# OMG, Underworld is a good movie! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072 "2004-01-11T23:25:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/21 "2004-01-12T13:10:19Z")
Just saw it yesterday because it was part of a double-feature with _Kill Bill_ (which was actually better than I’d expected). While not as actively bad as some action movies I’ve seen, there certainly wasn’t anything that impressed. In the first five minutes, we had: -A designated hero (“the script says I’m the good guy, so root for me even if my actions aren’t even remotely admirable”). By the end of Selene’s opening monologue, I was already rooting for the werewolves. -Teeny little handguns that can spray over thirty rounds each in rapid fire. -Everything shot with filters to make every scene as dark as possible. And it never got any better. I was bothered later on by the tendency for characters to unquestioningly believe The Big Revelation, even if it came from someone they’d hated for centuries and ran completely opposite to everything they’d believed up until then. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/22 "2004-01-12T13:42:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by edwino \* > **But from the first line of Kraven’s dialogue, spit out with that stupid grimace on his face and with the flow of a constipated stutterer, I knew the movie was gonna blow. Everytime I started getting more into it (read, Kate Beckinsale’s ass in tight leather), Kraven would come back in and ruin it with another stupid line.** I agree with you here…Kraven was absolutely _terrible_. Aside from him and the second in command werewolf with the horribly fake voice that kept making everyone in the theater laugh, I found the acting pretty decent overall. But Kraven really got my goat and his scenes were just terrible. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by edwino_\*\* > > Selene fell in love with Michael awful easily, and turned against the vampires with little motivation; similarly she turned against Viktor very easily when she heard about his attack from Lucion, her arch-enemy to that point… \*\* Slight nitpick about this It wasn’t Lucion that told Selen about Viktor’s slaughter of her family, it was Kraven. Source isn’t that much more credible in her mind, but does carry a bit more validity. Still, it would have been so much simpler for Viktor to just say “He’s a liar bent on destroying our clan, who are you going to believe, him or me?” and winning her trust back. And not really a spoiler because you can predict it from right off the bat, but why is it vampires who are several hundred years old fall in love with mortals so damn easily? In the grand scheme of things, Michael’s a friggen four year old mentality compared to Selen, yet it takes one look at those baby blues, and she was hooked (he may have had brown eyes, I didn’t really notice). It was the same thing with Buffy I never understood. Aside from the potential to bang a really hot chick, why would a 400 year old feel he had any kind of romantic connection to a 16 year old? ---
**Author:** ![Crimson\_Teardrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a5b964/32.png) [@Crimson\_Teardrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crimson_Teardrop)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/23 "2004-01-12T15:00:25Z")
I thought the fight sequences were great and the effects on those werewolfs…they looked real. Just the right amount of gore too. I found it a little tedious in th emiddle of the film…but I suppose that stuff needed to be mentioned or we wouldn’t have understodd the movie. Overall it was a great film and I’ll be buying it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tremmie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Tremmie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tremmie)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/24 "2004-01-12T15:29:03Z")
> [@](#): > > nd not really a spoiler because you can predict it from right off the bat, but why is it vampires who are several hundred years old fall in love with mortals so damn easily? In the grand scheme of things, Michael’s a friggen four year old mentality compared to Selen, yet it takes one look at those baby blues, and she was hooked (he may have had brown eyes, I didn’t really notice). But he saved her life! After being stabbed in the shoulder with a knife! and passing out from blood loss! she could have drowned for gods sake! Thats just so fucked up that i can’t even get up the energy to make a smart ass remark about it. Oh nevermind, there it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/25 "2004-01-12T23:09:56Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > If you neither liked Matrix or Blade then you’re a pretty tough customer. I liked the first _Matrix_ and both _Blade_ movies and I didn’t think _Underworld_ was worth the contents of Kris Kristofferson’s colostomy bag. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/26 "2004-01-13T02:36:55Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I liked the first _Matrix_ and both _Blade_ movies and I didn’t think _Underworld_ was worth the contents of Kris Kristofferson’s colostomy bag. Everything he said. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/27 "2004-01-13T06:05:30Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I liked the first _Matrix_ and both _Blade_ movies and I didn’t think _Underworld_ was worth the contents of Kris Kristofferson’s colostomy bag. I liked Blade 2, but the way they portrayed the vampires really bugged me. At the beginning of the movie they have super powers, then by the end they’re no more powerful than a normal human. I mean, c’mon. Using flashlights to see in the dark? Climbing up short ladders? That was a more experienced movie making team and they should have done better. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/28 "2004-01-13T22:25:03Z")
