Underworld (2003 film)

Underworld
Directed by	Len Wiseman
Written by	Kevin Grevioux Len Wiseman Danny McBride
Produced by	Robert Bernacchi Gary Lucchesi Tom Rosenberg
Starring	Kate Beckinsale Scott Speedman Michael Sheen Bill Nighy Shane Brolly
Distributed by	Screen Gems (Sony)
Release dates	September 19, 2003
Running time	116 Min/133 min (Special edition)
Language	English

Underworld is a 2003 action-horror film about the secret history of Vampires and a type of werewolf known as Lycans (an abbreviated form of lycanthrope). It is the first film in the Underworld series. The main plot revolves around Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a vampire who has become a "Death Dealer", or Lycan hunter, due to her hatred for the whole species. She finds herself attracted to a human, Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) who is being targeted by the Lycans. After Michael is bitten by a Lycan, Selene must decide whether to do her "duty" and kill him or go against her clan and save him.

While reviewers generally gave the film a negative reception, criticizing the lack of character development and overacting, a smaller number of reviewers praised elements such as the film's stylish Gothic visuals, "Beckinsale's icy English composure", and the extensively-worked out vampire-werewolf mythology that serves as the film's backstory.

Plot

Perched on the ledge of a building in a rainy night, two black-garbed vampires known as "Death Dealers" track a pair of werewolves walking on the street below. The vampires, Selene and Rigel, specialize in assassinating an ancient species of werewolves known as Lycans. Selene's motivation goes beyond duty; she also wants revenge, for she believes that Lycans slaughtered her family when she was a child. The vampires believe that they defeated the werewolves many centuries ago and killed their leader, Lucian, and that they must now kill off the survivors. As the vampires follow the Lycans into a subway station, the werewolves realize that they are being followed, and they open fire with submachine guns. In the chaotic shootout, Selene realizes that the Lycans may have been following a human, Michael Corvin, which is very unusual for the Lycans. After the Lycans retreat from Selene's barrage of machine pistol fire, she tracks them to their lair, where she hears loud howling.

When Selene arrives at the vampire coven's ornate, gated mansion, she recounts the evening's events. But the vampire regent Kraven tells her to drop the matter. Selene secretly continues her investigation, to find out why the Lycans were chasing a human,and whether there is a large den of Lycans. Meanwhile, in an underground Lycan lair, a scientist named Singe is testing blood from kidnapped descendants of the Corvinus family, to try to find a pure source of the ancient and powerful Corvinus blood type. Soon after Selene finds Michael, the pair are attacked by werewolves, including Lucian, the original Lycan leader, who bites Micheal on the shoulder. Selene helps Micheal to escape, and the two become romantically attracted to each other.

Selene continues her investigation by breaking into the coven's library to learn about the hidden past of their clan. After she learns from an ancient leather-bound book that Lucian and Kraven formed a conspiracy to hide Lucian's death, she awakens a powerful elder vampire Viktor. After Selene caputures the Lycan scientist, Singe, he admits to Viktor that the Lycans have been trying combine the bloodlines of the two species with the Corvinus Strain to create a powerful Vampire-Lycan hybrid.

Meanwhile, in the Lycan lair, where Michael is being held captive, he learns that Viktor killed Lucian's Vampire bride to prevent the mingling of the two bloodlines, which led to war. After Kraven flees, Viktor kills Singe and instructs Selene to kill Michael. After Lucian is severely wounded, he urges Selene to bite Michael, so that his blood will have both Lycan and vampire strains. When Selene learns that Viktor killed her entire family, and not the Lycans, she dispatches Viktor with a sword and flees with Michael. As Singe's blood seeps through the trapdoor of the sarcophagus of the remaining elder, Marcus, he begins to revive...

