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Well, I went with a gang to go see 'Underworld' yesterday, and there were some good points, and there were some bad points. First of all, let me say that I have been hearing about this movie for a while now, even before the commercials and ads. And I've been excited about it. And I love vampires. So in a way, I was setting myself up for disappointment, much like the 'X-Men' movie.
All in all, the movie was entertaining. It had some good fight scenes, and a good plot. And great special effects. The transformations of the lycans into their werewolf form was great. Much better than Michael Landon's teenage werewolf. But the vampires, well, their transformations consisted of their eyes turning ice blue and an elongation of their already long fangs.
There were times when the movie was moving slow, where I was thinking to myself, 'How long IS this movie?' The characterization was so-so, with an emphasis on Kate Beckinsale's character, Selene. There is some on Scott Speedman's character, Michael, but that was about it. I was hoping there would be more hand to hand combat, and more 'Oh damn!' parts where the movie throws a move or a surprise that makes your jaw drop. But it didn't happen. The lycans, to me, were dominant in the movie and could have kicked the vampire's asses.
But I'm not saying I didn't like the movie. I liked it a lot. I just didn't LOVE it. It was good to watch, and the money that I didn't spend on it wasn't wasted. The vampires were very pretty to look at, and I have to admit, Kate in leather is damn hot. If you like women in leather, see this movie. I need to get me an outfit like that. The story was good, though I didn't care much about most of the characters, I would still suggest that people watch it. It's still one of the best movies showing out there right now. The effects and the cinematography are awesome.
Oh, and there was a preview for Michael Crichton's 'Timeline' before the movie. I'm so excited about it. It's one of my favorite books. I hope they don't kill it. But I have a feeling that they will.
Dave's Review: I would tell people to watch the movie. It was entertaining. Kate Beckinsale's HOT. But I liked 'SWAT' better.
Later: Christine does Karaoke...
mmm...i wanna watch...
and...
wow...a note from dave on christine's blog! who would've thot?
Posted by: Candace on September 20, 2003 12:01 PMTimeline is with Paul Walker, eh? Too busy with homework to see a movie. But I do want to see Underworld.
Posted by: Mona on September 20, 2003 02:59 PMi want to see Underworld! but knowing australia and how delayed things are at getting here...it'll be months before ads even start to appear!
Posted by: Leesa on September 21, 2003 03:29 AMReproductive Vampires mating with Werewolves:
Can We Say Ewwwwh Ick!?
Vampires that are about as 'special', either as individually magical creatures or as exceptionally 'experienced' (1,500 years in one case) warrior tacticians as any 6 year old making bang-bang noises with their first cowboy cap gun. No coordinated crossfires and bounding movement/terrain exploiting teamwork, no explosives or smoke or gas to avoid being trapped behind a kiosk rapidly being ventillated to bits. No HIGH POWER weapons of their own fit to elephant-gun knockdown a 7ft tall full-morph were.
Not even what I would consider a MINIMUM requirement of hard-shell body armor to save all my 'time in' vested immortal self from the dangers of normal bullets let alone 'UV' (snort, fluorescent bulbs, tv's, computer screens...) ones.
OTHER PROBLEMS:
Vampires are immortal and they are eternally alone because of it. 'Royalty' doesn't mean crap when you will outlive any (purely human) conceptual understanding of who is special and who ain't as a function of social class and by herding them together in elitist-snob tupperware party fashion 'like any other rich and shameless' elbow rubbing mortal morons; you cost them all their chique-kewl.
Even the Death Dealers play into this since it's pretty clear that they are just 'dog soldiers' pledging loyalty to a cause not really "support the troops!!" their own. Gives the whole vamp side of the show a VERY tired sense of itself which I would think would be deadly to anyone trying to really live forever.
Vampires cannot 'handle' werewolves with a surety of $ophistication or muscle and yet the current head of the European half of the vamp clan (absent a sleeping mentor) has apparently been plotting with the chief badass (and yes, the Garu/Lycan/Were ARE EVIL in the "We eat humans and you can watch us crunching the bones..." sense, while the Vamps are so-sophisticated dining on genetically cloned blood, not us mere mortals.) Lucian for CENTURIES to usurp his Ancient Masters' power base and take over the world.
RIGHT. If I'm immortal, I'm gonna waste my time screwing around with human style acension to the throne games so I can rule over a bunch of other snobs who look and act just like me: hiding in the shadows. Shurrrrr Dood.
As an alternative, try putting a penny in the bank and watching for compound interest.
Speaking of Immortal, so are the werewolves. And that is also 'just not done, son'. I was also not all that thrilled with the final merging of the bloodlines as an ultra-heroic fool becomes 'more than human again' so he can love dear little Selene without buying stock in Gillete and Burmacream.
Overall? Mixes metaphors and story elements from a bunch of tales without really resolving much of any of them as an alternative to endless gunfights that are about as interesting to where's a SEAL team when you need one? No-ambush or focussed firecone watch as trimming your hair in a funhouse mirror with a weed eater.
No wait, I might actually pay to see that...
As a blood-eroticism alternative, the sex scenes in the book SHOULD have been in the movie and also were largely not ('Kraven' manages to get some and of course pulls a Dawson and doesn't want it...).
If you want to do (Believably Quadrupedal!!) vamp-wolves 'with a lot of historical elegance' try something with a bit of class that makes the movie viewer BELIEVE that these are creatures who have been around the block a few times and prefer real beauty to living in some kind of rock-video goth nightmare as mercs for an uncaring master class.
Elaine Bergstrom's /Austra/ family comes to mind as utterly ruthless creatures who 'love' (another word for food) just enough to never kill what they can exploit, with kindness as well as cruelty.
This is...crap. Pure and Simple.
Posted by: Kurt Plummer on September 26, 2003 12:11 AM
