Underworld Evolution

Underworld: Evolution (2006) 48 (Metacritic: 36)

Some thoughts on the Underworld series:

I've seen Underworld 1 and 2 now at minimum two times each. Why? Because I fall asleep in the middle each time I watch them. Cinepastette has the same problem with The Matrix, much to my chagrin. Something about these movies has a soporific effect on me, and I have no idea why.

I liked the original Underworld a lot more as I recall. I'd probably put it around a 70, but I'd need to watch it again... awake. But I recall having a similar reaction to the first chapter of the series that I did while watching the first half of U:E. Werewolves fighting vampires = awesome. And Kate Beckinsale in general = awesome. The opening action sequences are flat-out cool as hell and surprisingly raw and gory, but then the plot kicks in. Whoo boy.

Why in the world is this series so complicated? Vast conspiracies abound involving characters we've never heard of before. Then there's some kind of half-hybrid twin immortal thing going on, and Derek Jacobi is somehow involved, and Scott Speedman has to kind of die or something. I mean, Jesus. When you need a five-minute soliloquy to explain what the hell is going on in the middle of an action movie, your story is too convoluted.

It's obvious that (kind of like The Matrix) nothing was really planned for the second (or third) installment, and creator/director Len Wiseman had to create a whole new onion to make this second effort appear deeper and more life-threatening than the first. Blade 2 is the perfect blueprint of how to extend a franchise when the mythology is used up in the first film. You don't look back into a secret past and create another layer of story encompassing the first film. Instead, you push the story forward in a completely new direction. I have no idea how they can sustain this series for the reported next three chapters.

There are two really amazing stories from of the Underworld saga. Wiseman stole Beckinsale from Michael Sheen during the first film, and Sheen returned to make the third. That's a great break-up. Plus, the screenplays were written by Danny McBride, who played in Sha Na Na and starred as Kenny Powers. OK. There are really three Danny McBrides.