Underworld (2003 film)
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| Underworld | |
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| Directed by | Len Wiseman |
| Produced by | Robert Bernacchi Gary Lucchesi Tom Rosenberg |
| Written by | Kevin Grevioux Len Wiseman Danny McBride |
| Starring | Kate Beckinsale Scott Speedman Michael Sheen Bill Nighy Shane Brolly |
| Distributed by | Screen Gems (Sony) |
| Release date(s) | September 19, 2003 |
| Running time | 116 Min/133 min (Special edition) |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Underworld: Evolution |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Underworld is a 2003 action-horror film about the secret history of Vampires and a type of werewolf known as Lycans (an abbreviated form of lycanthrope). It is the first film in the Underworld series. The main plot revolves around Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a vampire who has become a "Death Dealer", or Lycan hunter, due to her hatred for the whole species, whom she believes slaughtered her family. She finds herself attracted to a medical intern, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) who is being targeted by the Lycans. After Michael is bitten by a Lycan, Selene must decide whether to do her "duty" as a Death Dealer and kill him or go against her clan and save him.
While reviewers generally gave Underworld a negative reception, criticizing the lack of character development and overacting, a smaller number of reviewers praised elements such as the film's stylish Gothic visuals, "Beckinsale's icy English composure", and the extensively-worked out vampire-werewolf mythology that serves as the film's backstory.
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[edit] Plot
Perched on the ledge of a building in a rainy night, two black-garbed vampires known as "Death Dealers" track a pair of werewolves walking on the street below. The vampires, Selene and Rigel, specialize in assassinating an ancient species of werewolves known as Lycans. Selene's motivation goes beyond duty; she also wants revenge, for she believes that Lycans slaughtered her family when she was a child. The vampires believe that they defeated the werewolves many centuries ago and killed their leader, Lucian, and that they must now pick them off the remaining survivors one by one. As the vampires follow the Lycans into a subway station, the werewolves realize that they are being followed, and they open fire. In the chaotic shootout, Selene realizes that the Lycans may have been following a human, Michael Corvin. After the Lycans retreat from Selene's barrage of machine pistol fire, she tracks them to their subterranean lair, where she hears the sound of a large group of Lycans howling.
When Selene arrives at the vampire coven's ornate, gated mansion, she recounts the evening's unusual events. After the vampire regent Kraven dismisses her fears, and tells her to drop the matter, Selene pursues her investigation alone. She wants to find out why the Lycans were chasing the human, a young medical intern, and whether there is indeed a large den of Lycans close to the Vampire coven. Meanwhile, in an underground Lycan lair, a scientist named Singe is testing blood from kidnapped descendants of the Corvinus family, to try and find a pure source of the ancient and powerful Corvinus blood type. Soon after Selene finds Michael, the pair are attacked by werewolves, including Lucian, the original Lycan leader, who bites Micheal on the shoulder. Selene helps Micheal to escape, and the two become romantically attracted to each other.
Selene continues her investigation by breaking into the coven's library to learn about the hidden past of their clan. After she learns from an ancient leather-bound book that Lucian and Kraven formed a conspiracy centuries ago, she awakens a powerful elder vampire Viktor, in the hopes that he will restore order in the coven. As the now-awakened Viktor questions Kraven, the regent tries to pass off Selene's accusations as a conspiracy theory. When Selene enters with the severely wounded Lycan scientist, Singe, as her prisoner, Singe admits that Lycans had been experimenting to combine the bloodlines of the two species with the Corvinus Strain. The Lycans were trying to create a Vampire-Lycan hybrid which would be more powerful than either race.
Meanwhile, in the lycan lair, where Michael is being held captive, he learns (partially through memories he inherited upon being bitten, and partially through being told) how the war began. Lucian married a vampire, whom Viktor killed to prevent the mingling of the two bloodlines. Lucian sought revenge, leading to war. After Singe reveals Kraven's treachery, Kraven flees, and Viktor kills Singe. Viktor instructs Selene to kill Michael, and the coven sends a team of Death Dealers to attack the Lycan lair. In the ensuing battle, many of the vampires and Lycans are killed, and even the Lycan leader Lucian, is severely wounded. Before dying, Lucian urges Selene to bite Michael, so that his blood will have both Lycan and vampire strains.
