfully cheesy in the extreme. While Milla Jovovich is indeed beautiful to look at there was entirely too many shots of her face coming at you on the screen…the presence of her often shimmering lipstick made me feel that I was watching a commercial for some new Maybelline color-stay lip gloss.

Jovovich is a very competent action herioine and it was a shame that this movie wasn’t better. The rest of the cast were just actors filling roles. William Fichtner, the leader of the rebel band in Equilibrium, makes an appearance here as Garth, Ultraviolet’s weapon supplier, friend, and unrequited love interest. Nick Chinlund plays the evil overlord Daxus and does an adequate job with the paper-thin role and Cameron Bright inhabits the stoic, mysterious child role.

The saddest thing about Ultraviolet is that with a little more direction it really could have worked. Regardless of the impression given thus far there is really alot of fun stuff in the film. As I said the effects and look are great. The actions scenes are no different than those in Equilibrium, but I like them. I like Wimmer’s gun-kata style even though it makes for a slightly silly, unrealistic way to fight. And there were some generally funny lines in the film that meant to be funny. The problem is that there were an equal number of lines that were played seriously that were just as funny because of how bad they were. While watching Ultraviolet it appears as if Wimmer couldn’t make up his mind about whether he was doing a serious apocalyptic film or an over-the-top comic book film. Had he sold himself completely on doing a film with the humor of a movie like Big Trouble in Little China he could have had a cult classic on his hands. As it is the story just seems convoluted for no reason and you are never sure as to whether you should be laughing derisively or taking the whole thing seriously.

There are times when one just needs to see a movie. Any movie. The end of last week found me in desperate need of a distraction. Ultraviolet was that distraction and although I think it is a really bad movie I enjoyed seeing it and am not at all disappointed that I spent the time or money watching it. It was not boring like Aeon Flux and there were enough fun elements to keep my attention on-screen. There are unfortunately too many weak points and ridiculous lines for this to ever be a movie that I would want to have on my shelf. Do I recommend seeing it in the theatre? Not unless you are in the same circumstances I was in. I can say that the opening credits done in comic book style with artists whose work looked really familiar will make me Netflix the DVD just to listen to the commentary about that part. It is VERY cool.

In the end I wish that someone in these major movie studios would have sat down the directors of Aeon Flux and Ultraviolet and said, “hey, we have half of a good movie here. Go back in there and film the other half”. Instead they rush these poorly done films out the door in hopes of a big opening weekend to make up for the long-run disaster that they turn out to be. Let’s hope that the future will bring us action-oriented films with female leads that have the interest and quality of the Underworld films rather than the boredom and ridiculousness of films like Flux and Ultraviolet.