Underworld: Awakening

Movie: Underworld: Awakening
Genre(s): Action, Fantasy, Horror
Runtime: 88 minutes
Format: 2D and 3D
Rating: R
Studio: Screen Gems
Country: USA
Language: English (with Spanish subtitles)
Official Website: http://www.entertheunderworld.com/

Director(s): Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein
Producer(s): David Kern, Gary Lucchesi, James McQuaide, Tom Rosenberg, Skip Williamson, Henry Winterstern, Len Wiseman, Richard S. Wright
Writer(s): Len Wiseman, John Hlavin, J. Michael Straczynski, Allison Burnett, Kevin Grevioux, Danny McBride
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, India Eisley, Theo James, Kris Holden-Ried

Release Date: January 20, 2012 (USA); January 26, 2012 (PR)
Find it: In a theater near you
Scores:

• Metacritic: 39/100 (critics); 7.2/10 (users)
• Rotten Tomatoes: 31% (critics); 75% (users)
• My rating: ★★★☆☆

Underworld: Awakening opened in theaters here in Puerto Rico this past Thursday. I have been a loyal fan to the franchise since the very first Underworld made its debut, so naturally by Friday I was, with ticket in hand and boyfriend in tow (not that he minded ~.^), walking into the cinema to enjoy the next chapter of this epic story. We managed to find some decent seats in the top level of the fully packed cinema. 45 minutes of movie trailers and same commercials that I can watch home and the movie began. Approximately an hour and a half later the credits began to roll and I was left with a feeling of “that’s it?!” Let me explain…

–  –  –  –  –  DISCLAIMER: SOME SPOILERS AFTER THIS LINE  –  –  –  –  –  –

The movie opens up with its typical monologue, were our memories are refreshed while the major plot points of the previous installments that are pertain to the developing current story are retold and revisited. Note: I missed Selene’s catch phrase “Lies!” that populated the beginning or the ending of the previous movies; sorry folks, is not there. Moving on, whilst the beginning is playing the stage for the movie is set.

At some point after the event of Underworld: Evolution humanity discovered that both vampires and lycans are not just myth and tales, they are as real as the next person, preternaturally strong but allergic to the sun and silver respectively. A new era has begun, the hunters are now the hunted and extermination is the order of the day. Selene and Michael plan to escape, to run to some safe heaven they can call home; but a series of events lands Selene frozen in a unknown building and completely alone.

Selene “awakens” to find herself in a heavily secured facility from which she has to find an escape armed with nothing more than a scalpel. Once free she learns that 12 years have gone by, that lycans are nearly extinct and that vampires are no better. To top things off, Michael is nowhere to be found, yet Selene keeps getting this visions that allows her to find her daughter, the first born hybrid.

Now, from here on I’m will try to give as little spoilers as possible, since what I already said you could also get it from watching the various trailers and sneak peeks available online.

One of the things that I love about the Underworld movies is their special effects; they are so amazing that it elevates the various movies to a whole new level. If you like them as much you’ll be pleased to know that this installment continues that great tradition while setting the bar even higher. The FXs of the movie are sick in the best way possible, the fight scenes makes your adrenaline pump, the explosions are even bigger and the bloody parts are even gorier. Expect to see some crude looking head shots (and I mean people getting their heads blown to pieces by bullets) and other very well depicted deaths.

However, the dialogue of the movies is, in one word – cheesy. Sorry, I had to say it; there is not much dialogue within the movie that is not exposé and the few bits here and there that are just interactions are clogged with predictable phrases.

Something most had gone wrong in either pre or post-production because the actual plot of the story is so short and simple that it felt lacking. They movie is so focused on big explosions and amazing FXs that the story suffered greatly. Most of the characters are hard to relate to which is not good for the drama factor and fails at keeping the audience interested. Besides, I spend more than half the movie wondering why on earth they couldn’t bring back Michael. The answer to that million dollar question is that the actor that plays Michael was not contracted. Instead they used an uncredited actor to play some key scenes and called it a day. Have to say that the saving grace of the movie is the acting from both Kate Beckinsale and India Eisley. They play well opposite one another, but again, there wasn’t enough time for them to develop any semblance of a relationship making it a little force.

In the end I enjoyed the movie, I just expected more out of it.

Do you like this post? Please link back to this article by copying one of the codes below.

URL: https://soireb.blogspot.com/2012/01/underworld-awakening.html HTML link code: <a href="https://soireb.blogspot.com/2012/01/underworld-awakening.html">Underworld: Awakening</a> BB (forum) link code: [url=https://soireb.blogspot.com/2012/01/underworld-awakening.html]Underworld: Awakening[/url]