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Underworld
Screen Gems Inc.


7.0

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 73 votes
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FILM:

Underworld: Evolution

MPAA RATING: R for strong violence/gore and some language

Starring Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Shane Brolly, Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Erwin Leder, and Sophia Myles

Underworld reimagines Vampires as a secretive clan of modern aristocratic sophisticates whose mortal enemies are the Lycans (werewolves), a shrewd gang of street thugs who prowl the city's underbelly. (Screen Gems)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Fantasy \| Horror
WRITTEN BY:	Danny McBride (also story) Kevin Grevioux (story) Len Wiseman (story)
DIRECTED BY:	Len Wiseman
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 6, 2004 Video: January 6, 2004 Theatrical: September 19, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	121 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / Germany / Hungary / UK

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

At heart, this is an old-fashioned monster flick decked out with Hollywood's full battery of high-tech visual effects. It's as goofy as it is gory -- stay away if you don't like in-your-face mayhem.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's Shakespearean in its political machinations and closer to "Saving Private Ryan" and "Starship Troopers" than to "Dracula" or "The Howling."

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

However much Underworld recycles elements from other films, it carries us into a well-constructed, convincingly scary world worth visiting.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The filmmakers' decision to go with prosthetic enhancements rather than CGI gives the snouts, fangs and snapping jaws a refreshingly tactile look.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It is the perfectly cast Beckinsale who lifts Underworld out and away from the film’s many moments of silly gravitas and steers it into a truly interesting take on the whole vampires 'n' werewolves genre.

Premiere Peter Debruge

Riddled with ammunition for what Alfred Hitchcock called the "Plausibles"--those poor-sport moviegoers who insist on pointing out a movie's inconsistencies instead of simply enjoying the ride

ReelViews James Berardinelli

An example of a vampire movie for the new century -- stylish, gothic, gory, and loud.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

As murky and derivative-looking as the film is, it moves with an authority that pummels you into submission.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Has one other thing in common with "The Matrix Reloaded" -- too much story, too many angles.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Visually it's wild fun, since fledgling feature director Len Wiseman started off in production design, and creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos's diverse credits span from "Godzilla" to "Stuart Little." Yet with Underworld's guilty pleasures come copious clinkers, from its nuts-and-bolts narrative foundation to Wiseman's inability to direct actors beyond cartoonish interaction.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

The funny thing about all this is that a half-hour into Underworld I couldn't wait for it to be over. When it really was over, I couldn't wait for the next installment. Go figure.

Miami Herald Charles Savage

A loud and relentlessly overstated B-movie, and yet not entirely stupid.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It's so impossible to care about the characters in the movie that I didn't care if the vampires or werewolves won. I might not have cared in a better movie, either, but I might have been willing to pretend.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Though it sometimes feels as if it's four hours long, Underworld has going for it an intriguing fantasy premise, an eventful plot and a look that is diverting, if finally a bit monotonous.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Takes itself so seriously that it never has fun with its shopworn genre elements.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Alas, as is often the case with lower-end genre movies, the story cooked up by Wiseman and his friends, actor Kevin Grevioux and the film's screenwriter, Danny McBride, is decidedly less important than the look of the film and its influences.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

A slick disappointment -- though there's much unintentional humor to be enjoyed.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

By the end, I was starting to ponder questions like, If a vampire mates with a lycan-vamp hybrid, which parent will have to convert?

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

All of this is accomplished with buckets of blood, but almost no sense of flesh: It's hard to recall a more sexless vampire flick.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

So clotted with back story that the Romeo and Juliet-style romance between a warrior vampire and a reluctant werewolf never has a chance to breath, Len Wiseman's revisionist horror tale is all look and no bite.

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Beautiful in its dark, contrasting blues and blacks, Underworld is nonetheless a remarkably humorless movie, and not even the adroitly hammy Bill Nighy, as the vampire king, can leaven the overwrought seriousness of it all.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

This is the silliest horror movie I've seen in years, though some of the special effects are pretty good.

The New York Times Anita Gates

Achieves only loudness, aggressive confusion and one of the silliest head-splittings in film history.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Beckinsale delivers even if Underworld doesn't quite manage to follow through on its initial promise.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A hollow, relentless mess.

Slate David Edelstein

125 minutes is a long time to stare at a movie that's basically in bleached blue-and-white with occasional splotches of brick red. The palette reinforces the monotony of the storyline.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Not since "Battlefield Earth" pitted overacting, nine-foot-tall Psychlos against puny man-animals has there been an interspecies match-up this perversely uninteresting.

Film Threat Kevin Carr

There's too much pretension in this film. Lots of intense stares into the camera. Lots of uncomfortably hip clothes. Lots of pompous names for themselves.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Plays less like a novel re-imagining of a classic if campy narrative than a drearily self-conscious exercise in Know Your Film References.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Neither side is worth rooting for in this ridiculous blood feud, which features some of the year's most laughable dialogue.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

"Your incompetence is most taxing," says the chief vampire (Bill Nighy). A line that pretty much nails this rusty Blade.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Could use script transfusion, or at least a few quarts of levity.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It needs a wooden stake AND a silver bullet through its script.

Village Voice Alex Pappademas

Speedman's such a nonentity here I worried that the theater air-conditioning would blow him off the screen.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 73 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Riren gave it a1:
Atrocious, even for a popcorn flick. The action sequences and "plot twists" feel like the fat they cut off the Blade movies. Coincidentally, almost everyone in this world of eternal rainy nighttime dresses like they were expecting a walk-on on Blade II. You can't expect too much creativity from a movie that basically steals vampires, werewolves and leather - but this is still insultingly bad, especially with its generic soundtrack and poor acting.

Abrianna M. gave it a9:
This was a Spectacular movie I liked the action packed scenes and the forever rising climax. I also liked the special effects.

Tonia R. gave it a9:
I thought the movie was great! All the costumes and everything. I just wasn't into how the warewolves looked. I kind of have a different perspective on how they look. But all in all they looked pretty good.

Chris M. gave it an8:
Exellent story that builds throughtout, and leaves you hanging wanting more. There were some corny line in it, however the story and the effects made up for this.

Steve P. gave it a9:
The story isn't much, but what i was really impressed with was the creativity put into the charitures and concept. in the history of movies many directors have pited 2 horror monsters against each other, like gonzilla vs king kong. most times it turns out HORRIBLE, but underworld is the frist to really pull if off. Vampires fighting Warewolves, Hot Vampires fighting Warewolves, that's cool. it's like the Matrix except all the agients suck people's blood and the rebles turn into flesh eating super wolves. If you want some artsy film well then, go see some euopean film about why pot should be legalized. if you want to see a good film see underworld.

Mitch M. gave it a3:
Vampires vs. Werewolves. Abbott & Costello? No. Not even. But hey, they're all armed with arsenals of automatic weapons! I thought the point of being a monster was you didn't need any of that crap. But I guess it's cheaper to have cool looking, sexy model types firing off blank rounds harmlessly at each other than doing a complete CGI movie? The only drama here was whether I might throw my vote with the vampires ... or the werewolves. Tough choice. And no apparent reason to back either. Now, if Lon Chaney or Bela Lugosi had been in this ...

John C gave it a9:
Enticing and absorbing popcorn enterment with a sexy leading lady who puts out a good performance, or at least as good as you can get in the genre.

Underworld Screen Gems Inc.

Underworld
Screen Gems Inc.