Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

IMDB rating  6.4/10  

Vampire death dealer, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) fights to end the eternal war between the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her.

Director: Anna Foerster

Writers: Cory Goodman (screenplay), Kyle Ward (story)

Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Tobias Menzies

R | 1h 31min | Action, Horror

 IMDB link Here

  

'Underworld: Blood Wars' Has More Bite Than Its Predecessors  

Like the last film, there seems a big chunk of the story missing between chapters (Selene’s newly discovered daughter has fled to parts unknown, and nobody is looking for Scott Speedman’s Michael anymore), but it’s nothing that will be fatal to fans. I still want to see that “between Evolution and Awakening” chapter when humanity discovered and declared genocidal war among the vampires and wolves, but I digress. Narrative logic and/or coherent storytelling has never been a strongpoint of this franchise, and all you need to know is the vampires and the werewolves/Lycans have been fighting each other in the shadows of our world for centuries.

The last film had a certain straightforward narrative, one which involved humanity becoming aware of the “monsters” in their midst, and was mostly a clothesline for some impressive video game-inspired action beats and a plot that you could easily explain to a bystander. I’d have to say that it is, by default, the best “present tense” chapter. Confession: I didn’t have time to watch the prequel installment, mostly because I’m saving the “Michael Sheen in hunky action mode” prequel for my wife. This one returns to the status quo of the previous films, where it’s basically two warring sides, neither of which are very “righteous,” engaging in special effects-enhanced battles.

The core problem with the franchise, that the vampires are traitorous schmucks and we are never given much evidence that the Lycans aren’t noticeably worse by comparison, continues here. There are betrayals galore within the vampire clans, even when it negates some promising narrative angles to revert to the old “Selene on the run” motif that has been in place since the middle of the first film. The vampires, the ones secretly working for the wolves and the ones with power fantasies, are terrible “people.” Since we are told the Lycans are evil, there isn’t much rooting interest in seeing Selene and/or David save the proverbial day.

But if you’re not here for a rooted emotional investment in the narrative, there is surface level enjoyment to be found. Beckinsale makes a fine action heroine, although she's always been a terrific actress in any number of interesting/not-so-intersting projects. While Theo James threatens to pull the same “turn the female-led action franchise into a male hero’s journey” role he plays in the Divergent series, I won’t pretend that he’s not cut out to be the hunky brooding hero. The individual action beats are fine and the would-be plot that is established in the first act is interesting before it gets tossed aside for conventional Underworld plotting. Like Peter Jackson’s fantasy films, Blood Wars gives us mass battle scenes with showy one-on-one showdowns amid the chaos.

This is the first installment to have a female director. I won’t pretend that Anna Foerster brings a new glorious new life into the series, but Blood Wars stands as more evidence that women can make this kind of movie just as “for better or worse” as their male peers. This fifth entry does have a terrific and charismatic female villain in Lara Pulver, and the film dies a bit in the second act when she’s not around (there are a lot of female characters in supporting roles and among the crowds). Oh, if I had to guess, I'd imagine that a male director wouldn't have included a scene where a hot male underling (mostly willingly) gives his female supervisor offscreen cunnalingus, so that was pretty neat.

The would-be Lycan villain is Tobias Menzies, a would-be “most dangerous/horrible/etc.” Lycan leader ever who is none of those things. We do eventually get a reason to cheer his death, but a film more focused on Selene versus Semira would have been a much better thing. In the end, Semira is mostly relegated to “someone for David to fight at the end,” although I will note that by default the film doesn’t do that thing where the female hero is pitted against the female villain (cough-Fast/Furious-cough). Without going into spoiler-y details, the plot eventually centers around David discovering his true destiny in a way that does open the door to a would-be Selene-less spin-off/sequel should Beckinsale decide to skip out on the next one.

Look, these films are what they are. I do think there is value in lower-budget B-movie franchises like this, especially a wholly original action franchise with a female lead, and I wasn’t bored during the 82-minute (plus credits) running time. And I will admit that I seem to have enjoyed the two more recent “get to the point” installments over the first over/under two-hour “Romeo & Juliet meets Blade” adventures. There are moments of visual beauty, such as a third act beat with bits and pieces of (lethal) light puncturing fortress walls. The film ends on an interesting new status quo that makes me slightly curious for the next one. By default perhaps, I liked this one about as much as the fourth one, meaning that by default the non-prequel Underworld films are getting better each time out.

Read full review at Forbes

Watching the fifth installment of the Underworld action-horror franchise, one question inevitably springs to mind: After all this time, can’t werewolves and vampires just get along?

Apparently not, despite the best efforts of the characters in the thankfully now defunct Twilight series. Strictly for rabid fans, Underworld: Blood Wars is a generic, by-the-numbers genre exercise that, for all its talk of blood, is strictly anemic.

It’s particularly depressing to see Kate Beckinsale once again don her tight black spandex outfit after displaying her versatility and comic skills in Love & Friendship. Yet here she is again (after all, bills must be paid) starring as the “Vampire Death Dealer” Selene, who’s in more trouble than ever. She’s now forced to battle both the Lycans, headed by the fearsome Marius (Tobias Menzies), and a fellow Vampire, Semira (Lara Pulver), whose villainy is in direct proportion to the amount of cleavage she bares. And she bares a lot. In an example of her badass style, she tells her eager-to-please underling (Bradley James), “There are other ways to prove your devotion,” before pushing his head down to service her orally.

The film begins with Beckinsale narrating a recap of the previous films, complete with flashbacks, which is very helpful because, even if you’ve seen them all, you’re likely to have forgotten everything about them. After that opening, it’s only mere seconds before the first of many fight sequences, staged in efficient fashion by director Anna Foerster (Outlander) who, despite being new to the series, doesn’t bring any fresh ideas to the table. Selene’s vampire ally David is injured in the course of the battle, which handily provides the opportunity for hunky actor Theo James to take off his shirt. But not to worry, it’s not so serious an injury that Selene can’t fix him up with some quick impromptu surgery.

The plot, such as it is, revolves around Marius’ desperate efforts to find Selene’s daughter, who she banished for her own safety in the last film (again, this is where that recap comes in handy). Apparently, he’s convinced that her hybrid Vampire-Lycan blood will make him immortal.

During their climactic showdown, Marius assures Selene that he won’t kill her daughter. “All I want is her blood,” he says, which, under the circumstances, actually sounds pretty reasonable.

By the time the film reaches its conclusion after a mercifully brief 91 minutes, fangs have been bared; the Lycans have had a bad hair day; characters have been killed, and in some cases brought back to life; and, rather incongruously, a lot of automatic weaponry has been fired. The action is nearly relentless, only occasionally interrupted by humorless, tedious exposition, but despite the freneticism it’s almost all completely boring. That is, when you can see it, since even in the non-3D presentation the proceedings are so dark and murky that you’ll feel compelled to whip non-existent sunglasses off your face.

Beckinsale still provides a commanding presence, handling the intense physicality of her role with an ease borne of countless Pilates classes. Charles Dance also returns for this installment, continuing the longstanding cinematic tradition of distinguished British thespians appearing in Hollywood crap in lieu of receiving a proper pension 

Read full review at Hollywood reporter

Bathed in Blue and Partied Out  

 The “Underworld” franchise — in which vampires and werewolves, called Lycans, use guns and swords to settle a centuries-old feud — showed signs of growing more playful with its fourth installment, “Underworld: Awakening” (2012), which moved away from the series’s labored mythology and threw in Stephen Rea as a mad scientist.

Any hope of a similarly limber fifth outing dies immediately in “Underworld: Blood Wars.” This film is so heavy with exposition that you would think that the director, Anna Foerster, and the screenwriter, Cory Goodman, had set out to complete a dissertation instead of a sequel.

With an almost willful lack of fun, “Underworld: Blood Wars” introduces new dangers (self-propelled bullets and nightshade — fatal for some vampires, but only painful and paralyzing for Selene) and backdrops, including a vampire outpost in the frozen north and what must be history’s dullest vampire soiree. (After so many years undead, who could party?)

The series’s strategy of bathing its imagery in blue has always been useful for obscuring murky special effects, but here, it seems like a taunt — a guarantee of visual monotony to complement the anemic entertainment value.

Read full review at New York times

  

It’s ‘bloody’ evident that they’ve run out of things for Kate Beckinsale to do, besides look great and kill Lycans.Before I got to the theatre to watch the latest Underworld movie, I admitted to my coterie of fellow popcorn-chewes that it was probably going to be a pretty terrible movie, but not necessarily one that you couldn’t enjoy. Turns out I was right on both counts. Bloody right.

The fifth film in the dark (they’re obsessed with black) film franchise, Blood Wars is different in as much as it attempts new trajectories for the characters, but doesn’t achieve much more than being a bridge between the last movie and the inevitable sixth one. True, the film franchise does get a much needed 21st century makeover — all the castles with iron gates and torture chambers are replaced with fancy covens with touch-screen entry access and training zones that would have made Professor X’s eyes moisten at the edges.

The visual effects and graphic detail, normally a high point with such big budget productions, looked cheap and hastily rendered. Shockingly so. And considering there never was much of a story in the first place, there aren’t any brownie points to be gained there either.

The only shining light, though she’s understandingly clad in a tight black spandex-leather jumpsuit, is Kate Beckinsale. She kicks Lycans’ backside just as unapologetically and unemotionally as she did in the first Underworld movie, 16 years ago. And she looks bloody good amidst all the inevitable gore and bloodiness. Which is kind of cool, given that she’s now 43.

