Underworld: Evolution

Aeillin

Dalayan Beginner
K, so where to begin? Let me say this, I am a HUGE fan of the original. I love the movie and it's a great flick.

That being said, I want the last 3 hours of my life back. Underworld: Evolution does what every bad sequel does: forgets the prowess and inginuity of the original. Their haste to lay everything on the table for you to gobble up, trying to be bigger, faster, stronger and make us lose control.

The first 20 minutes of the movie are glorious, explaining the hatred of the two races, and showing the *gasp* first lycan ever. Then everything went south. Batman returns and one of the major characters (though I didn't like him) is toast just like that. So batboy goes apeshit and I'm coping with it, it's something different than I had expected. Now here's where they messed it all up. I'm gonna land a spoiler, but it spoiled the whole movie for me, so why not give you a heads up? Kate Beckinsale's leather is suddenly MIA and the next 30 minutes are laden with unnecessary sex/nudity, no story significance whatsoever, just an excuse to have naked women on the set. The movie took everything the original built up and cashed it in for cheap sex and blood wine. BOO!

After that I was really put out of the movie, I will say though, that it did manage to pull my interest, simply because I really wanted to know Selene's backstory. The end fight scene was pretty intense, and was worth the view.

The bottom line is as follows... What's missing from Evolution that should have been there:

1. Same characters (we only had two, i miss some of our vampire and lycan friends from the first film).
2. Mystery
3. Cinematography (all the innovative shots that classed the first film are noticeably absent.)
4. Clothing. The nude scenes really were not necessary, and greatly detracted from the story. I paid to see vampires decapitating werewolves, I didn't stand in line for Deep Throat.
5. More vampires. Vampires are sexy, but need to be in numbers. I miss our trenchcoat cladded friends from the first movie.
6. An involved plot. This plot is very linear, and you have it figured out within the first half hour. The first movie had me guessing.

So I could go on, but I'm just really dissapointed. I had been talking this movie up, and was really looking forward to it. My time would have honestly been better spent here on SoD. At least here I know what i'm getting.

If you thought that "The Mummy Returns" was good compared to the original (and like to use Google with SafeSearch disabled), you'll probably enjoy Underworld: Evolution. But as a HUGE fan of the original, I have to say it chokes. Kate looks great, and her performance is really stunning, it's just too bad that everything around her was so linear and monotonous. She is the only reason this movie will sell tickets, put anyone else in the same role, and audiences would be weeping. So Screen Gems needs to be thanking her leather-clad hiney for saving their investment.

- Aeillin
 
Somehow I'm not supprized. Granted the first one left things wide open for a sequel and given the inventivness of camera use and the apparent depth of the story(hell they even made a documentery about the whole vampires verses wearwolves thing before the movie came out). Its just that just judging from the trailers and tv spots it looked more like either a remake(which was holey unneeded unless there was going to be alot of footage added in that I would want to see), or something that tries to use the lisence and the general look while doing nothing for the story, which seems to be the case.

You like vamps, I happen to like weres. Eh...no big deal really except the whole war thing going on.
 
Thanks for the link, Tarrax, interesting.

From what Aeillin says I can only assume the sequel let alot of people down :roll:
 
I could have told you it was going to suck when they announced it... there was just something about it.

Clothing. The nude scenes really were not necessary, and greatly detracted from the story. I paid to see vampires decapitating werewolves, I didn't stand in line for Deep Throat.

Kate Beckinsale? hot....
 
Well, the movie was everything I'd thought it'd be. It wasn't bad.

I'm glad they kept most of their previous story line.








What happend to Mortal Kombat though? I miss it.... T_T
 
A little known fact about lycanthropy is that when you become a werewolf you become functionally retarded. Being shot at by bullets? Fuck that, let's roar some! As an aside, you don't get to howl, all you can do is snarl like stock attack dog sound files. Now, you might be thinking, "i should go kill the guy with the gun". Fuck you buddy, you get back to Diablo II where if the character shoots you you at least run up and hit him. This is UNDERWORLD II BABY, you just stand still and die! Werewolves you know all covered in fur? YOU GET BARE SKIN AND GREASE! You haven't showered in ever but thankfully nobody is going to notice because every time you're on camera it shakes like it's got alzhiemers! WELCOME TO THE TEAM!

I didn't think the movie was bad, but if I had paid to see it I would have been mighty pissed. The heroes were way too powerful, every fight was "good guy hits bad guy, bad guy hits good guy, good guy insta-gibs badguy". Still, the acting was much-improved from the first. As a D&D player, I wonder how they got vampire+werewolf=demon; everyone knows that vampire + werewolf = some poor bastard weak to everything with an atomic structure, instantly killed by running water, a stake, silver, the sun, jello puddin' pops, macaroni, and things that are not macaroni.

Ryuji Kiske said:
"Sucha lonely day and it's mine...The most loneliest day of my life...
A day that should be banned..A day that I can't stand..."

Soldier Side is the best song on that album and possibly the best song I've heard all year.
 
re

I had issues with the nudity.... hopfully they have it something like they have a kid in the 3rd movie..... one thing to remember is sony stole the basic ideal for this movie from white wolf...the powers in the game are rip offs of white wolf's vampire the masquade. which an abobination has a chance to be fairly powerful. they still have the limits of weres silver still hurts but they have all vampire powers (the system is d 10 with max human trait as 5 and a were wolf shifting can easily hit 6 or 7) they are also limited by vampire weaknesses but crosses dont hurt only fire and sunlight. But getting back on track sorta. They butchered one of the creation legends where cain (alexander) is cursed for his sins and an unnamed brother gains the abilities of were wolf from gia mother earth (he turns his back on god when god casts the family out of heaven). cain is the first vampire who at one point gets so mad at his "children" and walks off his children start fueding over tons of stuff and war with the wolves becuase of several reasons depending on which book you read. but yeah I see where you have issues they added nudity. changed tons of stuff in the original story then try to still follow it loosely. it doesnt work out very well becuase they have to go back on themselves a couple times. Then they have and im not going to spoil it for the people who havent watched it but the ones who have know what im talking about when i say the vampire evolution.... I thought at first this was going to be a start in for the next movie and that was why the first sex scene was in it.
 
I thought the movie was decent, tho not as good as the first one. If you went in expecting to see the first one rehashed you were most definitely disappointed. I also believe you are exagerrating the nude scene a bit. While not safe for an 8 year old it was harldy extensive or over the top by today's movie standards, not even close. While it wasn't the best storyline I liked that they didn't simply repeat the original movie with a new location. I'd go see a 3rd UW movie and I'll likely be buyinbg this one on DVD when it's released (or maybe wait for an "extended cut" as it could improve the story).
 
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