I rather liked it. certainly not great cinema, but sorta deep (for a popcorn flick) The whiney jerk turns out to have a noble goal The mentor of the main character turns out to be a bad guy I found the movie more interesting as it went along. I think the sequel(s) are already planned. [http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?obj\_id=39831&aff\_id=0&this\_cat=Development+Heck](http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?obj_id=39831&aff_id=0&this_cat=Development+Heck) Brian ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/29 "2004-01-14T00:33:55Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > I rather liked it. certainly not great cinema, but sorta deep (for a popcorn flick) > > The whiney jerk turns out to have a noble goal > The mentor of the main character turns out to be a bad guy > > I found the movie more interesting as it went along. > > I think the sequel(s) are already planned. > [http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?obj\_id=39831&aff\_id=0&this\_cat=Development+Heck](http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?obj_id=39831&aff_id=0&this_cat=Development+Heck) > > Brian > > > [@](#): > > > > September 25, 2003… Variety reports that a deal has been struck with UNDERWORLD screenwriter Danny McBride and the film’s director, Len Wiseman, to begin work on a sequel. Screen Gems, UNDERWORLD’s distributor, and Lakeshore Entertainment, the film’s production company, want to begin production on UNDERWORLD 2 as soon as possible. > > Now that the original film’s writer and director are coming back, all that remains is to get Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman back. Since Beckinsale is engaged to Wiseman, chances are pretty good that something will be worked out. > > Screen Gems also has interest in making an UNDERWORLD prequel at a later time. [Variety.] Cool. But who’s the whiney jerk you’re talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/30 "2004-01-14T01:03:48Z")
[quote] Since Beckinsale is engaged to Wiseman…\*This to me is the most tragic part of the whole deal. Schmuck like him doesn’t deserve a hottie like that. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/31 "2004-01-14T01:05:28Z")
[QUOTE] > [@](#): > > - Me = :wally ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/32 "2004-01-14T01:35:34Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I liked Blade 2, but the way they portrayed the vampires really bugged me. At the beginning of the movie they have super powers, then by the end they’re no more powerful than a normal human. I mean, c’mon. Using flashlights to see in the dark? Climbing up short ladders? That was a more experienced movie making team and they should have done better. I was more bugged by the fact that the vampires “Elite” commando team were total idiots. The average (human) police SWAT team could likely kick their ass. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/33 "2004-01-14T04:13:54Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I liked Blade 2, but the way they portrayed the vampires really bugged me. At the beginning of the movie they have super powers, then by the end they’re no more powerful than a normal human. I mean, c’mon. Using flashlights to see in the dark? Climbing up short ladders? That was a more experienced movie making team and they should have done better. What bothered me about the vampires in **Blade 2** was that it seemed any knick from a silver item meant instant death. In the first one, you cut a vampire’s hand off, and he’s left with no hand until it grows back. But in **Blade 2** , vamps were being killed from non-leathal gunshots and knife wounds (I’m sorry, as much as I’d wish I was dead after getting stabbed in the nuts, it’s not a fatal wound). Which brings me to what **Tremmie** said…I’d completely forgotten about how utterly stupid it was that Selene nearly _blead to death_ from a friggin cut on her shoulder? And this was one of the toughest warriors the vampires had…no wonder she was the only survivor at the end. ---
**Author:** ![acrossthesea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@acrossthesea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acrossthesea)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/34 "2004-01-15T14:56:54Z")
I just rented it and saw it tonight. Given the reviews I’ve read it was better than expected, though had I not read anything about it I think I would have expected better. I can understand why it reminds people of the Blade movies, but what I don’t get is everyone comparing it to the Matrix movies. Because people are wearing tight black leather, trenchcoats, capes, it’s raining, the entire film is tinted one color, and people fight? They don’t even fight the same way in Underworld (and I can’t understand how the vampires survive vs. the lycans simply by shooting guns all the time.) Plot wise it isn’t like the Matrix and except for the one scene near the beginning where the bullets slowed down, the special effects aren’t really like it either. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/35 "2004-01-15T16:32:56Z")
> [@Max Torque](#): > > The weapons master who examines the bullets says that they’re filled with an “irradiated fluid”. I can stretch my imagination far enough to encompass a fluid that can give off a dose of UV radiation. Now, whether the tiny amount of fluid in a bullet would be sufficient to kill a vampire, that’s another matter. Heck, even a version of the fluid in glow sticks could probably give off UV light, and that’s just a chemical reaction, not radioactivity. Also, radiation is deadlier when ingested, so a tiny amount of “sunlight” might bounce off the skin externally but wreak havoc internally. It’s believable to me that a liquid bullet form of allergen or toxin would be deadlier since it would travel around in the circulatory system. They could’ve armed themselves with paintball guns. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/36 "2004-01-15T16:42:09Z")
