HC Reviews

Underworld: Evolution

Kate Beckinsale .... Selene
Scott Speedman .... Michael Corvin

Tony Curran .... Marcus
Derek Jacobi .... Corvinus (as Sir Derek Jacobi)
Bill Nighy .... Viktor
Steven Mackintosh .... Tanis
Shane Brolly .... Kraven
Brian Steele .... William
Zita Görög .... Amelia
Scott McElroy .... Soren
John Mann .... Samuel
Michael Sheen .... Lucian
Sophia Myles .... Erika
Richard Cetrone .... Pierce (as Rich Cetrone)
Mike Mukatis .... Taylor

Did you see Underworld way back in 2003? If not, don't worry. Underworld: Evolution has enough back story dialogue and flashbacks so that you don't miss anything.

So don't let the fact that this is a sequel (in fact, it takes place pretty much the next day after the events in the first movie) stop you from going to see this movie.

This was a pretty kick ass movie. And by that I mean, it was a lot of action. Tons of fighting and action. Tons of body parts being ripped off and away and lots of blood. But it was all good and not boring (there's one scene that just blows everything out of the water!).

The special effects and stunts were great. It was very difficult to tell what was CGI versus real.

The acting was somewhat over the top in parts but you sort of expect that and it works coming from the characters because of what kind of creatures they are. Plus, the characters were pretty much the same. Selene was still an ass-kicking woman with a bit of a soft side. Michael was still a good guy who didn't lose his wits (a scene with sunlight shows that off perfectly). Viktor was still the Lycan bigot he was in the first movie (of course, he was shown in flashback and "prequel" mode so obviously he couldn't change).

The only reason I'm not giving this 5 halos is because it brought up 2 questions from me that never got answered (although, to be fair, I don't think one of the questions really matters to the filmmaker).
1) Where the heck was this supposed to take place? In the first movie, you think it's somewhere in the US because Michael is obviously an American (no accent) and he's a doctor-in-training. But then based on the police, you think maybe it's set somewhere in Canada. That would expain the non-English accents for some of the characters but would explain the European feel of the police and the accents of some of the other characters. But in this movie, there are at least 3 different languages going on and Selene and Michael haven't left the country.
2) Well, this one might be a spoiler so [spoiler start]How exactly is Corvinus an Immortal? He's not a Vamp or a Lycan, so what is he?[spoiler end]

To me, this was a better movie than the first one and I liked the first one.
Anyways, go see this movie in the theatre (because I think it's spectacular when seen on the big screen in all its glorious goriness).

Posted by xinh at January 27, 2006 08:00 AM