Action films from the early 2000s were something else. You had The Lord of the Rings coming out as the biggest thing in fantasy, The Matrix was making soaring headlines globally, Raimi began the Spider-Man trilogy, Gladiator and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were making history as historic films and we got Sam L Jackson as Shaft. This was an era where almost every other action film had something unique, fun, and entertaining to offer. At the time of Underworld’s release in 2003, it had steep competition and had to battle against some of the biggest names in modern cinema. Safe to say that it does its job while failing anyways!
How to Download Underworld
You can download the film from a digital store. You can also stream it. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
A medical student named Michael is the main character of this tale. Michael is being tracked, watched, and eventually, he is attacked by a pack of werewolves at a dim metro station. Selene, a vampire, steps in and saves his life. She is perplexed as to why the young man has been pursued by werewolves, and her immediate supervisor Kraven, who has feelings for her, is envious of her sudden interest in a human. When Selene begins her own investigation, she again saves Michael’s life, but he is bit by a werewolf.
Selene assists him once more despite the growing battle between werewolves and vampires since she is progressively falling for him. She quickly learns that Michael possesses a rare genetic variation that would enable him to develop into a vampire-werewolf hybrid.
The fact that this was Len Wiseman’s debut as a director in the industry really astounded me. The film had a stylistic flair that felt like an experienced hand had handloaded the film. Since this film had a bunch of monsters in it, it was classified as a horror film but it wasn’t really that at all, instead, it’s a full-out action film. It’s got a few powerfully gory moments, but this is a very tame film when it comes to the fear factor. The real showstopper here was the brilliant, realistic effects both CGI and practical effects. It was the visual effects that really had me spellbound.
That may be the extent of my praise for the movie, though. Len Wiseman’s Underworld is a perfect example of the good old ‘style over substance’ criticism.
In actuality, this is an excessively drawn-out, unnecessarily melodramatic, almost clownishly written bit of fantasy action. Underworld looks breathtaking at times, it has a gorgeous overall presentation and a beautiful Nu Metal soundtrack, yet it is completely heartless. The film has no soul, and it’s most definitely not very smartly written.
Now, of course, we have to talk about the main attraction of Underworld, Kate Beckinsale. Beckinsale has always been one of the most beautiful, and genuinely exciting actresses in contemporary filmmaking. She takes risks with her projects, and Underworld was no exception.
She brings a sense of power and compassion to this film, while also being the main reason why most of us would be interested in watching it. The rest of the cast, however, doesn’t even come close to staying on par with Beckinsale. Scott Speedman as Michael doesn’t really give a performance we know he’s capable of, same for Michael Sheen who seemed to just be having fun as Lucian. Danny McBride and Sophia Myles as Mason and Erika, respectively, made this film hard to watch for me.
The cinematography is another strong suit for Underworld though, this film is well shot with a lot of stylistic flair as I mentioned above.
There’s creativity oozing out of every single shot on screen, but it’s not really utilized well within the story moments, unfortunately. A lot of the story just consists of action sequences, and that’s where all the camera work budget went. The Nu Metal soundtrack in this film though was truly something else. Paul Haslinger created one of the hardest industrial soundtracks in any film.
Verdict
Ultimately, Underworld is a great Friday night time killer that you can watch without having to use your brain much. It has a few stylistic similarities to The Matrix, but what gothic action movie hasn’t since 1999? The star of this film is Kate Beckinsale, who at the very least makes it worthwhile to watch.
The prospects are lost because the movie lacks much originality and isn’t quite as good as it may have been. It works as a silly, entertaining movie, nonetheless.
