AmateurMovieReviews.com

Let me begin by saying good lord, what a treat this one is! I enjoyed Underworld, but didn't get to watch it as closely as I would have liked (as a parent I'm a member of the eternally distracted club) so I was a bit fuzzy on the original details and as this is a sequel I felt I needed to do some checking. I paused the DVD, went over to my PC and wikied the original. The basic gist is this: 1600 years ago, a plague swept the planet and a man named Alexander Corvinus is the only survivor in his village. His genetics allowed for a mutation of the virus that turned him into the first immortal. He fathers three sons: Marcus, born an immortal, who when bitten by a bat transforms into the first vampire; William, also born immortal, was bitten by a wolf and becomes the first werewolf (also known as Lycan) and another son, born human, who passes on this virus in his genetic code and it will eventually allow for one of the descendants to become a hybrid vampire/Lycan. This descendant is Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman), whom vampire and Death Dealer (Lycan killer) Selene (Kate Beckinsale) finds herself attracted to. He is both bitten by a werewolf and a vampire and becomes the first hybrid, with powers that appear limitless.

In Underworld: Evolution we begin right where Underworld leaves off...Selene has killed Viktor, leader of the Vampires, who has betrayed Marcus and William and imprisoned them both. Marcus breaks free of his prison and immediately begins to search for his brother...as the original Lycan, William lacked the ability to change back into a human and caused much death and destruction before being locked away. In order to find him, Marcus needs the key to his coffin and the blood of someone who knows where he was 'buried'...as it turns out, Selene's family was not killed by Lycans as she always believed...Viktor killed them after having Selene's father build William's prison to keep the location secret. Marcus realizes that buried deep in Selene's memories is the map to where William remains, and that she also has in her possession the amulet that is the key to his cell.

Marcus finds them quickly, and it's only the sunrise that allows them to escape. At sunset, they seek Tanis, an exiled vampire cleric, and discover that the Corvinus legend is in fact true, and he arranges a meeting for them with someone he claims will help stop Marcus from freeing William.

I won't ruin the rest of the story for you, because this is actually a movie WITH a story and goodness knows that's damn rare. One of the best parts for me, a huge vampire fan, is when Michael and Selene become intimate...a great addition by the writers, as most vampire stories leave vampires sexually impotent, getting satisfaction only from drinking blood. I've always thought this was a silly notion, and personally couldn't imagine going through an immortal life celibate, so this actually garnered applause.

Len Wiseman directed this masterpiece, brilliantly, too, I might add. The settings are so dark that at times the movie appears black and white (except for the blood, of course), and the special effects are dead on and not overdone. Marcus' wings are amazing...he is able to use them as weapons and when he pins characters to things with them you can't help but let out a 'man, that is SO COOL!'. The transformations of characters into Lycans and Vampires is seamless and often beautiful...Kate Beckinsale is stunning in this role, and I just can't accept her as anything but Selene. Her hair is the perfect length, her costume, though not typically vampiric, is practical for her duties, and her boots are to die for. Yes, pun intended. Scott Speedman is well cast, too...he's in such fantastic shape that it borders on superhuman so his powerful hybrid status is easily believable. All characters are very well developed, and I have to give the writers and Wiseman credit for taking the time to do the movie properly. I have a great need to know all about the people I'm watching on the screen, and if I don't I just don't enjoy the film as much. The flashbacks to Selene's childhood are such a nice touch...we see her as a human, vulnerable, lost...and then we see what she has become. Traces of the human still linger, hundreds of years later, and it is this humanness that allows her to love and rage against darkness.

Great film, and do yourself a favor and rent the original too so you can watch it first. I'm sorry I didn't. This one gets a Rowan Rating of 11 out of 12 monkeys.