# Underworld. Wow. Freakin' wow. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 20, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847 "2003-09-20T21:11:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/41 "2003-09-23T01:36:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cervaise \* > \*\*Well, I [did warn y’all](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=210267), [twice](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=209917). > > Why people waste their money on stuff like this and [ignore legitimately excellent films](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=211272) is beyond me. \*\* Cervaise: What makes you think people who spend their money on Underworld aren’t also spending their money on American Splendor and Lost in Translation? Many may not, that doesn’t mean everyone will not. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/42 "2003-09-23T03:14:05Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by NardoPolo \* \*\*This might just sound crazy, but - Did anyone else see the four red dots that kept popping up throughout the movie? 😕 They’d only be there for about one frame - they’d flash by that quickly. And it would always be in the middle of a serious violent scene, just at the instant that a shot makes contact or someone gets their head chomped. It was weird, they were always in the same pattern: [ul]\*\* • • • •\*\*[/ul] And since they were red, they stood out cleanly on the black-and-white background. QUOTE] My guess? Either they were the usual cues for the projectionist to change reels (whatever those are called), or the [Predator](http://members.aol.com/tdtoys/predator.jpg) was hunting Vamps and Lycans, using the war to cover his activities. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/43 "2003-09-23T04:48:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Made in Macau \* > \*\*Doesn’t ‘vampires’ have 2 syllables??? > It’s not ‘vam-pie-yuz’ > ? \*\* That’s how I’ve always heard it pronounced, in movies and in converations. The only alternative I can imagine would be some kind of “Vam-piers” pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/44 "2003-09-23T04:51:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by smiling bandit \* > \*\*It will help if you actually know what verewolves and vampires are. > \*\* Are there many people out there who don’t know what they are? Who would go to a movie called “underworld”? ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/45 "2003-09-23T06:56:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ranchoth \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by NardoPolo \* > > \*\*This might just sound crazy, but - > > > > Did anyone else see the four red dots that kept popping up throughout the movie? 😕 > > > > They’d only be there for about one frame - they’d flash by that quickly. And it would always be in the middle of a serious violent scene, just at the instant that a shot makes contact or someone gets their head chomped. > > > > It was weird, they were always in the same pattern: > > [ul]\*\* • > > • • •\*\*[/ul] And since they were red, they stood out cleanly on the black-and-white background. > > My guess? Either they were the usual cues for the projectionist to change reels (whatever those are called), or the [Predator](http://members.aol.com/tdtoys/predator.jpg) was hunting Vamps and Lycans, using the war to cover his activities. \*\* Hijack alert: Those are print identification marks. Distribution companies have started putting a code onto particular frames of a movie print. The dot pattern and frames they appear on are unique to each copy of the film. This way, if a movie gets leaked prematurely or pirated after release, the studios can track down what theater was responsible for that batch of film. I can’t say I’ve noticed, but a friend works as a projectionist and he’s gotten pretty good at seeing them. He also tends to splice out those frames. I keep meaning to ask whether it’s because he’s against that kind of tracking, or just doesn’t like the dots ruining his print. ---
**Author:** ![NardoPolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NardoPolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NardoPolo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2003, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/46 "2003-09-23T10:02:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sciguy \* > Those are print identification marks. Distribution companies have started putting a code onto particular frames of a movie print. The dot pattern and frames they appear on are unique to each copy of the film. This way, if a movie gets leaked prematurely or pirated after release, the studios can track down what theater was responsible for that batch of film. \*\* Wow, thanks. That I can believe. And it makes sense that they would appear right in the middle of the action since those would be the clips most likely to be cut out and distributed. They certainly weren’t the “cigarette burns” in the upper right. Which, ever since _Fight Club_, also distract me. But now there’s something else to watch for. Great. :rolleyes: ---
**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:** [September 24, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/47 "2003-09-24T00:40:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ddgryphon \* > **What makes you think people who spend their money on Underworld aren’t also spending their money on American Splendor and Lost in Translation?** _Underworld_ was the number-one movie at the box office this past weekend. People couldn’t _wait_ to see it. _American Splendor_ and _Lost in Translation_, by contrast, are just limping along, and in the thread I linked, a number of people said something to the effect of, “Yeah, I’ve heard really good things about it, I plan to see it, but… not sure when.” I guess what I’m saying is, I don’t understand why dreck like _Underworld_ rates opening-weekend priority while the infinitely superior competition goes on some sort of if-I-have-a-chance list. More specifically re _Underworld_, the movie just struck me as being lazy. (Yes, I knocked it as a bad bet in the preview threads, but I still went and saw it. I’m a movie geek, so I see everything, down to a certain level of junkiness. I missed _Boss’s Daughter_, for example.) By lazy, I mean, they didn’t really do much work beyond the obvious; it feels like they kept saying “good enough” instead of really _thinking_ about what they were doing. “Okay, so Selene is a member of this elite Lycan-hunting troupe. What are they called? ‘Werewolf Squad’? No, that’s dumb. ‘Death Dealers.’ Yeah, that sounds kind of cool. Good enough.” The vamps are hundreds of years old, with centuries of tradition. Would it have killed the screenwriters to crack open a Latin dictionary for two seconds? Likewise in the casting, it seems like they went off headshots mostly. “Yeah, this guy has a great look. Can he walk and chew gum? Great, he’s Kraven. _\_ Ooo, he’s kind of a crummy actor, isn’t he? Well, he looks the part, so, good enough.” Kraven was even _written_ badly; we need to know right away he’s an antagonist, so they have him sneer and snark around, even though if he were actually doing that in the film’s situation, there’s no way the other vampires would take him seriously for a minute; they’d call him a swaggering git and he’d lose control in short order. And they didn’t even really bother with the vampire or werewolf mythos, again beyond the modern obvious. So vamps are snotty Eurotrash with fangs. And? Didja notice, they even had _reflections_? Now, I don’t mind a reinvention, if that’s what you’re going for. (Check out the French film _Trouble Every Day_ for a radical new look at vampirism.) But again, this was just lazy; they just pick and choose and don’t really pay much attention to what’s come before. “Okay, they’re vampires, but they dress like _The Matrix_ and they play heavy metal like _The Matrix_ and they fly around like _The Matrix_ and, oh, what the hell, let’s just call it _The Batrix._ Except there aren’t any bats.” I just thought it was boring. Lots of potential, no followthrough. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/48 "2003-09-25T13:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sciguy \* > **This is my main WTF plot hole. It appeared to me that Lucien’s plan was to inject himself with Michael’s blood (since it had the “untainted” genetic strain), followed by the blood of a vampire to make himself an “abomination” mixture, since he was already a Lycan. This mixture would presumably have resistences to silver and sunlight, but after Kraven shoots Lucien with the silver nitrate bullets, the big black Lycan comes in with a backpack full of vampire blood, sees Lucien, drops the pack (which conveniently falls open to show the syringes) and goes off rampaging. In order to Lucien to get back into the battle, he’d have to step over them, right? Why not inject himself?** I don’t recall what happened when, but did they have Michael’s blood handy? Wasn’t that the necessary first step in a transformation? ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/49 "2003-09-26T00:46:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shade \* > \*\*I don’t recall what happened when, but did they have Michael’s blood handy? Wasn’t that the necessary first step in a transformation? \*\* I could’ve sworn Lucien injected himself as soon as they drew blood from Michael. Of course, maybe it was drawing blood from him to mix externally once the vamp blood arrived. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/50 "2003-09-26T01:03:00Z")
Maybe. We’ll have to wait 'till I see this again… ---
**Author:** ![karomon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@karomon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karomon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/51 "2003-09-26T01:08:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shade \* > \*\*Maybe. We’ll have to wait 'till I see this again… \*\* :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/52 "2003-09-27T00:08:36Z")
**Ryujin** and I walked out of this movie. It was the first movie I had ever walked out on. It was just god awful. It made very little sense, and it felt more like the Hatfields and the McCoys than two supernatural races. ---
**Author:** ![Dostromin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@Dostromin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dostromin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/53 "2003-09-27T03:20:01Z")
I personally did not enjoy the movie. Problems: A) Very clichéd. Obnoxiously sterotypical setting and characters (lots of black, renissance/later 1800’s style clothing on vamps as well as more modern gothic style leather clothing, constant darkness and raining, old gothic style architexure). B) Storyline. It wasn’t _bad_, but it took a definite back seat to the action. C) Action. It wasn’t that thrilling. After watching old style kung fu movies and the Matrix, this movie dissapointed me. Action sequences were, in my mind, short, poorly thrown together, and one did not flow into another. D) Other than being increadibly sexy, the vampires didn’t have any cool powers. Definite potential, but poor execution. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/54 "2003-09-27T04:02:49Z")
It felt more like some bad fan fiction from a Geocities site than an actual movie. “Oooh, there’s this wicked hot vampire chick! And she’s in leather! And there are these werewolves! And they have gunfights! Yea! And there’s a giant steam engine!”… I mean, what the hell? There’s a steam engine roaming around this modern day city–where no one is on the streets after dark, except in the opening–and nobody’s ever noticed? And the gunfights were boring. How can you screw up a gunfight? ---
**Author:** ![nisosbar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@nisosbar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nisosbar)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847/55 "2003-09-28T15:01:19Z")
Saw this last night - LOVED IT! But then, I don’t see that many films, so I’m not as fatigued with the wire fights, etc. as some here seem to be. The plot was a little weak, but it’s a monster movie, so whatever. I thought the special effects were consistently excellent and I loved the “Eurotrash” actors, since they are good actors but relatively fresh-faced to the American film scene. They also know how to be sexy! 😃 As to the inconsistencies (steam engines, etc.), if Stephen King is an authority on the field of horror, and you read Danse Macabre (I did), I seem to recall that he argues that great horror doesn’t HAVE to make sense all the time - great horror scares you. I believe he asserted this notion in support of either Ramsey Campbell’s fiction or Robert Bloch’s. Or maybe it was Boris Karloff’s Thriller? At any rate, I agree to some extent (though I draw the line at Eraserhead/Liquid Sky - nonsense films which are just stylish videos which leave you wondering WTF is this film about?)… While the film wasn’t exactly horrifying, it was entertaining, and the plot holes weren’t all THAT glaring, though I do feel they glossed over too quickly a story that revolved around concepts and relationships which were quite complex, and so I found myself lost - for example, there was another poster here who asked who the second of the three elders was killed - Amelia - and I also wanted to ask the same question, since they skimmed by that too fast. Also, the whole blood mixture/werewolf-vampire genesis/immunity/whatever thing was a bit much to digest in the 30 seconds they took to explain it… I didn’t see Blade, but I did see Blade **Runner** , and it was similar to that - Ridley Scott (Blade Runner’s director) always has rain/running water as an atmospheric device in all his films, as it was with Blade Runner. There was a lot of water/rain here, too, light play, etc. Other influences seem to be Matrix, of course, but also Terminator and Interview with the Vampire. It will NOT make the transition to the small screen well, so if you wish to see it, see it at the theater… Favorite scene: Celine misses Michael by a second as the elevator doors close - she turns to see lycans scurrying towards her, on the ceiling and walls (loved that - so Resident Evil). She blasts her way through the floor to escape them! Laughed at how exciting that scene was… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/underworld-wow-freakin-wow/202847.md?page=2)