 In
an interesting twist on thriller-horror films, Underworld
reinvents the Romeo and Juliet story with vampires and lycans (werewolves)
filling the roles of the Capulets and Montagues. Selene (Kate
Beckinsale) is a top Death Dealer, a group of vampire warriors
charged with hunting the lycans to extinction. But when she stumbles
on a lycan plot to kidnap a human medical student (Scott Speedman)
– and, in trying to protect him, fails to keep him from being
bitten by lycan leader Lucian (Michael Sheen) –
she is forced to rethink her allegiances.
Underworld
is the directorial debut of Len Wiseman, a former
Art Director who worked on such films as Men in Black and
Independence Day, and it shows. While the visual style
is interesting, it is far from unique: in fact, it is about 75%
The Matrix and 25% Highlander. The pacing is erratic,
and while the story idea is good, the plot development is not. Beckinsale
and Speedman as the star-crossed lovers have decent chemistry but
hardly share any screen time, and some of the acting is quite bad
(such as Shane Brolly as regent vampire leader
Kraven). Overall, for director Wiseman, Underworld was
an underachievement.
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