Not narrow-mindedness at all. Simply an observation.

I read that a sequel is in the works, and if that does well, the prequel will be greenlit?

Suffice to say, i had very very low expectations for this, but enjoyed it thoroughly. Not great, but not the mess it was portrayed to be.Loved the look of the film overall, and Kate Beckinsale looked stunning. They had a great concept going, and I can see what hurt this film was the limited budget. So hopefully the sequel will allow them to do something that will really stick out. Also, I think I may have seen enough blue for the rest of my life, but thats besides the point.

That's what I thought too. There are several fantastic visual shots, and the overall look was very sharp and fitting for the material of the film.

That said, the storyline was rather boring. I wasn't that interested after the first hour about what happened to everyone. I did remark to a friend that it reminded me of Blade 2 - a lot of action, but not much else going on in the film.

Kate Beckensale was wasted in this film. She perfected the horror-genre "stand around and brood" look, but there was no depth to her character. She can certainly act, but no opportunities to show anything other than the same brooding look existed. Just once I would have liked to have seen her be vulnerable. It would have connected her character with the audience more than the movie would allow.

I had very low expectations of this movie and I thought it was OK, would have liked to see more actual fights between the vampires and the warewolves rather than shootouts.

i actually like the show quite a bit... enjoyed it more than Blade 2 actually .

just to side track, anybody want to venture a guess on is Micheal allegic to both sunlight and silver or immune to both of them ?

This is the worst movie I've seen in a long time. I guess I was wrong expecting it to be at least 1/2 as good as Blade 2. And the Matrix quoting was too obvious. Nothing in the movie was original.

Let it be known that I didn't hate it because it's popular to hate it, like some people think or do. I personally could not stand it, due to the fact I am an avid horror fan, love vampire and werewolve flicks. I also love the films that 'Underworld' drew its inspiration from (The Crow, Blade and Dark City). I looked forward to the film, went and saw it on release date. I came away bored out of my mind...Why?

What is the point in the characters being vampires and werewolves if all they do is run around in black leather / latex and shoot and each other? Sure, every once in awhile some Werewolves was shown, but that wasn't often and not enough. Then take in account that Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman had no on screen chemistry and you've killed the supposed love story aspect.

A lot of potenial. All of it, pissed away.

I really liked this film but felt it was incorrectly marketed. It'snot really Romeo & Juliette.

In fact both Scott Speedman (in one of the documentaries on the DVD) and the the writers (in one of the audio ceommentaries)

Oh and a sequel and a prequel were greenlit at the same tame based on the initial ticket sales in Canada alone. Not surprising since this movie was apparently low budget (though it certainly doesn't look it) and easily made enough profit.

As for the werewolves' power in the film,

There were three crypts I believe. This still doesn't answer why Viktor was sleeping.

SPOILERS....

I read the book but I can't remember all the details. I hope this helps.


Viktor was sleeping because being immortal is a pain in the ass. "Jumping thrugh time" by sleeping was how the 3 elders agreed to do things. 1 up 2 down although I'm not sure how long each one is down. I get the feeling it's -at least- 100 years. The order being Viktor, Amelia, Marcus then the cycle repeats. Obviously Seline broke the chain by waking Viktor before Marcus to let him know about Kraven's treachery. The other coven, one that Amelia was over was American and they were going to join the New World and Old World covens when Marcus was awakened and Amelia went to sleep. In the book it is mentioned that Amelia is particular tired after having lived through the World Wars of the 20th century.


As far as the werewolve's strength...just like the Vampires, it's the ELDERS that are strongest. Not all the Wolves were super powerful. Lucian was the most powerful one but he still didn't want to fight Viktor at full strength. Raze being higher up leads one to believe he's old but no that old. In the book, Kravens' buttboy...the guy with the whips is believed to be as old as Viktor...he's the same one that was whipping Lucian in the 600 year old flashback and it is mentioned in the book that he was not interested in being a leader instead he preffered following.* But again, the Vampires under Kraven had become weak and more concerned with vices.


edited to add *

Thanks for clearing that up, Giantrobo. So basically Amelia was on a diplomatic mission and Kraven was just to keep her house in order, so to speak. I really didn't get that since Selene was complaining aboutnot understanding why Viktor left Kraven in charge. Kraven obviously not being an elder led me to the mistaken impression that Viktor was dispatched (temporarily, of course) by some unamed enemy before he had a chance to awaken Marcus. Basically, I was under the mistaken impression that Amelia was not part of the three elders of the house Viktor had presided over and she was merely joining them and reviving Marcus as a sign of the union of the two houses. Thanks for correcting my erroneous assumptions since now the three crypts make sense.

I hope in the sequel and prequel the script is more polished so that things that should not be confusing are made clear.

Where'd you get the book (it's a novelization, right)? Any other insights mentioned in it that the film failed to cover?