> [@acrossthesea](#): > > I just rented it and saw it tonight. Given the reviews I’ve read it was better than expected, though had I not read anything about it I think I would have expected better. I can understand why it reminds people of the Blade movies, but what I don’t get is everyone comparing it to the Matrix movies. Because people are wearing tight black leather, trenchcoats, capes, it’s raining, the entire film is tinted one color, and people fight? They don’t even fight the same way in Underworld (and I can’t understand how the vampires survive vs. the lycans simply by shooting guns all the time.) Plot wise it isn’t like the Matrix and except for the one scene near the beginning where the bullets slowed down, the special effects aren’t really like it either. Don’tchaknow, every action film after **The Matrix** that isn’t bright and shinny is a direct rip-off of **the Matrix**. I thought every movie gower got that memo. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/37 "2004-01-15T18:24:15Z")
My roommate and I went to see it because we love Goth, and because I love Kate Beckinsale (Ever since **Cold Comfort Farm** ). Mmmmm. Kate Beckinsale in leather with a gun is a good enough reason to see _any_ movie. We both walked out of **Underworld** going, “Whoa, that was watchable!” I _loved_ the science, and the UV bullets and molten silver bullets. Great ideas. I loved the betrayal of Vitkor, and I loved the vampire setting–all wasted and stagnant. The werewolves weren’t done to my tastes–I always prefer them to be actual wolves, rather than wolf-people. So I cheered for the heroin-chic side. It wasn’t **Casablanca** , but it was almost worth what I paid to see it. For the record, I’m female, and I didn’t like the **Matrix I or III** , loved **II** , and thought **Blade** was okay. Haven’t seen **II** yet. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/38 "2004-02-15T01:43:42Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > In the first five minutes, we had: > > -A designated hero (“the script says I’m the good guy, so root for me even if my actions aren’t even remotely admirable”). By the end of Selene’s opening monologue, I was already rooting for the werewolves. > > -Teeny little handguns that can spray over thirty rounds each in rapid fire. Here here. I had the same problems. I wonder if the werewolves were supposed to be more sympathic because I was rooting for them the whole time over the vampires. Vampires sit all day in a big mansion, in a big victorian room looking depressed(like the worst kind of goth) vs. Werewolves who are living in the sewer trying to survive. Also the gun thing bugged me a lot, particulary when Selene shot through the floor without ever reloading her guns. Also, in two encounters where werewolves and vampires are shooting it out at close range with little manuvering(selene and the strike team in the ammo cache and the fight in the tunnels near the end), the vampires will take nary a hit while the werewolves will get slaughtered. Give me a \*\*\*\*ing break, so you can’t arbitrarly have guns with invisible belts of ammo feeding into them. This is not the Matrix, and even in the Matrix, you saw the agents dodging. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/39 "2004-02-15T05:25:37Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > In the first five minutes, we had: > > -A designated hero (“the script says I’m the good guy, so root for me even if my actions aren’t even remotely admirable”). By the end of Selene’s opening monologue, I was already rooting for the werewolves. > > -Teeny little handguns that can spray over thirty rounds each in rapid fire. Here here. I had the same problems. I wonder if the werewolves were supposed to be more sympathic because I was rooting for them the whole time over the vampires. Vampires sit all day in a big mansion, in a big victorian room looking depressed(like the worst kind of goth) vs. Werewolves who are living in the sewer trying to survive. Also the gun thing bugged me a lot, particulary when Selene shot through the floor without ever reloading her guns. Also, in two encounters where werewolves and vampires are shooting it out at close range with little manuvering(selene and the strike team in the ammo cache and the fight in the tunnels near the end), the vampires will take nary a hit while the werewolves will get slaughtered. Give me a \*\*\*\*ing break, so you can’t arbitrarly have guns with invisible belts of ammo feeding into them. This is not the Matrix, and even in the Matrix, you saw the agents dodging. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072/40 "2004-02-15T19:04:30Z")
This movie didn’t just suck. It was one of the suckiest sucks that ever sucked. > [@](#): > > but what I don’t get is everyone comparing it to the Matrix movies. Because people are wearing tight black leather, trenchcoats, capes, it’s raining, the entire film is tinted one color, and people fight? Yeah, aside from those things that are exactly the same, the movies weren’t that much alike! :rolleyes: You forgot the ridiculous amounts of bullets (the Matrix didn’t invent this, but upped the ante) and overindulgent wire-fighting. So I agree with the criticisms here, and more. **I LOVE YOU** had the whole theatre laughing like crazy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omg-underworld-is-a-good-movie/224072.md?page=3)