I had a chance to see Underworld: Blood Wars the other day, and it wasn’t pure trash. The only real quality Underworld flick was the first one, and even then, it has issues, so I was kind of surprised they were releasing a new one. I thought by now a reboot would’ve been in order, but they decided to continue the storyline for some reason.
The fifth installment of the franchise follows our favorite latex and leather clad Death Dealer, Selene (Kate Beckinsale), who is on the run and being hunted for her awesomely pure vampire blood by a newly formed Lycan army. Not only do they want her blood, but they want her daughter’s blood as well. Selene is also being sought out by a vampire coven to try and help vanquish this new Lycan army, but not all vampires have the good of the coven in mind.
This movie was pretty fun. I honestly expected a hot mess and what I got was a polished piece of hot mess with some awesome violence. The story was trash– that much is true. The editing is choppy and doesn’t help the already lackluster story. First time feature director Anna Foerster did her best with the source material I guess, but where she really shows some chops are the action sequences. Brutal, fast-paced action that’s a slight notch above B-movie stuff really keeps this flick moving along. The under-developed supporting cast also lends to this film’s demise.
This movie was pretty fun. I honestly expected a hot mess and what I got was a polished piece of hot mess with some awesome violence. The story was trash– that much is true. The editing is choppy and doesn’t help the already lackluster story. First time feature director Anna Foerster did her best with the source material I guess, but where she really shows some chops are the action sequences. Brutal, fast-paced action that’s a slight notch above B-movie stuff really keeps this flick moving along. The under-developed supporting cast also lends to this film’s demise.
This is definitely the Selene show. They simply created more fluff so Kate Beckinsale can show off her sick vampire assassin skills, and she even has time to rock a new hairstyle and a sweet new coat. Selene kicked her fair share of ass all throughout this flick– there’s even a Mortal Kombat-esque fight towards the end of the flick, and shit’s pretty bad-ass. The blood and gore in this flick are quite nice– I honestly don’t recall the other Underworld flicks being this brutal, so kudos for that.
This flick was surprisingly entertaining. The story lacked substance and was not very good at all, but the filmmakers found a way to captivate the audience in other, simpler ways– they recognized their opportunity to put out some quality violence and totally went for it. This also proves Kate Beckinsale has still got some purpose in her career. She might not be the best actress around, but she can portray a smokin’ hot deadly vampire assassin just fine. //Arturo Padilla
