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Th e Diva's review of
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Th e Diva's review of
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(click here to skip to this movie's
rating)
WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW.
The Digest
It is the morning after the death of Viktor(Bill Nighy) at the hands of Selena (Kate Beckinsale) and Michael (Scott Speedman). Michael and Selena are on the run until they can regroup. With the death of Viktor, that leaves the unscrupulous Kraven (Shane Brolly) in charge of the entire coven/clan/whatever – not the ideal situation. Kraven is not to be trusted. The next leader of the vampires is in hibernation and as Kraven races to kill him and assume power; Selena races to wake him so he can safely take his rightful place.
But neither Selena or Kraven anticipate that Marcus has already awaken and he has a plan. Now that Viktor is dead, he can right a perceived wrong. As explained (finally) all vampires come from Marcus and his brother William. Both of them carried a virus that came from their father. One boy was then bit by a bat and the other a wolf and the mutation made Vampires and Lycans (werewolves) and every single one is a descendant of these two men.
Selena may want Marcus to rise to power, but she doesn’t know of Marcus’ plan. He wants something that she and Michael have, but they don’t know why Marcus wants it or what it is. What they do know is that they have no idea of the full scope of the power the Marcus possesses. They also know that they have no idea of the extent of Michael's powers. As they struggle to uncover what Marcus wants and tries not to get killed by him, they get help from a mysterious man who knows the answers to a lot of things. And what he knows points to Selena as the one who is going to solve all the problems, not Michael as they first thought.
Armed with this knowledge they venture forth, but is Selena strong enough to take on the father of all vampires?
The Dish
Oh boy. Okay I will say that this one, while less fun, was more informative. I finally got some of questions answered and I feel much better about that. I will also say that I’m much happier with the acting job Ms. Beckinsale turned in. In general she hasn’t really impressed me. I saw glimpses of superior talent in ">The Aviator. but for the most part – eh. Nothing that made me go “Wow” and with Underworld? No wows here. Aside from the lack of acting what got me again, was the story. I think that the series tries to be more complex than the genre allows for. I can totally appreciate not wanting to make the same ole same. I can also appreciate wanting to take the classic story in a new direction, but I believe that they bit off more than they could chew. They start off with this wonderfully full story that can never be completely told in about 2 hours so they end up taking shortcuts, either during filming or editing, and we’re left with almost a complete mess. That is so disappointing to me because I do see the potential, but on both occasions, I was feeling letdown.
The DVD
DVD SPECS
DVD EXTRAS
Again I find myself liking this moving 10 times more on DVD, than on the big screen. What I've learned in both instances is that the theatrical release suffers from forced editting. I think if the filmmakers were allowed to make the movie that is in their hearts, the theatrical releases would be so much better. This is what I said about the theatrical release.:
The Directive
The DVD really clears up quite a bit. I might wait until there is a director's cut before plopping down a lot of money.
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Rated R; running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes 