Genre: Action / Drama / Fantasy
Director: Len Wiseman
Language: English
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran, Derek Jacobi, Bill Nighy, Steven Mackintosh.

Vampires and Werewolves, oh my!

The thing about a movie like Underworld is that at no point of the movie do you fear for the lives of the main characters because (a) they are so darn hard to kill; and (b) all the bullets miss the Good Guys unless Dramatic Effect is required for Character Development or to move The Plot along. It’s like watching someone play a video game—in event of massive injury and/or death, hit “Yes” to continue.

This automatically makes this a movie the masses will enjoy.

The war between Vampires and Lycans rages on. Selene (Kate Beckinsale) spent most of her life exterminating Lycans, who she believes killed her family. She finds that she’s been betrayed by her kind and goes on the run with Michael (Scott Speedman), a human who’ve been infected with both Vampire and Lycan strains.

Selene and Michael trace their origins and learn that the first ever Vampire and Lycan are brothers—Marcus is the Vampire (Tony Curran) and William is the Lycan (Brian Steele, who has made a career being inside one costume or another).

William’s bloodlust was incontrollable and Vampire Elder Viktor (Bill Nighy) wanted to lock him away for good. Marcus was against it but was forced to comply to keep the peace with Viktor. Fast forward to the present. Marcus now is seeking to free William from his prison so they can create a new race of Vampire/Lycan hybrids.

Romeo and Juliet . . . I mean, Michael and Selene set out to learn more about these mysterious keys. Exiled Vampire historian Tanis (Steven Mackintosh) fills them in. Selene experiences a flashback and we learn how she got mixed up with Vampires in the first place.

I had a hard time coughing up the above few paragraphs because my main impression of the movie was a lot of killing, pale eyes, bared teeth, Beckinsale in sprayed-on leather, and Speedman without his shirt. Story? What story?

It is great to see Michael pulling his weight in the battle as he come to terms with his newfound abilities. The special effects are pretty good and this movie will quite likely satisfy your craving for a little kick ass.