Underworld: Awakening (2012)

When human forces discover the existence of the Vampire and Lycan clans, a war to eradicate both species commences. The vampire warrioress Selene leads the battle against humankind.

Directors:

Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein

Writers:

Len Wiseman (screenplay), John Hlavin (screenplay),

Stars:

Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kate Beckinsale	...	Selene
Stephen Rea	...	Dr. Jacob Lane
Michael Ealy	...	Detective Sebastian
Theo James	...	David
India Eisley	...	Eve
Sandrine Holt	...	Lida
Charles Dance	...	Thomas
Kris Holden-Ried	...	Quint
Jacob Blair	...	Officer Kolb
Adam Greydon Reid	...	Med Tech #1
Catlin Adams	...	Olivia
Robert Lawrenson	...	Waterfront Cop
Lee Majdoub	...	Desk Guard #1
John Innes	...	Medical Supervisor
Tyler McClendon	...	Scientist

Storyline

Mankind discover the existence of the Vampire and Lycan species and they begin a war to annihilate the races. When Selene meets with Michael in the harbor, they are hit by a grenade and Selene passes out. Twelve years later, Selene awakes from a cryogenic sleep in the Antigen laboratory and meets the Vampire David. She learns that she had been the subject of the scientist Dr. Jacob Lane and the Vampire and Lycan species have been practically eradicated from Earth. But Selene is still connected to Michael and has visions that she believes that belongs to Michael's sight. However she has a surprise and finds that she has a powerful daughter named Eve that has been raised in the laboratory. Now Selene and David have to protect Eve against the Lycans that intend to use her to inoculate their species against silver.

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Plot Keywords:

vampire | scientist | battle | escape | cryogenics | 

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Taglines:

Vengeance Returns

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and gore, and for some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

20 January 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Underworld: New Dawn

Filming Locations:

Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$25,306,725 (USA) (20 January 2012)

Gross:

$62,321,039 (USA) (2 March 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Screen Gems, Lakeshore Entertainment, Saturn Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

the first film in the series to be in real-d 3-d and Imax 3-d.

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Goofs

When watching the footage of the security camera on the security monitors in the 3D version, the Time and Date stamping on the footage is in 3D. If it were in real life this would all appear as a flat 2D image on the screen.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Selene: The Vampire and Lycans clan have been at war for centuries before I was born, their endless conflict hidden from the human world. I was turned by a Vampire. And given the strength to avenge my family against the Lycans. And I was good at it. Then I found Michael Corvin, a human that was neither turned by Vampire nor Lycan, but a hybrid of the two. And everything changed. Allies turned enemies, and Vampire elders I had protected for now six centuries now wanted me dead. We ...

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Connections

References Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Young Blood (Renholdër Remix)"
Performed by The Naked and Famous

User Reviews

VERY BAD storyline, Very bad film, Very disappointed!

I LOVED the first three Underworld movies, but in all honesty "Underworld: Awakening" was for me a complete disaster. The first three movies were amazing because they made you think deeply about history, love, hatred, war, friendship, family, and other riveting themes; they encouraged critical thinking and connection making skills with all the powerful flashbacks and twists and turns that were within a strong plot-structure. But "Underworld: Awakening" failed to do any of these things.

The plot absolutely sucked; there's nothing original, and I don't even know what the point/theme was at all. Yes there are a few good twists in the movie, but they happen in like the last 30 minutes, and even here all we get to see is action and no real depth or explanation of the who, what, where, when, why, how? of the story. If humans are now the common enemy, then why on sam hill are vampires and werewolves still fighting? It doesn't make sense. Near the end, just as the story was getting good, I suddenly noticed the credits popping up. The movie was over. I thought, "Huh? It can't be over, it was just getting good!?" The film was also WAY too short. All of this taken together makes "Underworld: Awakening" more like an added TV episode than a major motion picture. I honestly can't believe 70 million was spent on this cop out. It would have been much better if they actually showed the fight between humans and vampires and focused on that instead of going back to a now pointless feud between vampires and lycans.

WHAT made "Underworld: Awakening" worse was the fact that the directors did not really connect this sequel to the other 3 Underworld movies: where are the flashbacks? Where's the dialogue? What exactly happened to the other characters in the earlier films, etc, etc? I know this will disappoint all of you die-hard fans like me who love the other movies, but truth hurts: the film was terrible.

The storyline was the worst part, I think. In the 1 hour and 30 minutes of the film, only about 20-30 minutes is spent actually talking. Selene only opens her mouth a few times, and nobody makes longer speeches which made the other movies great. If the film was really about Selene waging war against humans (which it wasn't) it would have been much better and an interesting story, but that wasn't the true plot at all.

To the Producers: "It was the STORY that made the Underworld series a success, not the action, but you failed to see that. Because there is VERY little dialogue in this one and A LOT of action, there is very little story here, which makes it very unlikely that ANYONE will remember this movie after watching it. If you want to make another Underworld movie, focus on the story, on speeches, on the intellect, on actual acting instead of crappy action I can see for free on a TV series." I hate to say this because I am such a huge fan of the series, but "Underworld: Awakening" is utterly forgettable. I was really disappointed, and if you're an Underworld fan you will be too. I don't think I'll watch it a second time.

My Objective Vote: 3/10

P.S. I think the people who rate this film more than a 5 either haven't watched the other Underworld films, were paid-off, or are insane. It just doesn't deserve anything more than a pass.