Selene is back! And better than ever. More death is being indiscriminately dealt in more unrelenting ways than in any previous installments of the franchise. For those of you who don't know Underworld is a Vampire vs. Werewolf movie franchise that stars Kate Beckinsale as the vampire huntress Selene. Selene is what is called a Death Dealer, think of a Spartan from Halo in vampire form. Needless to say she is badass beyond belief and has all of the "qualifications" to get the job done.
The first two movies focused around her love affair Scott Speedman's character, Michael Corvin, who also happens to be the long lost descendent of Alexander Corvinus, the father of Vampires and Werewolves. The meet after she is hunting a Werewolf in a hospital where he works, he gets bitten, but she spares his life because something about him seems "different". They later encounter each other again, somehow he gets bitten by a vampire and becomes a new breed of immortal, a hybrid of the two. Long story short he's strong, they stop the war to be temporarily hunted by both sides.
Michael as a hybrid. |
So rise of the Lycans, while important, does nothing for Selene or her plight. What it does do however, is show how the whole war started between the two immortal factions. Pretty cool, but not super important here.
Movie poster of the original Underworld. |
So Selene is captured, they are taken to a genetics company, the one who first discovered the immortals, Antigen for study. Twelve years of so later she is freed by another who is being held by Antigen, she thinks that it is Michael. Selene escapes and starts a hunt through the city for them. During her hunt she meets another vampire named David, shortly after they meet Selene gets a vision of her rescuer being cornered by "Lower Lycans", Lycans who have de-evolved to a wild beast like state. They go to rescue and find a little girl and not Michael. On the way back to Davids coven they are further attacked by the Lower Lycans and the girl, Eve, reveals her true nature as a hybrid and Selenes daughter.
Quint Lane, Giant Lycan. |
They get away with Eve and Selene decides to enlist the aid of a human, Detective Sebastian, and they launch an assault on Antigen to get back Eve. Needless to say a lot of badass fight scenes ensue. Dr. Lane is trying to harvest the genes of Eve to use on the new Lycan race but because of Selene is forced to relocate. Selene see's this happening but Quint steps in to interfere. Lane takes Eve into a transport van but Sebastian is there to intercept and disable it, Eve gets free and starts to go toe to toe with Lane, who has also been experimenting by injecting himself with Eve's genes. Meanwhile Selene finds the mysterious Subject 0, Michael, in a third Antigen lab and frees him before going to fight Quint for the final time. They have and epic fight but Selene eventually outsmarts him by making him revert to human form and cutting open his chest and putting in a silver grenade and blowing him up form the inside out. Even eventually kills Dr. Lane by ripping his neck out.
Eve, Selene's Daughter. |
Overall the plot was really cool, but nothing fantastically original. What I found to coolest is that you actually find yourself feeling sad for the Vampires after what the humans did to them, essentially making humans one of the bad guys. However they did do all their twists right to make a good action horror movie, the action is intense as one would expect from an Underworld movie. Plenty of gunplay and unique weapons that only a Vampire would even dare attempt to use show up again, which is far from a bad thing, I mean, at least their being creative. The score for the movie only helps to add to the already dark scene for the Vampires due to its heavy undertones that make the suffering feel all too real.
Stephen Rea as Dr. Jacob Lane. |
The acting is actually pretty good, Stephen Rea (V for Vendetta) does an exceptional job at Dr. Lane and really can be said to steal the show. Kate Beckinsale, though nothing super unique, shows just how much she's settled into the role of Selene, by acting on of the most comfortable and non-forced roles I have seen since Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Theo James and Michael Ealy both do fantastic jobs in their supporting roles as David and Sebastian respectfully, and I really hope that they make appearances in the next Underworld movies, should they be made.
Overall I liked it, and thought it was just a fun movie, if you like traditional non-sparkly vampires check it out. If you like good action movies check it out. You'll be sure to get your moneys worth. Also don't be too concerned if you haven't seen the previous movies, theres a nice recap at the beginning of Awakening for you. And with that being said, Underworld Awakening gets 8 dead Lycans, out of 10.