From an Academy Award nominated film to won’t-ever-be-Oscar-worthy fare, I have spent the previous two evenings engrossed in big screen thrills at the theater. This time it was not to play amateur critic but to indulge in guilty pleasure that kept me out late on a work night. For Kate Beckinsale in leather, kicking the butt of all comers, is certainly a guilty pleasure. I have enjoyed all of the films in the Underworld franchise thus far, including the sans-Kate prequel, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. With bullet-ridden, blue-black filtered grace the Underworld films have provided a stylish continuation of the Matrix-style of film making and have turned Kate Beckinsale into an action femme fatale.
The risk of continuing any franchise is that the idea will grow thin and that the attraction will grow cold. How does Underworld: Awakening stand up to its predecessors?
The truth is, this one is brutal.
Literally.
At the risk of sounding like one massive male hormone, the truth is that Kate Beckinsale is an incredibly attractive woman and the idea of spending an hour or two watching her run around in skin tight black leather shooting a variety of shiny weapons and kicking monster ass is enough to get me to park my behind in a movie theater seat rather than waiting for the DVD. I’ve been a fan since her debut in Kenneth Branaugh’s Shakespeare adaptation, Much Ado About Nothing and she’s only grown more attractive with age. Unfortunately Underworld: Awakening pushes that threshold right to and then past the point where exchanging story for action eye-candy is a fair trade. And that comes largely from the fact that the film makers upped the gross-out gore level to the extreme.
The middle section of the film feels very much in harmony with the previous Beckinsale films, however the film is bookended by scenes of extended visceral violence that ratchets up feelings of discomfort and does absolutely nothing to enhance the viewing experience. I’m thankful I did not choose to see the film in 3-D! Adding to the horror of the brutality is the fact that Beckinsales’ character, Seline, is utterly heartless throughout the film’s opening sequences.
The setting for this iteration of the Underworld series takes place in a future where humanity has discovered the existence of and then worked to eradicate, genocide-style, the races of the vampires and the lycans. As the film opens we see Selene and her hybrid love Michael (unfortunately not played by Scott Speedman but thankfully barely seen on screen) separated in battle. Fast forward a number of years to a prototypical secret lab and we find Seline being awakened from cryogenic sleep by the hand of an unseen benefactor. She assumes that this is her lover Michael and she sets out on a bloody rampage to track him down. It is during this initial period in which Selene comes to realize just what has happened that she is particularly heartless and brutal to the members of the human race that she encounters.
If you’ve seen previous Underworld films you understand that Selene is not a warm and cuddly person by nature anyway, but it is surprising how okay I felt/feel about her bringing a violent end to vampires and lycans (even in human form) but the idea of her being violent to humans, regardless of the fact that it is a “kill or be killed” situation, to be off-putting and not entertaining. Mercifully this passes and the rest of the film returns to Selene-on-lycan violence, but not without entirely removing the bad taste of the early part of the film, particularly when the gore returns with splattery vengeance in the films climactic battle royale.
The minor love and redemption story couched within the video-game violence of the first two Underworld films worked well together and formed a nice story arc that was left open-ended enough to allow for a sequel but not so open-ended as to warrant one. To come back to the table with this offering seems like a pointless gesture, especially as there was actually some interesting stuff going on that was not given proper focus. At a mere 88 minutes the film was unnecessarily short. An offspring storyline was introduced and largely wasted in an effort to keep guns blazing and blood flying after a too-long opening sequence of gratuitous violence. Potentially interesting characters in the form of a young vampire lad and a wise and resourceful detective are underutilized as well.
The bones of a film at least as enjoyable from start to finish as the first two films is there and that combined with the aforementioned affinity for Kate and for Matrix-style action means I would still give this one a 2 out of 4 stars. I enjoyed quite a bit of the film and when the memories of splattered meat leave my head I could certainly see myself including this one on a long weekend Underworld film fest, but sans-Beckinsale I would have given this film a 1 star rating and given that it shouldn’t be that difficult to take the previous formula: leather-clad girl and stylized fight scenes and add it to a comparable “story”, the fact that this one exchanges guilty pleasure entertainment for visceral gore is hard to excuse.
Too bad. These films are some of mine and Keisha’s favorites. While visceral, they’ve at least always had some light to their darkness. Sounds like this one is a bit more nihilistic. Nevertheless, I’m sure we’ll give it a go once the DVD hits.
Why no Scott Speedman? Other commitments? Not enough pay? Not interested? He was great as Michael.
I haven’t done any research to see why Scott wasn’t involved, but the lack of his presence and the way they wrote around it as if his character were still in play just didn’t quite work as well as it could have had he been involved. This one is definitely primed for a sequel and if they do so I hope they get a contract arranged with him and actually build on the few interesting story elements of this film.
Thinking about it after the fact I think it was a huge mistake to get humans involved at all. It was a much more enjoyable, although implausible, story when presented with the idea that overall humanity had no idea of the existence of vampires and lycans. Once that shift was made suddenly you have a film, and future films, in which everyone is cannon fodder.
hmm. I don’t think Sean knows Speedman is not in this one; and he will not be happy about that.
All I want to know is about the baby. I waited through the prequel for that cliffhanger. but even more gore, you say. well, crap. I am such a wimp with that stuff. we’ll have to wait for dvd, and I’ll spend half the time outside the room. but I will very likely see it. not for beckinsdale in tight clothing, though I do agree she is prettier with age.
appreciate your review.
The offspring was a hugely under utilized part of the story line. And unfortunately was responsible for most of the more stomach churning gore. Did you ever play F.E.A.R.? I couldn’t help but think of that game and how similar the framework of her story was. They just rushed through the parts of the movie that could have actually been a story. Made no sense for the film to be that short and for interesting plot points to just be passed over.
I haven’t seen the other films. This sounds intense and it might be best on the big screen. However, 2 out 4 stars makes me want to skip it.
If you like intense action flicks I would recommend Underworld and Underworld Evolution, but you can give this one a pass, at least until the sequel to it comes out and maybe…hopefully…will redeem it.
At least we were able to get home at a decent time!
Imagine if it sucked AND kept me from getting a decent night’s rest!
That is true! I know I’m harping on it a lot but it didn’t so much “suck” for me as it just disappointed me because I wanted it to be at least as good as the other 3 and it missed the mark. It’s made money, so I’m sure we’ll get another one and hopefully Speedman will come back for that one and they’ll do a little better job with the story.
I’m sorry but as I distance myself more from the film I have to agree with James that it just plain sucked. I’m incredibly disappointed with the film makers choice to focus on video game violence and gore over storytelling. I feel your 1 out of 4 stars is in fact truly what the film deserves no matter how much I loved seeing Kate put on the leather again. Sorry buddy.
I hear you. For me the disappointment is worse than sucking. It means I had expectations. I expected them to be from the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” school and instead they were from the “let’s break it” school. Hopefully they’ll find some way to fix it for the next one.
In the spirit of these kind of films though, I’m up for the next Resident Evil film come fall! 🙂
Hmmm… I like the first Underworld movie and I like Kate Beckinsale but a movie that only runs for 88 minutes, with movie prices the way they are today… might have to wait for this on DVD.
Yes, that is the way to get the most bang for your buck, that is for sure.
These and their ilk are not for me, thanks. When are you going to see Tintin?
I already did, over Christmas break. I can see that I really need to do a movie round-up post to talk about Tintin, Sherlock 2, Mission Impossible 4 and War Horse. 🙂
I liked it, a lot. And it boggles my mind that it isn’t nominated in the best Animated picture category.
Oh dear, I like these films but not I’m put off! I’m a bit of a sucker for the vampire films. Think I’ll miss this one though.
Thanks for the review.
Lynn 😀
It probably won’t be bad if you wait until its a dollar from redbox or free from your local library. “Cheap” covers a multitude of miscues.
I’m a big Kate Beckinsale fan, too. But I’m passing on this latest UNDERWORLD ripoff. I might catch it someday on cable, but there’s no way I’m going to pay Real Money for an inferior product.
Then I’m glad I could be part of a public service for you George. Yes, wait. 🙂
It has sort of become tradition with a few of us guys to go see the Underworld films together (although we didn’t with the prequel…hmmm…) so I didn’t mind spending the money to get together with the fellas. Too bad the movie wasn’t worth our time.
What a great review and now I know to skip this one. I loved the third movie, and of course, the first was best. But I just had to post that you did a great job of reviewing it.
Thanks, just doing my part to save you good folks money. 🙂
Too much human and too little vampire, that’s what I thought about this movie. It didn’t stop me from enjoying the whole 88 minutes of it (and in 3 D, too), but I have to say it ranks lower than the other Underworld movies. Entertaining, that’s the best way I can describe it.
The child insertion did next to nothing for the movie but then maybe Selina dies at some point and we need a new femme fatale to take the lead for the next sequels.
You are exactly right. I think they made a mistake bringing the human element into it at all.
And I was thinking the same thing about the kid and hoping it wasn’t the seed that would germinate into a string of straight-to-dvd releases.