Underworld: Awakening 3D Review

Let me begin with the question of whether you should see Underworld: Awakening in 3D. I'm going to thank the directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein and whoever else for shooting this movie in 3-D. If you are going to release a film in 3-D, shoot it in 3-D. The result of shooting Underworld: Awakening was that the directors and director of photography were able to adjust the lighting for many of the dark scenes. You won't hear me complaining about this 3D movie being too dark.

But that being said, Underworld: Awakening 3-D effects are pedestrian. Yeah, I'm spoiled by Martin Scorsese's Hugo. Marlind and Stein just don't take full advantage of the medium. There's no emphasis on foreground and background. The CGI effects work though. That's just to say it is barely special in 3D. If you're a fan of the series, see this in 3D. If you don't care about the series, don't sweat the 3D version; feel free to see it in 2D.

Months after the events in Underworld: Evolution (2006), vampire Selene (Kate Beckinsale) finds that humans are hunting down Vampires and Lycans in the "Purge." While trying to rescue her lover Michael, she gets captured and frozen in cryogenic suspension at a biological research company called Antigen. Selene escapes and sees the visions by a little girl named Eve (India Eisley) who also escaped Antigen. She tracks down Eve and they flee to to a coven of Vampires. Selene and Eve find themselves hunted by Antigen.

It took four writers to compose the screenplay. They were Len Wiseman, John Hlavin
J. Michael Straczynski, and Allison Burnett. Yet the movie is only 88 minutes long. There's nothing in the story to make you root for anyone. For example, you will figure out who Eve is, long before Selene does. And there was no compassion among characters anywhere. I only felt sorry for Eve because she was a little girl. There were silly moments too. Seriously, humans defeating vampires? Feel free to comment on this but really. I mean vampires have that whole undead thing working. Plus they have superhuman strength. Then there was a "nuke the fridge" moment. A Lycan throws a elevator down a shaft at Selene. She fires her guns at the bottom of the elevator so when it hits her, the bottom of the elevator has been destroyed. Yeah, like that can happen with today's physics.

Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein's direction is also blunt and colorless like Selene's pale complexion. Hold on. It took two guys to direct this movie? It's only 88 minutes. Anyway, there's an attack by Selene on the Antigen headquarters. I'm thinking this could be a Matrix like moment. Instead, it's bland and unlike The Matrix, it lacks grace. And the Lycans move like fifties stop motion animation. Still, the movie wasn't boring just pedestrian.

Underworld: Awakening will please fans of the series, Twilight and vampire lovers. But it's nothing special, it's just a pleasant time waster. The grade is B minus.