Underworld: Blood Wars

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Underworld: Blood Wars is the fifth installment in the Underworld franchise. This time around, Selene (played once again by Kate Beckinsale) is hunted by vampires and lycans alike. They want her to find her daughter, Eve. Eve apparently has special blood that can give the lycans special abilities. The costume design is pretty solid, though it’s nothing that screams “Oscar” to me. I actually love the production design, however. Much like the previous movies in the franchise, there is this level of coolness to the Gothic imagery and atmosphere surrounding the movie’s sets and backgrounds. Kate Beckinsale actually works in this movie because she can practically play the part in her sleep by now. Charles Dance also works in his role as something of an aged, wise mentor character. I also loved Tobias Menzies as the film’s villain, Marius, though for a different reason. This guy goes incredibly over the top (in an Eddie Redymane in Jupiter Ascending sort of way.) The action sequences feel a bit hit and miss. It’s clear that there is good stunt work involved here, and sometimes the fights are easy and comprehensible to make out. Other times, not so much. The same, I feel could be said of the direction by Anna Forester. There’s a scene where Selene watches a massacre happen before her eyes while she is helpless and paralyzed. The editing often feels jumbled, almost like it can’t sit still on a shot for more than a few seconds. The story is one of the movie’s weakest elements. There are a lot of things that don’t really add up or even make that much sense. Why do the villains keep hunting Selene when she doesn’t know where her daughter is? Why was using the daughter so important when the character never actually appears in the movie? Much like the previous films in the franchise, I think Underworld: Blood Wars fills a certain niche. It’s just stupid, popcorn, guilty pleasure-style entertainment. It doesn’t aspire to be anything else, and I really did enjoy the movie for that reason.

6 / 10