Underworld Evolution
UNDERWORLD EVOLUTION
The first Underworld was a fine movie... nothing special but had a lot of promise. It was introducing us to a world (that looked a lot like many other worlds :) ) and the characters and the politics and all that. It set up the rules. Vampires are VERY political and underhanded and betray each other at the drop of a hat but have a firm set of rules to live by. Werewolves/Lycans are wild beasties that are primitive and the former slaves of the vampires, even though they were created at the same time... as the legend says. Then there are humans who have no clue what's going on. Vampiures like to kill werewolves and the best of the death dealers is Selene. She wears black leather, looks great and has a corset over the leather suit for some reason. The guy she finds in the first one ends up becoming the first hybrid of the two species (three?) and becomes either more powerful or just as powerful as either half. Or sometimes LESS powerful as the scene dictates. The first ends with these two being branded as outcasts from the vampire and lycan clans and most of the ruling class of vampire destroyed except for one, Marcus.
The second movie picks up RIGHT where the first one ended. The cast is all back (except for Lucien, I think though it's hard to tell) and while you can see some of them aged poorly in the few years since the last one, it's STILL nice to have them back. A new faction is introduced which seems to be comprised of humans who go about cleaning up the messes and hiding the secret war. We also learn that Marcus was actually the FIRST vampire and his twin brother was the first Lycan as they are the two sons of legend. The rest of the story is about Selence and the Hybrid fighting the two Firsts.
There you go.
While the first Underworld was full of setting up the world, this one EXPANDS on it. Sometimes it gets tedious but more often than not it's just fun. It harkens back to Star Wars where everything Ben Kenobi told Luke in Ep IV became bullshit by Ep VI... well, BS from a "certain point of view". Same is true here. We learn that the same folks who discredited the legend as mere folk tale are actually firm believers in it all. Some of the betrayals were not actually betrayals and some were just political cover ups. While some may hope the movie will just go out and be balls to the wall vamp-wolf fights, I was hoping for just this sort of thing... PLOT DEVELOPMENT.
Not to say there aren't more fights... and better fights than the first one. They obviously have a budget for this one and it shows. Not all the effects are perfect but they DO tell the story. Plus, you get Beckinsale doing the "naked without showing shit" stuff and that got the guys in the crowd clapping. Seriously, one guy in the crowd clapped during the whole scene. The WHOLE THREE MINUTE SCENE!!
This wasn't the only cheering, either. The climax especially got the theatre applauding but part of me jsut thinks that it's been so long since any movie has actually HAD a climactic scene that people were just in awe of such a thing. (Remind me to write about that some other time.)
Is this one perfect? IS the acting better or the story fully coherent or the effects better than anything else out there? Nope. But it DOES come close to delivering on the promise of the first one. Do you NEED to see the first one? Not really. They fill you in pretty well along the way with flashbacks and such but it DOES help in understanding everythnig. Plus, it helps you enjoy the subtle bits and throwaway parts that only come from having seen the first one.
I like it. I had fun. I'll own it. I hope for a third... not the prequel, either... a third chapter in this story.
The first Underworld was a fine movie... nothing special but had a lot of promise. It was introducing us to a world (that looked a lot like many other worlds :) ) and the characters and the politics and all that. It set up the rules. Vampires are VERY political and underhanded and betray each other at the drop of a hat but have a firm set of rules to live by. Werewolves/Lycans are wild beasties that are primitive and the former slaves of the vampires, even though they were created at the same time... as the legend says. Then there are humans who have no clue what's going on. Vampiures like to kill werewolves and the best of the death dealers is Selene. She wears black leather, looks great and has a corset over the leather suit for some reason. The guy she finds in the first one ends up becoming the first hybrid of the two species (three?) and becomes either more powerful or just as powerful as either half. Or sometimes LESS powerful as the scene dictates. The first ends with these two being branded as outcasts from the vampire and lycan clans and most of the ruling class of vampire destroyed except for one, Marcus.
The second movie picks up RIGHT where the first one ended. The cast is all back (except for Lucien, I think though it's hard to tell) and while you can see some of them aged poorly in the few years since the last one, it's STILL nice to have them back. A new faction is introduced which seems to be comprised of humans who go about cleaning up the messes and hiding the secret war. We also learn that Marcus was actually the FIRST vampire and his twin brother was the first Lycan as they are the two sons of legend. The rest of the story is about Selence and the Hybrid fighting the two Firsts.
There you go.
While the first Underworld was full of setting up the world, this one EXPANDS on it. Sometimes it gets tedious but more often than not it's just fun. It harkens back to Star Wars where everything Ben Kenobi told Luke in Ep IV became bullshit by Ep VI... well, BS from a "certain point of view". Same is true here. We learn that the same folks who discredited the legend as mere folk tale are actually firm believers in it all. Some of the betrayals were not actually betrayals and some were just political cover ups. While some may hope the movie will just go out and be balls to the wall vamp-wolf fights, I was hoping for just this sort of thing... PLOT DEVELOPMENT.
Not to say there aren't more fights... and better fights than the first one. They obviously have a budget for this one and it shows. Not all the effects are perfect but they DO tell the story. Plus, you get Beckinsale doing the "naked without showing shit" stuff and that got the guys in the crowd clapping. Seriously, one guy in the crowd clapped during the whole scene. The WHOLE THREE MINUTE SCENE!!
This wasn't the only cheering, either. The climax especially got the theatre applauding but part of me jsut thinks that it's been so long since any movie has actually HAD a climactic scene that people were just in awe of such a thing. (Remind me to write about that some other time.)
Is this one perfect? IS the acting better or the story fully coherent or the effects better than anything else out there? Nope. But it DOES come close to delivering on the promise of the first one. Do you NEED to see the first one? Not really. They fill you in pretty well along the way with flashbacks and such but it DOES help in understanding everythnig. Plus, it helps you enjoy the subtle bits and throwaway parts that only come from having seen the first one.
I like it. I had fun. I'll own it. I hope for a third... not the prequel, either... a third chapter in this story.
posted by wmjwatson at 12:05 PM
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