Cast

Actor	Role
Kate Beckinsale	Selene: A vampire specializing in assassinations, known as a "Death Dealer"
Scott Speedman	Michael Corvin: A medical student who is unaware that he carries the rare Corvinus Strain in his blood
Michael Sheen	Lucian: The leader of the Lycans, an ancient clan of werewolves
Bill Nighy	Viktor: A powerful vampire elder who is awakened from his crypt by Selene
Shane Brolly	Kraven: A vampire appointed as interim leader (regent) of the vampire coven during Viktor's hibernation
Erwin Leder	Singe: A Lycan scientist who is experimenting with the Corvinus Strain
Sophia Myles	Erika: An attractive, blond vampire woman who is enamoured with Kraven
Robbie Gee	Kahn: A weapons expert, gunsmith, and chief "Death Dealer"
Wentworth Miller	Dr. Adam Lockwood, a medical intern who works with Michael at a hospital
Kevin Grevioux	Raze: A powerful black Lycan who acts as Lucian's lieutenant
Zita Görög	Amelia: The only female vampire elder
Scott McElroy	Soren : A vampire henchman who acts as Kraven's lieutenant
Todd Schneider	Trix
Sándor Bolla	Rigel: A male "Death Dealer" who is killed during a shootout in a subway
Hank Amos	Nathaniel: The second male "Death Dealer" who was tracking the Lycans in the subway

Legal controversy

The film was the subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by White Wolf, Inc. and Nancy A. Collins claiming the setting was too similar to the Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse games, both set in the World of Darkness setting, and the Sonja Blue vampire novels.

White Wolf filed 17 counts of copyright infringement, and claimed over 80 points of unique similarity between White Wolf's game systems and the movie. White Wolf, Inc. also claimed the script was very similar to a story entitled The Love of Monsters (1994) which they published and was written by Nancy A. Collins. [1] A PDF file of White Wolf's filing can be read here: [2] In September 2003, a judge granted White Wolf an expedited hearing; this was the last White Wolf's press releases had to say about the case: [3].

Critical reception

Critics generally gave Underworld a negative reception. It scored just 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, and only 16% from the "Cream of the Crop". Roger Ebert said "This is a movie so paltry in its characters and shallow in its story that the war seems to exist primarily to provide graphic visuals." However, some critics were more favorable: the New York Daily News praised it as being "stylish and cruel, and mightily entertaining for certain covens out there."

Salon reviewer Andrew O'Hehir states that "by any reasonable standard, this dark vampire epic -- all massive overacting, cologne-commercial design and sexy cat suits -- sucks". He calls the film "a dark, dank morass of a horror/fantasy epic, all faux-Wachowski action scenes and dim blue light and thumping industrial music and dripping pseudo-Gothic interiors and Kate Beckinsale cramming her cute English schoolgirl figure into a pleather cat suit." Yet at the same time, O'Hehir remarks that "...at least it gives a crap", by which he means that despite all of the movie's "flaws", the complex vampire-werewolf mythology backstory "has been meticulously worked out." While O'Hehir criticizes the way the "entire movie is full of campy overacting" he notes that "Beckinsale's icy English composure creates a sense of stillness at the center of the general art-directed chaos."

Sequels and Prequels

The follow-up story, Underworld: Evolution, was released January 20, 2006. A prequel, Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans, will be in theatres January 23, 2009.

Soundtrack

Main article: Underworld (soundtrack)

The film's dark, gloomy images were accompanied by a grinding, pounding gothic/industrial-styled soundtrack produced by industrial musician Danny Lohner and distributed via Roadrunner Records. Lohner (born 1970), a bass guitarist, guitarist and keyboardist who has recorded with the Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, contributed several songs to the soundtrack under the pseudonym Renholdër. Lohner continued the industrial vibe by including a song by Skinny Puppy, a Canadian industrial band. Skinny Puppy's music fuses elements of ambient, noise, new wave, electro and rock music using analog and digital recording techniques, distortion, samplers, and conventional rock music instruments.

Lohner added other styles to the soundtrack, including a song by The Dillinger Escape Plan, a US band which performs an aggressive, technical style of hardcore punk called mathcore; a song by US alternative rock band Finch; a song by The Icarus Line, a band specializing in an abrasive form of rock music; and Lisa Germano, a US singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for her often-hushed vocal style, confessional lyrics, and distinctive violin playing.

External links

• Underworld at IMDb
• Underworld: Evolution at IMDb
• Underworld at Rotten Tomatoes
• Underworld Official Site
• Kate Beckinsale interview for Underworld