Giantrobo,

Another thing I wanted to ask is

No offense, but most of the people who didn't get the plot, or thought there was no story (not you), or thought it was a "turn your brain off" movie (not you) simply didn't watch the movie close enough.

Underworld is a surprisingly dense movie, with many storypoints not handed to the audience on a platter. It's one of the more subtle genre movies I've ever seen (certainly more than people expect from a Vampire/Werewolf War movie).While it wasn't an Oscar performance, most people are very impressed with the depth she brought to the character.
She's an action character - a warrior - what kind of depth do you want?
And as for scenes that vulnerability, you weren't the only person to miss it.
After the scene where she handcuffs Michael, she leaves the building and (amlost imperceptibly) supresses a shudder.
This is a HUGE insight into her character, and I'd wager that 95% of the audience missed it.
I would have, if it wasn't for my wife pointing it out.
Sure as hell (saw it twice in theater, and now on DVD), it's there.
It intimates that Michael has caused her to FEEL for the first time in centuries. This is a big motivator/enticer for centuries-old warrior vampires, I'm sure you'd agree.

There are many other subtle things that most people miss when watching Underworld. I've discussed the movie for months, and many people terribly under-sell this movie, and pay for that with missing many plot points.

Not that the movie's perfect, by any means, but it is a damn solid genre film.

Geez, it's in the movie, people.

The scientist explained that if an untainted source of the Corvinus line was found, and combined with werewolf and a powerful elder "such as yourself (to Viktor), or Amelia", then an Abomination could be created.

So Lucian was one step away from becoming the most powerful thing on the panet.
Raze just didn't make it quick enough.
Of course, Lucian hung around for a bit longer than that, but that was for dramatic movie reasons.

spoilers....


It's in the movie. I'm going off of memory so forgive me if I don't get it 100%. Also remember it's a virus that makes Vampires and Werewolves.

Micheal Corvin is a decendant of Corvinus bloodline. The Lycans had figured this out and were kidnapping humans with the Corvin name to get the unique blood trait that would allow mixing Vampire ELDER(in this case Amelia's) and lycan blood to bring about this "super half-breed" so the war could end. As Seline said, NO ONE has ever survived the bite of both immortal species. That was until Michael came into the picture through the reasearch of the Nazi Lycan Doctor. Although Viktor feared it and denied it because he did not want the two bloodlines to mix, Werewolves and Vampires had a common ancestor. Many years ago one man of the Corvinus bloodline lived through a plague in his village and he had 3 sons one was bitten by a bat, one by a wolf and the 3rd was immortal. So they all ended up immortal with certain qualities. Marcus...one of the Vampire elders was also from this line but again, Viktor considered the story a fairytale and herresy. The Lycans did not. This is also why the end where the dead Nazi Lycan's blood seeped into the Marcus' crypt was important. It changed Marcus into another "super half breed" due to his Corvinus blood...Vampire Elder blood mind you... mixing with the lycan blood.

Also remember Lucian was already the most powerful Werewolf due to his age. In the book it mentions how only Elder Wolves tended to have the abilty to expel silver projectiles by shear will and with years and years of experience.

Even Raze couldn't do that with the silver shurikens.

Was this a book that they turned into a movie? or a movie where they decided to write a book too?

This was an original ( ) idea of Kevin Grevieaux (sp?), necros.

They'll probably be putting out a short comic book series, as the guy LOVES comics.

The book was a movie novelization based on the script.

Yeah, I watched the movie again after posting my question and was like "oh that's why!"

In the QT trailer for Underworld which was on Apple's site (I still have it via previous QTPro save) there was a specific song that I am trying to identify.

I have run it by the main Alternative station in my area, but they don't know it either. It begins from a point of near-silence in the trailer, at the scene showing Kate's character jumping from the tall building to the ground (the jumping scene where we first see her character in the film), and continues through a montage of movie scenes. I don't believe I heard it in the movie itself, just the trailer I have seen and saved for it.

Anyone know either the song's title or artist?

I usually check this site when I have similar questions:

http://www.soundtrack.net/trailers

Since this doesn't have anything to do with DVDs, moving to Movie Talk.

It's "Red Tape" by Agent Provocateur
It's featured on the score album (not the soundtrack album):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...086496-7332608

I know there's a lot of folks that didn't like this movie, but I happen to enjoy it. I have the DVD (the regular version) and I just finished watching it on HBO just because it was on and I was bored.

At one point, before the werewolves kill all the vampire folks in the train, they hear the werewolves howl. On the DVD I remember them howling like the werewolves in American Werewolf in London, which I always thought was the coolest sounding werewolf howl ever. But, on HBO, they used a cheesey "classic" werewolf howl like all the old movies used.

So, were they not allowed to use that original howl and they did anyway? Like, why did they change it? Just wondering, if anyone knows

Hmmm, I'm not aware of any changes in "Howls".