Underworld: Evolution (2006)

Picking up directly from the previous film, vampire warrior Selena and the half werewolf Michael hunt for clues to reveal the history of their races and the war between them.

Director:

Len Wiseman

Writers:

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

Stars:

Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran

6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Underworld: Evolution continues the saga of war between the vampires and the Lycans. The film goes back to the beginnings of the ancient feud between the two tribes as Selene, the beautiful vampire heroine, and Michael, the lycan hybrid, try to unlock the secrets of their bloodlines. This will be a modern tale of action, intrigue and forbidden love, which takes them into the battle to end all wars as the immortals must finally face their retribution.

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Plot Keywords:

vampire | death | werewolf | hybrid | evolution | 

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Lakeshore Records - soundtrack Official site [ru]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Hungarian

Release Date:

20 January 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Underworld 2

Filming Locations:

Britannia Beach, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$18,148 (Chile) (30 June 2006)

Gross:

$79,055 (Chile) (7 July 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Screen Gems, Lakeshore Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min 102 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to actor Tony Curran himself, he stipulated in his contract that he wanted to be able to keep his Vampire fangs in at all times, even when he wasn't filming.

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Goofs

After Michael is impaled, Selene walks into Alexander's office with blue eyes. When she is walking up the stairs, there is a far shot of her, and her eyes are brown. When the camera shows her up close again, her eyes are blue. However, the vampires' eye-colors change throughout the movies. They are often brown (natural eye-colors of the actors/actresses), but change to blue when the intensity of a situation increases. For example, Selene's eyes change from brown to blue during her fight/searching sequences in both movies, as well as her sex-scene in this film. Kraven's eyes exhibit the same behavior in this film and in the first one also.

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Quotes

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

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Connections

References Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

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Soundtracks

"Morning After"
Written by Chester Bennington, Amir Derakh, Ryan Shuck, Anthony Valcic
Performed by Chester Bennington vs. Ryan Shuck (as Julien-K)
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

This movie will satisfy its target audience, guaranteed

Let's face it. If you're going to see this movie, you probably enjoyed the original and are looking for more. You want high doses of fight scenes, vampire and lycan lore, blood, violence, and Kate Beckinsale wearing leather or less. In short, this movie delivers all of the above in great excess, so if you liked Underworld, you're going to like Underworld: Evolution as much or more.

On the other hand, if you don't like blood, violence, action, mythology, or using a sword in a world full of guns, this movie is not for you, and it's NOT MEANT to be for you, so don't complain about it.

This movie surpasses the original as far as story development. We learn a good bit about each character's past, which helps justify all the extreme violence they engage themselves in. We're also introduced to some new characters and plot lines that add interest and new twists, rather than just rehashing all the familiar faces from Underworld.

This movie fails to get a 10 rating from me for the following reasons:

1) Not quite enough "stuff" to fill the time. Too many shots of Kate Beckinsale "looking intense". The movie could have been 10 minutes shorter if the number of these shots had been reduced from seemingly infinite down to 10 or so. Minor problem.

2) A few glaring continuity errors.

3) Too many flashback/explanation shots from the original Underworld. I suppose this is necessary so as not to alienate viewers who didn't see the original or who forgot it. However, this movie is obviously targeted to people who liked the original and want more, so give us a quick refresher and then hit us with new stuff. No need to keep providing Cliff's notes throughout the movie. Make us think a little!

4) There wasn't a standout power move comparable to the spinning/shooting through the floor in the original Underworld. Let's face it, half the people that went to that movie did so because that shot was in the trailer. This movie had lots of power moves, but none that stood out as the winner.