Underworld: Evolution (2006)

Movie Info

I tried to signal before passing…now I’m going to kill you

Viktor (Bill Nighy) is dead and Selene (Kate Beckinsale) and Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) are on the run from the newly revived Marcus Corvinus (Tony Curran).  Seeking answers about her past, Selene and Michael learn that they must locate the original source of the vampirism and lycanthropy.  Selene learns of the brother William (Brian Steele) and Marcus, and how their war led to her family’s death.  Teaming with William and Michael’s father Alexander (Derek Jacobi), Selene and Michael must find a way to end the war forever.

This is going to make Father’s Day so awkward…

Directed by Len Wiseman, Underworld:  Evolution is the second film in the Underworld series and a follow-up to 2003’s Underworld.  The movie was met with mostly negative reviews but a big box office return.

The Underworld series is a strange blend of action, fantasy, and horror…the guy equivalent of Twilight.  Like Twilight, however, the films are underdeveloped and over produced.  The movie is like eye-candy without much substance.

Hey, cuz…die!!!

The story of Underworld:  Evolution is a bit less garbled than the first film in the series simply because it is more action driven.  The “on-the-run” format of the movie helps make it more of an adventure, but the random nature of the characters’ abilities seems pretty arbitrary and more a function of ways to continue the story.

The acting for Underworld:  Evolution isn’t anything great either.  I really want to like      but she still feels more like eye candy (though she does play the cool and collected Selene decently).  Most of the characters however seem pretty flat and undefined.  Derek Jacobi adds some class to the film with the death of Bill Nighy’s character in the previous film (though he has some scenes here).

It’s time for me to fly!

If you are watching Underworld:  Evolution, I hope you like blue.  The film is tinted with blue look and it is very overdone.  It was half-way stylish in the first film, but here it feels like overkill.  I like stylized movies, but it is a bit ridiculous here.  The action sequences of the movie are decent and they seem to be a bit more cleaned up and better edited than the first movie.  The Marcus Corvinus bat design is kind of interesting, but looks awful at times, and the werewolves also are rather weak.

Underworld:  Evolution continues to be an average to below average series.  Most video game movie strive to not feel like a video game, here you have a series that does feel like a video game, but shouldn’t.  Underworld: Evolution is followed by the prequel film Underworld:  Rise of the Lycans in 2009 but the story here picks up again in Underworld:  Awakening in 2012.

[easyazon-block align=”center” asin=”B000F6IOBG” locale=”us”]

Related Links:

Underworld (2003)

http://basementrejects.com/review/underworld-2003/

Underworld:  Rise of the Lycans (2009)

http://basementrejects.com/review/underworld-rise-of-the-lycans-2009/

Underworld:  Awakening (2012)

http://basementrejects.com/review/underworld-awakening-2012/