Underworld: Evolution

I would like to advise anyone going to see Underworld: Evolution not to make the same mistake I did - Do not see this movie before you see the first. I missed out on the original film, and so I was a bit lost at first, as its sequel throws us immediately into the action with very little set up aside from a couple vague flashbacks and an equally vague opening narration provided by our heroine Seline (Kate Beckinsale) that skims over the events of the last film. Once I was finally up to speed on the film, I must admit, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Heck, for a special effects action movie being released in the dreary month of January, it's light years better than last year's Elektra which was released roughly around the same time. But, the movie still left me feeling somewhat empty and hollow. It intrigued me, but it didn't seem to go deep enough into its own story or characters. Maybe it's because I missed out on the first (something I plan to fix this coming weekend), but I felt like there was a lot of wasted potential.

Picking up very shortly after the last film, vampire Seline and her sole ally and love interest, Michael (Scott Speedman) - a kind of evolved werewolf or some sort, are on the run after Seline killed the ruler of her people, Viktor (Bill Nighy), who apparently betrayed and used her most of her life. They have no friends, as both warring communities of vampires and Lycans (werewolves) are hunting them down. As if they don't have enough problems, the elder vampire Marcus (Tony Curran) has recently been resurrected, and is looking for the key necessary to free his elder werewolf brother, William, planning to combine both of their powers to take over the world and create a new order.

Apparently, the movie's backstory has something to do with a war between vampires and Lycans that has been going on for centuries. I say apparently, because this movie does not really show any kind of war. Heck, aside from the previously mentioned William, and Selene's partner, Michael, there are very few Lycans in this movie. We've got vampires, some people whose job it is to cover up the war between the two races, and that's about it, since there's maybe 2 scenes where our heroes actually go up against werewolves that try to kill them. From what I can gather, there was some kind of plot within the vampire community to create some kind of hybrid soldiers, and Michael is one of them. The movie doesn't really go into any real explanation other than some blurry flashbacks that look like scenes from the last movie, so I guess it's my own fault for not watching the original before this. In all fairness, I will not hold my own mistake against this movie.

What I will hold against this movie, however, is its insistence on cramming our faces with numerous loud, video game-like, and sometimes sloppily edited action scenes that make it hard to tell what's going on at times. The movie seems to hint at being an intelligent and thought provoking film, but then it does absolutely nothing with its own ideas. Take the character of Michael for example. Early in the movie, Seline offers him many dire warnings about how his life will never be the same again from now on, and that he'll have to get used to his new life as a Lycan. All well and good, and it led me to think there would be some kind of personal struggle that would follow Michael fighting to hold onto what remains of his humanity. Alas, the movie never really explores this possibly interesting view. He tries to pass himself off as being normal in a small restaurant and bar in one scene, but then he loses control, and becomes a beast. Not once is Michael terrified or even remorseful about his own actions. That's because there's another action sequence that immediately follows this one, so he doesn't even have time to talk about what he did. This is one of those movies that drowns itself in complex plot, but doesn't seem to care about it, as its only interested in giving us sequence after sequence of action and special effects. Why fill your story with such a vast web of conspiracies, betrayals, secret wars, forbidden love, prophecies, and just about every dark tormented hero cliche in the book if you're not gonna devote any time to fully develop them?

Because of the film's unnecessarily fast and almost numbing pace (the only time the movie seems to slow down is for a character to speak dialogue to advance the plot), the characters suffer as well. Screenwriter Danny McBride seems to be hinting at some kind of forbidden love affair between Selene and Michael, but aside from a brief sex scene, does absolutely nothing with it, nor does the script even hint at what their possible connection could be. Of course, maybe if the characters were allowed to show any kind of emotion other than fear or concern, it'd be a bit more believable. In the end, the characters of Underworld come across as overly serious tormented souls that never express any feeling, much like the characters in December's ill-fated bomb, Aeon Flux. At least this movie isn't half as silly as that film was, so it doesn't become an unintentional laugh-fest to see how seriously everyone is taking the plot. Even so, some passion would be nice.

Now, don't worry, I remember how earlier in the review that I stated the movie wasn't all bad. I must admit, the entire idea of a secret war between monsters being held secretly on Earth interested me. Even if this movie didn't really go into any detail on it, it still intrigued me enough to get my interest. Also, there are some pretty good action sequences, the highlight of which being a high speed chase in the mountains where Seline is driving a truck and being pursued by Marcus in vampire form. The visuals were dark, also detailed, so nothing seemed to get lost or murky. The performances, while nothing great and sometimes also quite hammy in their line delivery, do work for this kind of film. At least the actors don't seem to be embarrassed, and are able to sell themselves enough for you to believe in the action being displayed on the screen. Last, but not least, the movie held my interest all the way through. Even when I was disappointed with the way the story was turning out, I was never bored, and at least had something else to concentrate my attention on.

Underworld: Evolution will never be mistaken as a good movie, but for an early year release that wasn't screened for critics, I expected a heck of a lot worse. Not exactly a glowing endorsement, I know, but hey, the movie at least interested me enough to want to check out the original movie in order to get the whole story. I'm sure I'll find my share of problems with that one as well, but who knows, maybe it will increase my enjoyment of this one a little bit when I look back on it. If you liked the first one, you're bound to like this, as the two films seem to be very closely connected. And if you hated the first one, well, this probably won't change your mind. I personally was interested in the story it tried to tell, but not so in the way it was told. Something tells me the minds behind this franchise have really big ideas with this series. Hopefully when the inevitable third movie comes around, they can realize some of their grand ambitions. There's some good stuff here hidden beneath some tired and underdeveloped filmmaking cliches.

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