So, Underworld. To go straight to the point: These movies are trashy. It runs pretty much entirely on Rule of Cool, with the impractical weapons, clothing, and schizophrenic lightning.
By far the best thing is the aesthetic. The very dark and somber lightning and locations, giving the series a overall gritty and gothic feel, it's all in all very creative. The characters are flat and underdeveloped, basically cardboard cutouts of the roles they're supposed to feel, not helped by the Anyone Can Die vibe of the series, with many character of potential being killed after a movie or so (like Alexander Corvinus). The only exception is Viktor, who is actually the character with most depth, being sort of a Affably EvilWell-Intentioned ExtremistTragic Villain acted by the wonderful Bill Nighy. Unfortunately he only has a considerable role in two of the four movies.
The action scenes are generally great. Not very original and sometimes hard to see due the ever-so-present darkness, but still great.
The plot is frankly extraneous. The movies try to make it interesting by adding a sizeable amount of plot twists, which is a treat, but it is still all very generic, and worse, it features one of the most outrageous cases of The Extremist Was Right ever: First movie, Viktor claims a hybrid will destroy the Coven and bring ruin to all, and for such claim he's supposed to be a paranoid jerkass for such claims. Notice that a hybrid destroying the coven and bringing ruin to all is the plot of the second movie.. Viktor was the hero of the first movie. and in the second he was the one who trapped the rampaging beast of William. And following his death, an entire clusterfuck of events (more or less caused by the heroes) results in the destruction of the entire vampire and lycan world. He's only a real antagonist in the third.
Final veredict? Movies you should watch on DVD when you have nothing else on the list. Fun to waste a few hours, but other than that...eh.
A series of films that are A BETRAYAL TO THE COVEN AND ME
(SPOILERS)
So, Underworld. To go straight to the point: These movies are trashy. It runs pretty much entirely on Rule of Cool, with the impractical weapons, clothing, and schizophrenic lightning.
By far the best thing is the aesthetic. The very dark and somber lightning and locations, giving the series a overall gritty and gothic feel, it's all in all very creative. The characters are flat and underdeveloped, basically cardboard cutouts of the roles they're supposed to feel, not helped by the Anyone Can Die vibe of the series, with many character of potential being killed after a movie or so (like Alexander Corvinus). The only exception is Viktor, who is actually the character with most depth, being sort of a Affably Evil Well-Intentioned Extremist Tragic Villain acted by the wonderful Bill Nighy. Unfortunately he only has a considerable role in two of the four movies.
The action scenes are generally great. Not very original and sometimes hard to see due the ever-so-present darkness, but still great.
The plot is frankly extraneous. The movies try to make it interesting by adding a sizeable amount of plot twists, which is a treat, but it is still all very generic, and worse, it features one of the most outrageous cases of The Extremist Was Right ever: First movie, Viktor claims a hybrid will destroy the Coven and bring ruin to all, and for such claim he's supposed to be a paranoid jerkass for such claims. Notice that a hybrid destroying the coven and bringing ruin to all is the plot of the second movie.. Viktor was the hero of the first movie. and in the second he was the one who trapped the rampaging beast of William. And following his death, an entire clusterfuck of events (more or less caused by the heroes) results in the destruction of the entire vampire and lycan world. He's only a real antagonist in the third.
Final veredict? Movies you should watch on DVD when you have nothing else on the list. Fun to waste a few hours, but other than that...eh.