Underworld: Awakening
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Theo James, Michael Ealy, India Eisley, Charles Dance, Sadrine Holt, Kris Holden-Reid, Jacob Blair and more.
Directed by: Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein Story by: Len Wiseman Screenplay by: Len Wiseman, John Hlavin, J Michael Straczynski, Allison Burnett Based on Characters by: Kevin Grevioux, Len Wiseman, Danny McBride Original Music by: Paul Haslinger
Premise: The humans have become aware of both the lycans and vampires, then unite to clean house. Twelve years later, Selene awakens in a center for disease control facility called Antigen. She believes Michael is the one who set her free and goes off in search of him. But all is not as she believes. (Rated – R)
Review: If you’re into loads of action, street chases, werewolves, mad scientists and more, this movie is for you.
There is a quick recap at the beginning for those who’ve not seen any of the previous films, or haven’t seen them in a while, so no worry there – for the most part. That segues into a short intro on how things got to be the way they are now, with humanity aware of the underworld and the extremes they’ve gone to to take care of the problem.
CGI work was great! Very nice integrations between reality and added things. There’s a chase scene in the street with lycans and normal cars that was very impressive. The silver nitrate grenade explosions are especially awesome in the IMAX 3-D.
The fight sequences were very well done. Selene kicks major buns as usual. David and Eve (though her name was never said in the movie) are no slouchers either. Plenty of explosions, bullets, knives, grenades, claws and more throughout the film.
The story itself works pretty well and they even build up to leaving it open for another sequel. There were a couple of things that were glaringly ignored, probably so no one would question them, but they are definite holes. One has to do with the entire reason for the film in the first place. Another has to do with David. (Trying not to spoil anything.) Perhaps the next film will address these items, perhaps not. There were some nice twists in the plot, so they compensated a lot for the other two issues. So if you don’t look at things too closely, you won’t have any troubles enjoying it.
No scenes at the end, so you don’t need to sit through the credits.
Overall, definitely worth a watch as it will more than fill your action cravings.
Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)