Seeing as I haven’t been productive at all today (or yesterday - depending on when I actually let this post go out) I thought I’d share my little thoughts on the new Underworld movie.

Now, I know that the Underworld series isn’t exactly the greatest vampire story ever told - but what can I say, I’m a sucker for the suckers (sorry) and unfortunately I seem to have a mild lady crush on Kate Beckinsale. I’ve always loved Underworld because of the action, the style of it, the way you can sit back and just sink your teeth (-.-) into it… I may be a little biased.

Okay, on we go.

THE STORY [NO SPOILERS… I think?]

Underworld Awakening starts roughly where the second in the series leaves off, but instead of following a tale of Vampires vs. Lycans (werewolves), Selene (Beckinsale) begins by explaining that the humans have discovered their existence are are determined to wipe both species out in what they call The Purge.

Theres a lot of bloodshed, things get messy and Selene finds herself waking up 12years later in a lab. From here I can’t say much without giving something away but the war continues… After escaping the lab she finds herself in a world very different from the one she knew, where vampires and lycans seem to have been weakened or gone into some form of hiding. Soon she meets a hotblooded (ha ha!) vampire by the name of David (Theo James) who helps her piece together her questions… and thats all I can say. Trust me, theres a lot of action!

THE BAD

In my opinion the story lines of the Underworld series has never been very strong and leaves a few questions in my head all the time. I’ve always enjoyed them, but I can see where it just doesn’t feel deep enough for other - although, why should it be? This is not very different, yes - its stronger than the last ones and I guess for an action movie it works very well. But I still found myself asking questions AFTER the movie, whilst watching I was really into it.

Another small thing that bugged me was… it felt short. It was normal, standard movie length but it just felt like it could have been more - perhaps there is more, but I don’t know. I was satisfied with the film, but I just wanted it to go on a little longer I guess. Maybe its the pace of the movie - it goes pretty fast!

The actors. I did enjoy a lot of the actors in the film from lycan, human and vamp castings - some weren’t that great but all together enjoyable. But there is one particular actor that I cannot mention for fear of spoilering (not an actual word) that just creeped me out. The did well, but I just couldn’t get my head around them, many of my questions did surround their character and they unnerved me at times. Not to say they were bad, just not to my taste I guess…

THE GOOD

As an action movie, it really works. Its fast paced, pretty gruesome at times, there are guns, sharp things, fight scenes and a dark atmosphere. What more would you need? This movie does feel bigger than the previous in the series, especially at the beginning - its as if mores at stake (HA! We seriously have to start counting my awful vampire references) and I guess there is.

I’ve always loved the dark atmosphere in all the Underworld movies and they bring it back very well in this one too, improved. Even in the day time it has that sort of grey grim mood that just goes so well with the scenes. It has an almost, dark comic book-esque feel to it, sort of batman - if you get what I mean?

The actors. Naturally Beckinsale is kick-ass gorgeous as usual, the signature jump off tall building, land on her feet and walk away bit still gets me. And even in the trailers Theo James caught my eye, he’s not the greatest character - young, fight for what you believe in, rush into action type - but he’s pretty and decent when it comes to the action scenes. Also, Michael Ealy is pretty badass too. Theres are others that made the movie very entertaining too! The vallians are pretty fantastic.

THE VERDICT

There are aspects of the movie that could go either way so I thought I’d briefly include them here instead.

Blood. It may be just because I haven’t seen the other parts in a while, but this did feel a lot more bloody - yes it has an 18 rating, expect it! And as an action film it can be a good thing, but if you’re squeamish this probably isn’t go to fly well with you. 

3D. Yes, its jumped onto the 3D bandwagon - but surprisingly this didn’t hurt as it usually does. The 3D aspect of the movie doesn’t hinder the movie much, in some aspects it enhances it - but I don’t think its necessary, you could see the movie in normal 2D and definitely still be fine.

To conclude - If you’ve enjoyed the series so far, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. If you enjoy action movies, I’d recommend it too. Its not one of the must see movies of the year for most, but its definitely fun and exciting, even for those who haven’t seen the previous films would probably be able to pick up on the storyline quickly enough.

This movie isn’t at all about trying to push some message onto you (well, it can be if you dig deep enough), its about action packed, blood soaked vampires and their war.

ENJOY!

H.G