In the confrontation, Selene learns that it was Viktor who killed her entire family, and not the Lycans. Michael, who has been bitten by both a Lycan and a Vampire, turns into a werewolf, and attacks Viktor. Despite Michael's hybrid strenth, he is no match for the powerful elder, and so Selene dispatches Viktor with a sword. Selene flees from this scene of carnage with Michael, realizing that by killing Viktor, she too will become targeted by the vampires. As Singe's blood seeps through the trapdoor of the sarcophagus of the remaining elder, Marcus, he begins to revive.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
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| Kate Beckinsale | Selene: A vampire specializing in assassinations, known as a "Death Dealer" |
| Scott Speedman | Michael Corvin: A medical student who is unaware that he carries the rare Corvinus Strain in his blood |
| Michael Sheen | Lucian: The leader of the Lycans, an ancient clan of werewolves |
| Bill Nighy | Viktor: A powerful vampire elder who is awakened from his crypt by Selene |
| Shane Brolly | Kraven: A vampire appointed as interim leader (regent) of the vampire coven during Viktor's hibernation |
| Erwin Leder | Singe: A Lycan scientist who is experimenting with the Corvinus Strain |
| Sophia Myles | Erika: An attractive, blond vampire woman who is enamoured with Kraven |
| Robbie Gee | Kahn: A weapons expert, gunsmith, and chief "Death Dealer" |
| Wentworth Miller | Dr. Adam Lockwood, a medical intern who works with Michael at a hospital |
| Kevin Grevioux | Raze: A powerful black Lycan who acts as Lucian's lieutenant |
| Zita Görög | Amelia: The only female vampire elder |
| Scott McElroy | Soren : A vampire henchman who acts as Kraven's lieutenant |
| Todd Schneider | Trix |
| Sándor Bolla | Rigel: A male "Death Dealer" who is killed during a shootout in a subway |
| Hank Amos | Nathaniel: The second male "Death Dealer" who was tracking the Lycans in the subway |
[edit] Legal controversy
The film was the subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by White Wolf, Inc. and Nancy A. Collins claiming the setting was too similar to the Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse games, both set in the World of Darkness setting, and the Sonja Blue vampire novels.
White Wolf filed 17 counts of copyright infringement, and claimed over 80 points of unique similarity between White Wolf's game systems and the movie. White Wolf, Inc. also claimed the script was very similar to a story entitled The Love of Monsters (1994) which they published and was written by Nancy A. Collins. [1] A PDF file of White Wolf's filing can be read here: [2] In September 2003, a judge granted White Wolf an expedited hearing; this was the last White Wolf's press releases had to say about the case: [3].
[edit] Critical reception
Critics generally gave Underworld a negative reception. It scored just 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, and only 16% from the "Cream of the Crop". Roger Ebert said "This is a movie so paltry in its characters and shallow in its story that the war seems to exist primarily to provide graphic visuals." However, some critics were more favorable: the New York Daily News praised it as being "stylish and cruel, and mightily entertaining for certain covens out there."
Salon reviewer Andrew O'Hehir states that "by any reasonable standard, this dark vampire epic -- all massive overacting, cologne-commercial design and sexy cat suits -- sucks". He calls the film "a dark, dank morass of a horror/fantasy epic, all faux-Wachowski action scenes and dim blue light and thumping industrial music and dripping pseudo-Gothic interiors and Kate Beckinsale cramming her cute English schoolgirl figure into a pleather cat suit." Yet at the same time, O'Hehir remarks that "...at least it gives a crap", by which he means that despite all of the movie's "flaws", the complex vampire-werewolf mythology backstory "has been meticulously worked out." While O'Hehir criticizs the way the "entire movie is full of campy overacting" he notes that "Beckinsale's icy English composure creates a sense of stillness at the center of the general art-directed chaos."[1]
[edit] Sequels and Prequels
The follow-up story, Underworld: Evolution, was released January 20, 2006. A prequel, Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans, is planned for release in 2010, staring Rhona Mitra.
[edit] Soundtrack
The film's dark, gloomy images were accompanied by a grinding, pounding gothic/industrial-styled soundtrack produced by industrial musician Danny Lohner and distributed via Roadrunner Records. Lohner (born 1970), a bass guitarist, guitarist and keyboardist who has recorded with the Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, contributed several songs to the soundtrack under the pseudonym Renholdër. Lohner continued the industrial vibe by including a song by Skinny Puppy, a Canadian industrial band. Skinny Puppy's music fuses elements of ambient, noise, new wave, electro and rock music using analog and digital recording techniques, distortion, samplers, and conventional rock music instruments.
Lohner added other styles to the soundtrack, including a song by The Dillinger Escape Plan, a US band which performs an aggressive, technical style of hardcore punk called mathcore; a song by US alternative rock band Finch; a song by The Icarus Line, a band specializing in an abrasive form of rock music; and Lisa Germano, a US singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for her often-hushed vocal style, confessional lyrics, and distinctive violin playing.
[edit] External links
- Underworld at the Internet Movie Database
- Underworld: Evolution at the Internet Movie Database
- Underworld at Rotten Tomatoes
- Underworld Official Site
- Kate Beckinsale interview for Underworld
| Preceded by Once Upon a Time in Mexico |
Box office number-one films of 2003 (USA) September 21, 2003 |
Succeeded by The Rundown |
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