Underworld: Evolution (2006)

Director:

Len Wiseman

Writers (WGA):

Danny McBride (screenplay)
Len Wiseman (story) ...

Release Date:

20 January 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Underworld: Evolution continues the saga of war between the vampires and the Lycans. The film goes back...

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Death | Hybrid | Forbidden Love | Evolution

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Kate Beckinsale	...	Selene
Scott Speedman	...	Michael
Tony Curran	...	Marcus
Derek Jacobi	...	Corvinus (as Sir Derek Jacobi)
Bill Nighy	...	Viktor
Steven Mackintosh	...	Tanis
Shane Brolly	...	Kraven
Brian Steele	...	William
Zita Görög	...	Amelia (as Zita Gorog)
Scott McElroy	...	Soren
John Mann	...	Samuel
Michael Sheen	...	Lucian
Sophia Myles	...	Erika (as Sophia Miles)
Richard Cetrone	...	Pierce (as Rich Cetrone)
Mike Mukatis	...	Taylor

Also Known As:

Underworld 2 (USA) (working title)
Untitled Underworld Sequel (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence and gore, some sexuality/nudity and language.

Runtime:

106 min | Philippines:102 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

Hungarian | French | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA | Ireland:15A | UK:18 | Singapore:M18 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Malaysia:18SG | Norway:15 | Hong Kong:IIB | France:-12 | Portugal:M/16 | Germany:16 (nf) | Brazil:16 | Argentina:16 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Hungary:18 | Finland:K-15 | Italy:T | Italy:VM14 | Iceland:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Canada:18A (Ontario) | South Korea:18 | Japan:R-15 | South Africa:16LV | South Korea:15 (cable rating) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18+ (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Britannia Beach, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Screen Gems

Trivia:

Had a 71-day shooting schedule.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Selene first enters Tanis' compound and falls into the tunnel she is attacked by a Lycan and draws a knife. She drops the knife which falls to the ground and is shown with some dirt across the blade. When she reaches back for it to kill the Lycan the blade is clean and facing the other way.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Marcus: My God. Brother, what have you done?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kingdom of the Vampire (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Morning After

Enjoyable But Not Too Good Overall

To start off, let me say that I'm a very big fan of the original. I think it did everything right; having a nice Gothic overtone, great characters, an original, intriguing and in-depth plot, fun action and an overall script that never once felt dull. Oh, and of course...it had Kate Beckinsale in tight leather, hehehe. Now does this sequel contain all these qualities that made the original so good? Personally, I'd have to say no, I don't think it did. Was the movie necessarily bad? Also no. It was highly entertaining but not that good of a movie overall.

STORYLINE: The story in this film was no where near as good or developed as the original. As it starts off with a war scene in the past, I found myself really enjoying it. We find out a little about the Corvinus family and the origins or Marcus, who was the very first vampire, and his brother, who was the very first Lycan. But after we witness these scenes and learn these few minor plot details, the story development pretty much comes to a dead stop. Honestly, nothing really happens in this movie. It's all just action and really nothing more.

CHARACTERS: The lead characters were good. Selene and Michael didn't exactly have any development but that's okay because they were developed enough in the first film. But what was slightly developed was their romance, which the first film seemed to be lacking. We really got to feel the connection between them and how much they really cared for each other. And it was great to see Michael show off his new hybrid abilities and kick some booty along the way. He was a lot cooler in this film than in the original. The new vampire leader, Marcus, was also pretty damn cool. He had a very sinister appearance, especially with the devil-like wings, and didn't seem to have any sympathy at all as he brutally disposed of anyone who got in his way. In the original, we had Lucian, who was a well developed bad-guy character and I actually found myself caring for him. Marcus, on the other hand, didn't strike a cord with me at all. He looked cool, sure, but besides that, he had absolutely nothing going for him and I really didn't care what happened to him. All the other characters in this film were also very undeveloped as well. We really knew nothing of them and as a result, felt unsure whether we should like them or hate them. So that's a major issue.

ACTION: The action, most the time, was very enjoyable. And I stress MOST of the time, not ALL of the time. There was some really fun action and fight sequences and a nice amount of blood and gore thrown into the mix. So it definitely does manage to entertain the action buffs. But then, at times, the action began to feel annoying as it got extremely repetitive. It was like they just kept replaying the same action scene over and over and just tweaked it a little in order to pass it off as a different scene. This was a problem because the whole movie seemed to base itself on action, rather than story, and the action wasn't even all that good.

ATMOSPHERE: Another good thing about this movie would have to be the scenery. Yeah, I know that's not really important in the movie, but it really did help with the overall experience. There were beautiful mountain landscapes, snowy woods, old style castles in ruins and gorgeous red colored twilight skies. So I think it actually helped a lot in setting the atmosphere and gets points for great eye candy.

OVERALL: The first film was an action-horror movie with a great original storyline. This sequel, on the other hand, felt more like a series of left over action scenes that were taken out of the first film. I think watching the two films back to back will make a great overall experience. But as a stand-alone, it doesn't quite work. It's fun for sure, but that's about it. It's not even remotely close to being as good or better than the original in any way.