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UNDERWORLD (2003) Director- Len Wiseman Cast- Kate Beckinsale (Selene), Scott Speedman (Michael), Michael Sheen (Lucian), Shane Brolly (Craven), Bill Nighy (Viktor) Rated- R Runtime- 2 hours, 1 minutes Reviewed By- Josh Cartwright The Lowdown A war between vampires and lychans (werewolves) has been raging for centuries. In an attempt to tip the balance of power, the lychans are after a certain human who could help them create a super creature (or something like that). A tremendously hot, tight leather-wearing vampire named Selene (she's a "Death Dealer") is out to stop their science experiment in its tracks. My Take I've recently noticed a trend in my life when it comes to watching movies. I'ved noticed that lately I've watched a lot of good movies with so-so endings. What's the dealio? Let's see, "House of 1,000 Corpses" and "Hellboy" to name a couple and "Underworld" falls right in line those previous films. Just as the others, "Underworld" is a cool flick with a lot to offer, but the climax wasn't what I had in mind. The finale is just "whatever", that's the best way to sum it up. It's fast paced action but the showdown I wanted to see never happened, how much better would this flick have been with a head-to-head showdown between head vampire and head lychan? Now I'm not gonna say it won't satisfy on many levels but it could have been much cooler. But forget the ending, let's talk about the cool parts of the film, the parts that made this a fun romp through the make believe world of vampires and wewrewolves. "Underworld" is very dark and very gothic but very slick and polished at the same time. "Underworld" is a definite treat on the eyes if visual style in films is your thing. The overall look of the film is fantastic even if the vampires look too cool to be actual vampires. I guess that's the trend now, leather clad vampires and grubby, rock star looking looking werewolves. Still, the look is impressive and made this wild ride even better. I enjoyed the mood and dark tones "Underworld" had to offer, it upped things a touch and made it feel like a vampire/werewolf flick and that a true war was taking place. Plus Kate Beckinsale is one of the hottest women on the planet, seeing her strut around in tight leather is worth the price of admission. I also got a kick out of the cool action sequences between vamps and wolves. The film kicks off with guns blazing and even though things trim down halfway through, I still found a lot of tight action to keep me glued to the set. And speaking of the halfway point, this is where things begin die down to go into the long, boring explanations for all these crazy events. Here come the intricate details for the "awakenings" and "bloodlines" and this and that....shut up! I didn't understand most of the finer details and honestly, I didn't care about the rules of the coven and so forth. The back and forth, soap opera-like story bored me at times, just get on with it already. However, I'm happy to report that things do pick back up, the action heats up, the details are out of the way and we have more high-octane, shoot 'em up action. "Underworld" is nothing more than a fun popcorn flick and should be viewed as so. The characters (mostly) are thin and annoying (especially Craven), no one can hit a target at point-blank range, but the film makes up for a lot of the flaws with raw action and cool effects. I wanted a more straightforward feud between species without all the cross-breeding or double-crosses but what can you do? For the most part, "Underworld" was a blast. Forget the social themes, forget the stupid rules, forget the soap operish subplots and throw down some more tight action and even more Katie Kate. This may not be the definitive vampire/werewolf movie to see but it could be a lot worse. "Underworld" was blasted by most critics but I had a good time watching it. It's not for everyone but I found it worth three stars.