As Selene, the vampire hybrid who’s a lean, sordid killing machine, on the hunt for her missing daughter, it’s familiar territory for Beckinsale. And she sails through without grimacing too much. Even when this movie’s arch-nemesis, Lycan leader Marius (Tobias Menzies) pounds her to pulp. She doesn’t bat an eyelid while voicing her terrible lines. She’s that good.

There are a slew of side characters with mildly interesting origin stories — like the ruggedly handsome Theo James, who plays Selene’s protégé David, or the delightfully power hungry (I’d normally say vixen, but that would be a faux pas here) vampire Semira (Lara Pulver), who’s out for Selene’s blood. But they’re just that — mildly interesting.

So, hang on, you’re probably wondering what I meant when I said this was also enjoyable. There’s a point where you suspend all belief and hope that this movie will get better and you wait for the inevitable end. It’s at this point that the sheer spectacle of watching grown adults in shimmery suits beating misshapen wolf-thingys will become enjoyable. Call them cheap thrills, but they’ve got a certain trash entertainment value to them. Right down to the hopelessly unmeaningful voice-over at the end that would have made Optimus Prime blanch.

Read full review at Indian express

Movie Rating ★✭☆☆☆  

 Latest in vampire chronicle lacks bite  

The Underworld action-horror series is premised on a struggle between vampires and werewolves waged over the heads of ordinary folk – which, all things considered, could be a viable metaphor for the state of the planet.

But Underworld: Blood Wars, the fifth instalment, has little to recommend it on any level.

A first feature directed by sometime cinematographer Anna Foerster, Blood Wars continues the adventures of Beckinsale's maverick heroine Selene, now brought back into the fold of the vampire elite to help a new generation of warriors combat the Lycan, or werewolf, menace.

Naturally, all is not as it seems, and the first half of the film is essentially a palace intrigue, spearheaded by the villainous Samira (Lara Pulver from TV's Sherlock), who's set on supplanting Thomas (Charles Dance) as coven leader.

Compared with previous Underworld instalments, Blood Wars is short on action – and the battle scenes, when they come, are of a choppy, dingy kind, bathed like the rest of the film in the metallic blue that signifies the vampires' eternal night.

The visual effects tend to get lost in the murk, but the question of realism is beside the point: who knows what it ought to look like to see a werewolf split in half from head to toe?

Beckinsale's archness is right for Whit Stillman's Jane Austen adaptation Love and Friendship but puts her at a disadvantage next to the far more dedicated Milla Jovovich, star of the parallel Resident Evil saga.

The lack of human characters this time round makes it still harder to feel emotionally invested in the vampire power struggles – or in anything that happens within the abstract, claustrophobic Underworld universe, somehow modern and mediaeval at once.

Selene and the others catch trains, fight with guns as well as swords, and use computers for surveillance, but it seems unimaginable that anyone would take time out to shop for new fetish wear or watch TV.

It's tempting to imagine a parody that would show the mundane world intruding on the fantasy, pitting Beckinsale against, say, Melissa McCarthy as an eager vampire buff. That still probably wouldn't be a good movie, but it would have to be better than this one.

Read full review at Sydney Morning Herald

Movie Rating ★✭☆☆☆  

 There’s plenty of blood in the latest instalment of this tiresome franchise about war between werewolves and vampires but not much more  

So, four years after the last Underworld film (titled Awakening) we now have a saga titled Blood Wars, which delivers just as promised, blood that is, and lots of it.

The plot, however irrelevant it might be to execute flicks such as this, is this: Selene (Beckinsale) is still on the run from both the Vampires and Lycans who seek her blood to become immortal. But there are some who want to end the war between the two clans once and for all.

Selene thus goes through a maze of discovery, deceit, alpine peaks, a frozen waterfall, and even that limbo spot between life and death.

So even if all these don’t make sense to you because you missed out on the first four parts of the franchise, it doesn’t take away the little bursts of adrenaline from watching Lycans turn into full-blown werewolves (and end up looking like modern enhancements of the creature from Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’).

Beams of sunlight fry some unfortunate members of the vampire clan, and a serious action sequence involving two warring members goes hilariously wrong: they keep screaming and pumping bullets into each other at close quarters, only to find that both of them are immune to it. Oh, and you get a flashback, in fast-forward, from previous instalments every time someone tastes someone else’s blood.

The cinematography is washed by a constant icy-blue filter, as the camera moves through Prague’s Gothic structures and inside the lairs where all the action takes place. There really is nothing else to say about this snoozefest of a film, save for the generous dose of overacting you get from some council elders (we’re looking at you, James Faulkner) and some momentary cunnilingus for bonus entertainment.

Not done yet?

The ending hints at a possible sequel and that this tiresome war between werewolves and vampires is not done yet. All we have to say is this: It’s still better than Twilight.

Read full review at The Hindu