Underworld: Blood Wars is the fifth movie in the series about the war between Vampires and Lycans. It is a series that should have been left alone after the second one, but here we are. Once again starring Kate Beckinsale, this movie follows her continuing fights against both groups. Selene is being chased by Vampires of the Eastern Coven, who claim to offer a pardon for Selene's killing of vampires from her own coven in previous films. She is being asked to train a new group of death dealers, the ones who fight lycans. Meanwhile, the lycans are after Selene to try to get information on the whereabouts of her daughter, a pure hybrid of both species, whose blood could end the war by giving them a large tactical advantage.
This movie is dumb, convoluted, and just altogether bad. The story structure seems to have no set purpose, jumping from scene to scene with so much exposition dump, it's kind of hard to believe even the actors could keep up with the story. There are way too many characters introduced in this film, and no time is given to flesh them out. It seems that every character in this film is betraying another like a chain of betrayal, and it's very hard to keep up with who is good and bad when that keeps changing on you. Also, Underworld, bad as the movies are, is built on action. There are very few action scenes in this film, to make way for more talking and exposition. And the ones that do exist are so poorly edited that it's hard to decipher what is actually happening in them. There are also action scenes that are very funny because of the amount of screaming. If you've ever seen a small child pretend to be a monster by roaring in your face, then you have seen this movie's attempt at 2 people fighting in certain scenes. I laughed many times over many things in this film, but none as hard as that.
Acting-wise, it seemed we had 2 kinds of actors. There were those who were only there for the paycheck such as Kate Beckinsale or Theo James, and those who went way over the top such as Daisy Head. The former group of actors said their lines, did their scenes, and went home, with no real care for what happened. Seems to me, especially with Beckinsale, that these actors are kind of stuck doing these films while we all know they are such great actors elsewhere. The others seemed to have seen the past films and thought that in order to "top" the ridiculousness of them, they had to overact everything.
Another problem was the special effects. Sure, the original films had bad cgi, but there were great practical mixed in to make it look decent. This movie is all cgi, and poorly done cgi at that. Every lycan looks fake, like the budget for animation was $100. Blood squibs are often animated poorly as well, giving off a terribly fake effect. There is also a moment where one character is drinking blood, but anyone can tell it's just wine/ red water due to how thick it isn't.
This film also cast wrong. Every character in this movie is white. Every new character, every extra, lycan and vampire alike, it's a pale-faced party. No diversity is terrible. Vampires may be pale, but black vampires do exist. As do black werewolves. It bothered me to not have any diversity at all. Though I guess maybe all the minorities were smart enough to stay away, as this movie was complete and utter garbage. Don't see this one. It's okay to skip. 30/100
This movie is dumb, convoluted, and just altogether bad. The story structure seems to have no set purpose, jumping from scene to scene with so much exposition dump, it's kind of hard to believe even the actors could keep up with the story. There are way too many characters introduced in this film, and no time is given to flesh them out. It seems that every character in this film is betraying another like a chain of betrayal, and it's very hard to keep up with who is good and bad when that keeps changing on you. Also, Underworld, bad as the movies are, is built on action. There are very few action scenes in this film, to make way for more talking and exposition. And the ones that do exist are so poorly edited that it's hard to decipher what is actually happening in them. There are also action scenes that are very funny because of the amount of screaming. If you've ever seen a small child pretend to be a monster by roaring in your face, then you have seen this movie's attempt at 2 people fighting in certain scenes. I laughed many times over many things in this film, but none as hard as that.
Acting-wise, it seemed we had 2 kinds of actors. There were those who were only there for the paycheck such as Kate Beckinsale or Theo James, and those who went way over the top such as Daisy Head. The former group of actors said their lines, did their scenes, and went home, with no real care for what happened. Seems to me, especially with Beckinsale, that these actors are kind of stuck doing these films while we all know they are such great actors elsewhere. The others seemed to have seen the past films and thought that in order to "top" the ridiculousness of them, they had to overact everything.
Another problem was the special effects. Sure, the original films had bad cgi, but there were great practical mixed in to make it look decent. This movie is all cgi, and poorly done cgi at that. Every lycan looks fake, like the budget for animation was $100. Blood squibs are often animated poorly as well, giving off a terribly fake effect. There is also a moment where one character is drinking blood, but anyone can tell it's just wine/ red water due to how thick it isn't.
This film also cast wrong. Every character in this movie is white. Every new character, every extra, lycan and vampire alike, it's a pale-faced party. No diversity is terrible. Vampires may be pale, but black vampires do exist. As do black werewolves. It bothered me to not have any diversity at all. Though I guess maybe all the minorities were smart enough to stay away, as this movie was complete and utter garbage. Don't see this one. It's okay to skip. 30/100