Underworld: Evolution

Dir: Len Wiseman

2006

***

Underworld: Evolution picks up were the first film left up and gets right to the action. Selene and Michael are still hiding from vampires and werewolves alike in a bid to save their lives and relationship. Evolution suggests that the mix of vampire and werewolf blood be beneficial somehow, although it’s not clear for whom. The franchise sees vampires as the good guys and werewolves as the bad guys, although this is never spoken of, bad guys being attached to both groups. The future of a new species interplays with an exploration of ancient vampirism, blood lines and vampire hierarchy, which is all very interesting if you’re into that sort of thing and don’t mind a few clichés here and there. Much like the first film, it’s full of utter nonsense and is a bit samey but irresistibly watchable. It’s no dumb action film though, the stunts are really good and many are real rather than CGI. The gore is much appreciated, it is a vampire/werewolf film after all, and there is something very likable about the whole thing. It’s hard not to like a film with Derek Jacobi and Bill Nighy vampires in it. The character Marcus (played by Tony Curran), the first ever vampire, looked pretty cool and straight out of a quality horror film. I’m not too sure Evolution’s version of a vampire/werewolf hybrid is exactly what the fans wanted but you can’t accuse it of being unoriginal. The overall style of the film is updated and it looked good at all times, Len Wiseman being an underrated director. Like I said of the first film, it is no masterpiece but very watchable, more so than the original in my opinion. It’s obvious that after the controversies of the first film, the studio wanted some good publicity and so a rather raunchy scene was filmed and spoken of at great length during the production - only to be pulled for the actual final cut. A cheap trick but it worked. No one loves Underworld but everyone keeps watching them.