Movie Journals |
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Underworld
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Underworld
Underworld (121 minutes running time) began with an intense action sequence involving a chase, mucho gun play, and a hot chick in vinyl. Within the first seven minutes, I decided I would like the movie. What’s not to like? With its dark look and darker sounding voice over in the very beginning to the out and out blood bath within the first fifteen minutes, the movie does a good job at grabbing the audience’s attention. There are times, however, after the opening scenes that the movie drags, but only for a few minutes, then it seems to get right back on track again.
The film’s first plot point comes at about twenty-five minutes in. This is where the main character, Selene, confronts the human, Michael, in his apartment to find out why the werewolves are following him. The second plot point comes at about 101 minutes into the film. The head werewolf is dying, Michael (now a werewolf) has just been shot with liquid silver bullets, and Selene is being threatened by her nemesis. In his last few words, the head werewolf tells Selene to bite Michael, for he knows this will save Michael’s life and make his dream come true of creating a super-immortal race.
Underworld is action packed and interesting. Most of the characters are bad-asses but do not go much beyond that. The film does a good job of taking the vampire/werewolf myth farther and applying it to today’s reality. Both sides have high tech weapons and seem to have evolved over time, diminishing some of their weaknesses. Overall, this is fun movie with high action and low characterization. But when ultraviolet bullets are flying, who cares about characters anyway?
Karen Walker 1 October 2003 |