Underworld 2003 Action Horror Film
Directed by Len Wiseman and Starring Kate Beckinsale
Sep 11, 2009
For centuries vampires and werewolves (lycans as they are called in this film) have been fighting a war. The vampires have driven the lycans to the brink of extinction, but now Death Dealer Selene (Beckinsale) has stumbled across a plan to create a half vampire half werewolf hybrid capable of bringing an end to the war.
Underworld's Plot and Characters
Selene is a Death Dealer, a vampire hunter that has spent hundreds of years tracking down and killing the lycans, whom she blames for the murder of her human family. On a rainy night whilst tracking a pair of lycans in human form, she is forced to engage them in a gun battle on a subway station. The lycans use UV rounds which hit another vampire and fry him from the inside out. Selene tracks the lycans to an underground den and realises that there are dozens of them. They are supposed to be nearly extinct and a den of that size has not been since since the lycans leader was killed centuries before.
Escaping and returning to the vampire’s mansion Selene tells the coven’s leader, Kraven (Shane Brolly) what has happened, but he refuses to believe her. Selene realises that the lycans were following a human named Michael (Scott Speedman) for unknown reasons. She tracks him down and rescues him but not before the supposedly dead leader of the lycans Lucian (Michael Sheen) bites him.
As the film progresses the audience learn more about the origins of the war and who actually started the fighting through a series of scattered flashbacks. Bill Nighy plays the Vampire Elder Viktor, a ruthless and powerful leader, who wishes to eradicate every lycan.
Vampires Vs Werewolves
Since Underworld it seems that vampires and werewolves simply cannot get along and in every story in which both species feature they are at each other’s throats. Underworld may not have been the first medium to introduce the idea but it was one of the first well known films to set upon the concept of two species of immortal fighting with the human world as just a largely irrelevant background.
Selene is an ice-queen, she doesn’t seem to have a different expression in the film, and is relentlessly serious about hunting down the lycans. However, on the plus side she does spend the entire film in a skin-tight cat suit so seeing Underworld is a must for any Beckinsale fans based solely on that. Her involvement with Michael has been compared to a kind of Romeo and Juliet, (mortal enemies fall that for one another) but that does seem to be a bit of a stretch. It seems that there is a connection between the two characters but their passion doesn’t exactly set the screen ablaze, it isn't really enough to light a match.
Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy are perfectly set against one another as respective leaders of their groups. Both are equally ruthless and interested in the destruction of the other, and it is the past events between the two of them that were the result of the war.
Underworld is basically an action film, the idea of having vampires and werewolves fighting and the battles between them as a result are impressive. However, Underworld is concerned with telling the origin story of the war, and follows the lycans’ attempts to create a hybrid.
All in all, this is a solid vampire and werewolf action film. Die hard vampire fans might be outraged by the scene in which Michael gives Selene mouth-to-mouth and CPR after she nearly drowns. Vampires are supposed to be undead and therefore don’t breathe, and therefore cannot drown. Aside from the odd moment like that Underworld is well worth a couple of hours, and the ending leaves the door open for a sequel.
7/10
Good fight scenes and Beckinsale in a skin tight outfit - what more needs to be said?
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