Underworld

Name: Underworld
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Fantasy
Released: September 19, 2003
Duration: 121 min
Rating: 42
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Shane Brolly

2003

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 576 Ratings

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8.8

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8.8	User Score Universal acclaim based on 576 Ratings

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Underworld

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Movie Details & Credits

Screen Gems | Release Date: September 19, 2003 | Not Rated

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Shane Brolly

Summary: 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)

Director: Len Wiseman

Genre(s): Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Fantasy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 121 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

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. Read full review

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. Read full review

Robert K. Elder

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

Kim Morgan

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

Anita Gates

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

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. Read full review

Desson Thomson

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

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User Reviews

Appendage7

Jan 18, 2020

Selene is a Greek name. Seleneophile is a name for someone who loves the moon and Selene is the Greek name for the Goddess of the Moon

5 of 6 users found this helpful51

AbriannaM.

Oct 14, 2006

This was a Spectacular movie I liked the action packed scenes and the forever rising climax. I also liked the special effects.

1 of 1 users found this helpful

R0Y

Dec 13, 2011

1st of the Underworld' trilogy.
Not excellent but close to be one of the best Vampires/Lycans movie ever. A pitty that sometime it decline and can look like a B-movie.

9 of 10 users found this helpful91

lyken

Oct 10, 2005

Hey this film is good. the script is good and the effects very well done. one of the best vampire/werewolf films i've seen!

0 of 0 users found this helpful

[Anonymous]

Nov 5, 2005

Certainly stylish, and wears its gothic production well, but the constrained budget limits its potential. Action is good, but could be even better. Story actually is quite interesting. Hope Len Wiseman and Co. can grab a much higher budget for Underworld: Evolution. A 100+ million dollar Certainly stylish, and wears its gothic production well, but the constrained budget limits its potential. Action is good, but could be even better. Story actually is quite interesting. Hope Len Wiseman and Co. can grab a much higher budget for Underworld: Evolution. A 100+ million dollar budget could fix most problems in this series and unleash its full potential.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

FilipeNeto

Jul 11, 2020

Vampire movies exist by the hundreds. I think there is hardly a monster capable of being more seductive and appealing than the vampire. Likewise, there is hardly a rival more suitable for those blood drinkers than the werewolf. This film will explore these and create an alternative story forVampire movies exist by the hundreds. I think there is hardly a monster capable of being more seductive and appealing than the vampire. Likewise, there is hardly a rival more suitable for those blood drinkers than the werewolf. This film will explore these and create an alternative story for both monsters that, here, have a common origin and are destined to hate each other.

The main character is Selene, a warrior vampire who devoted hundreds of years to an eternal war with werewolves, called Lycans (if anyone knows the difference between a Lycan and a werewolf, please tell me). After a routine mission, she discovers that there is a large group of Lycans who can threaten vampires. Ignored by the vampire leader, she decides to prove that she is right and the danger is real, and wakes up the mighty Viktor, an elder vampire. But Selene's inquiries will prove the threat is more serious than she imagined and all loyalties, inside and outside the vampire clan, are at stake.

This film is an action blockbuster loaded with leather, bullets, blood and testosterone, more than suitable for teenagers full of bouncing hormones. For me, it worked well but it is far from being something I would pay to see at the theater. It was directed by Len Wiseman, who we already know from "Live Free or Die Hard". He is a satisfactory director and seems to like dark material. I believe he was very inspired by "Matrix", if we take into account the leather clothes, hard-rock style and, above all, the opening scene in the subway, with hundreds of bullets fired without injuring anyone but destroying all the station, in a moment of unrealistic and absurd action. Believing that mortals live totally unaware to such blatant immortals is, at the very least, impossible. The story becomes more complex with the revelation of the past of the two clans and the creation of a myth that is never truly well explained, but supports the rest of the film.

The cast is full of well-known names and is led by Kate Beckinsale, in a role that places her, more or less, between a Lara Kroft and a porn dominatrix. She's attractive but doesn't give us much more than her own body and a hot voice. Scott Speedman is stupid and doesn't seem to know how he got here, besides there is no chemistry between him and Beckinsale for both of them to be a credible romantic couple. Shane Brolly is fine, but not extraordinary and there are a lot of actors who only show up a little without adding some significant to the film, such as Wentworth Miller, Kevin Grevioux and Sophia Myles (she seems to have been included in the cast just to please the male audience who prefers a blonde over a brunette). But not everything is so decadent! Michael Sheen is excellent, being the most outstanding actor in the film and the one that gives us more solid work. Although I prefer to see him in dramatic films like "Frost/Nixon" or "The Queen", he is good at this kind of character and would come, years after this film, to do something like this when he play Aro Volturi in "Twillight" saga. Likewise, we must see and applaud Bill Nighy's good work, with his unique voice and diction. He gave his character an air of elegant aristocratic sadism.

Technically, it is a dark film, loaded with action, bullets, leather, blood and very dark. Without a single scene with the sun or some bright colour, it is truly a dark film... I already said that? Gothic to the core, it has a nebulous and gloomy cinematography that, however, works well. Not being a romantic film, it has some hot scenes that, however, show nothing much. Even Beckinsale's ass always looks in her tights. However, sex is everywhere in the vampire world and that vampire mansion looks almost like a decadent brothel. The scenes of violence are also everywhere, but they sound so fake that even when a head is cut in half, we don't feel anything about it.… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

hoops2448

Dec 14, 2011

I was wrong. After watching Underworld again, I came to realise that not only is it the worst of the series, it has no redeeming features at all. It's garbage in the purest sense of the word. The acting is wooden with the best performances being ones from bit characters like Bill Nighy'sI was wrong. After watching Underworld again, I came to realise that not only is it the worst of the series, it has no redeeming features at all. It's garbage in the purest sense of the word. The acting is wooden with the best performances being ones from bit characters like Bill Nighy's Viktor and Michael Sheen's Lucian (probably why Rise of the Lycans is much more enjoyable). Kate Beckinsale lumbers from scene to scene in a sort of daze, spouting words with no semblance of feeling or thought. I can only imagine its because she is having a severe allergic reaction to the amount of leather shes wearing. Scott Speedman is tragically miscast as Michael not because he doesn't fit the character but because he is just a terrible actor. However the acting is just the beginning. Underworld is poorly directed with almost every scene being both poorly shot, framed and edited with them feeling like they are being rammed down your throat instead of neatly wrapped for your enjoyment. The main problem with the direction (by Len Wiseman) is that it is so remarkably unimaginative. It pushes no boundaries and doesn't try which carries over into the editing, sound mixing and everything else related to the film. The man behind the wheel should at least be able to steer. Len Wiseman got into the drivers seat drunk and everyone in the car held on for dear life.
Summing up, its just rubbish.… Expand

0 of 8 users found this helpful08

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22	#22 Most Discussed Movie of 2003
22	#22 Most Shared Movie of 2003