Underworld - Evolution

[wiseheart]

I finally got around to watch the movie. I must admit, I liked the first one better. Granted, the sequel had a bigger budget and perhaps cooler effects, but it has almost completely ejected the werewolves.

In the first movie, Lycans were a species you could sympathize with. I certainly did, Lucius was a highly interesting character. (And I loved Singe, of course.) In the sequel, they were practically nothing but bloodthirsty animals, appeared only once, saved William, the father of werewolves, and everyone seemed to agree that they needed to be wiped out like a plague.

The vampires weren't all that interesting in the second part, either. Okay, Marcus as a hybid creature was properly creepy, but after the first movie I'd have expected him as a more complex character. Not to mention that Alexander Corvinus was completely wasted. They'd built him up nicely, then when the final confrontation came, he turned out weak and stupid and just died on us. I was very angry.

And we still don't know what exactly Selene has become at the end. Aside from the fact that she obviously can endure sunlight now. Is she an immortal like Corvinus was? Or something else?

It's really annoying that while all the actors and the creative crew keep telling in the interviews how much better the sequel is, there are important questions that remain unanswered - unless they plan to do a third movie, that is.


And speakin of newly-achieved DVDs: the additional B5 stuff is utter crap. JMS took some old footage, snapped three characters from the two series (Lochley, Galen and Sheridan), added one excellent guest star (Alan Scarfe), and let them babble about philosophical stuff in front of the green screen. I was very disappointed.

Comments

[jen-rock.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the second one isn't as good in terms of plot. The Lycans were barely in it and most of the vampires got wiped out too. Alexander Corvinus was a wasted character. He died way too easily. I really hoped for something better after the first movie but it just ended up too focused on Michael and Selene.

Marcus was very cool and scary in it but I thought it would have been more interesting if he led the vampires on a hunt for Selene and Michael rather than just killing them all. I liked Tanis the weaselly vampire historian/librarian too but he got killed off. I think Selene is supposed to be a different kind of hybrid at the end. Rather than Lycan/vampire, she was human/vampire. She was already immortal as a vampire but now she is half-human and therefore able to stand sunlight like the hybrids can. Or at least that's my theory.

There is a third movie planned but it's supposed to be a prequel. It will focus on Lucian and cover his romance with Sonja and her death which leads to him leading the Lycans in revolt against the vampires. I have high hopes that it will be better than Underworld: Evolution but I'll have to wait and see.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yep, Tanis was fun. But all the other characters - half the time, their motivation was completely illogical. The whole movie was about action and blood and gore. It's perhaps not surprising that the only character with an actually working brain got killed. Just like Singe in the first movie. I definitely prefer your story.

What I didn't understand was why the Lycans were degraded to mere beasts in the sequel. In the original, they were a lot more interesting than vampires, honestly. And the whole revolting slaves background at least made some sense.

What I liked the second movie was the opening sequence, with the vampire warriors in heir intricate helmets and stuff. It looked very Tolkienesque, I must say. And I actually expected Marcus and William reunited and the blood feud ended, instead of both species getting wiped out.

I still don't understand what the heck they wanted to do with Alexander Corvinus to begin with.