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Top movie of the year? Maybe...
By The Critic
unrivaled.info
Vampire movies have not been all that popular in the last ten years. And although the
idea of vampires existing in modern day society has been done before, they were
never popular enough to draw a big following. Studios are now implementing the
idea of combining movie monsters on film, with both Van Helsing (scheduled to
be released in May 2004) and Underworld featuring two of the most popular
creatures in cinematic history: vampires and werewolves. Movies like
Underworld and Blade 2 are this decade's translations of classic horror and
monster movies, in which the characters are portrayed more like comic book
heroes and villains. They really don't feel like the horror movies of the olden
days, rather
they are supped up Sci-Fi action flicks with style and flair. The concept is a fairly
good one, drawing today's younger generation into this new sub-genre. One of the
entries, Blade 2, does
have it's moments. But it also has many flaws to keepit from the level of
greatness (although one would imagine it has the potential to be). Underworld on
the other hand is on a completely different level with it's engrossing
story, vivid visuals, and interesting characters.
Underworld is an impressive display of quality movie producing, making every
movie out this year pale in comparison. Newbie screenwriter Danny McBride and director
Len Wiseman crafted this movie in such a way that everything is damn near
perfect; the story, plot, pacing and special effects are all outstanding.
Although this movie has been dubbed as a modern day Romeo and Juliet story, it's
more of a subplot in the movie that is never fully developed. The
main premise of the movie is the continuation of the many centuries of war
between the vampires and the werewolves. The werewolves are
essentially fighting to save their species as the vampires hunt them down to
extinction. You may think a person
watching this movie may be required to at least be interested in vampire or
werewolf fanfare. But the truth is it's actually the opposite. Many of these themes
are only
trinkets for the movie to exploit and establish it's story. You don't need to be
a big fan of either to enjoy this film; the story and characters are interesting
enough to keep you glued to the screen.
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The good: the overall structure in this film is classic to the last drop.
A good story and excellent pacing in every minute of the film will keep your
attention till the end. Len Wiseman's depth direction is incredible; I'm
having a hard time finding any fault with the way everything is presented here. The stunts and special effects are also top notch. Most of the stunt work is
done by humans, not CGI special effects. And there were times when they actually
used a realistic looking life-size werewolf model in the movie instead of building him(or
it rather) through CGI
graphics. Pleasant in this day and age where directors abuse CGI every chance
they get. When it did come time to use CGI special effects, the quality of it
was damn good, if not nearly perfect.
The bad: While the presentation of this movie is very good there are
some flaws here and there. If you've seen the trailer you'll notice some things
look very familiar in the movie. The costumes, look, some of the action
sequences and themes are very similar to what we've seen in other blockbuster
hits such as The Matrix, X-men and Aliens. Many of these
things have already been done and as impressive as they were here, I was never
wowed by them (been there done that kind of thing). But this is a minor quibble
at most as it never takes away from the film. And even though much of
the cast do a decent job in their performance, many of the actual characters in
the movie are pretty bland (with the exception of Selene and maybe 1 or 2 of
others). Although the characters were a bit intresting, I never really cared for
any of them. Perhaps this is a flaw inherited in the script, I don't know. But
for sure, the biggest weakness of this film is it doesn't have any colorful
characters or any big stars to draw in the mainstream. It would be too bad this
is the reason people skip out on the movie.
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Execution – 5: good plot, story and excellent pacing puts this
movie on the map. Direcotor Len Wiseman gets it right and then some.
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The Stars – 3: Kate Beckinsale (Selene) does a solid job with the
main character, as does Bill Nighy (Viktor), but most of the main cast do
just an adequate job in the film.
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The cast – 4: chemistry among the cast was good. Even though the
actual characters lack flavor, they were still interesting enough to keep
me in the story.
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Special effects - 5: stunt work and CGI special effects are top notch.
Humans actually performing believable stunt work and no abuse of CGI
graphics.
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Tilt – 5: I love it, cant wait for the sequel!
Unrivaled rating: 4.4
Overall: It's better than Blade 2 and yes, its better than the Matrix:
Reloaded. Underworld proves in a time where movies rely on star power and the
use of flashy graphics
to impress the audience, that a good film can still be made. The lack of
colorful characters and a big name star will keep away the mainstream. But
everything else in the movie is so good, its worthy of competing for movie of
the year. Watch out Matrix 3, your going to have to be damn good to beat this
one. Highly Recommended.
