Underworld
Starring Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman, Dir. by Len Wiseman

I've been seeing alot of negative reviews on Ain't It Cool and elsewhere for this film, and I have to say that I disagree with Harry at AICN that this is a ..soulless cinematic turd...".

It is the story of Vampires and Werewolves who have been warring for over a thousand years and it all comes to a head over the Lycans (werewolves) mysterious plans for a human named Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman). A Death-Dealer (a Lycan-hunting vampire, not the Frank Frazetta character), Selene (Beckinsale) tries to protect Corvin from both sides who seem to want him.

The plot isn't really that complicated if you pay attention, and players of White Wolf's Vampire and Werewolf RPG's will especially enjoy the fact that the story could easily be set in that universe (especially the talk of Abominations, which are characters right out of the game. Has anyone from White Wolf seen this film?). I disagree with reviews that say the plot is hard to follow. I think there are alot of people out there who just lack the proper disposition to sit and pay attention.

The action is fluid and easy to follow, with lots of trenchcoated vamps and lycans shooting at each other, and missing most of the time A-Team style. I understand Harry's criticism that there isn't enough vampire type action, not even one hunt of a human, but haven't we seen that before in films enough? This movie is more intent on the action between the vamps and Lycans and doesn't really concern itself with the human population of the unnamed European city that it takes place in. The werewolves get big and hairy and rip things up, and the vampires use guns to shoot them.

Contrast this film with one like The Breed, starring Adrian Paul, which tries for much the same Vampires in Leather with guns shooting John Woo style, and you see just how good the action in this film is. I would have liked to have seen a little more realism from Beckinsale in the gun firing department, but I will forgive that minor negative in her otherwise quite satisfactory performance.

The only glaring bad spot in the entire film for me was Shane Brolly who played Kraven, the current prince of this particular group of vampires. He's whiny and seems to only have two facial expressions, pissed and more pissed. If he is supposed to be a few hundred-year-old Knight, then he shouldn't have the horrible delivery that he has. I'm not expecting him to talk like Gary Oldman in Dracula, but I do expect him to at least sound like he recieved SOME culture in the past 600-700 years. He was either miscast, or just a bad actor, I'm not sure which.

All in all a good vampire/werewolf shoot-em-up. Not a Horror film, but not meant to be.