The video quality is a tad sharper than what can be seen on the [other] DVDs, but the increase in quality is not dramatic.
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Once upon a time, I wasn´t a fan of Kate Beckinsale. She looked like any number of moderately-attractive girls trying to make it in the movies based on looks rather than on talent. Her so-so performances in "Much Ado About Nothing" (Kenneth Branagh, 1993) and "Pearl Harbor" (Michael Bay, 2001) didn´t increase my interest in her.
What a difference a career change makes! Perhaps tired of playing damsels in need of saving or romancing, Beckinsale took parts in two action movies with vampires in them--"Underworld" (Len Wiseman, 2003) and "Van Helsing" (Stephen Sommers, 2004). The well-cut trailers for "Underworld" intrigued me, particularly the shots of Beckinsale shooting a circle in the floor beneath her in order to escape her enemies. Her strong presence in "Underworld" was reason enough for me to see "Van Helsing" (which was pretty lame, but at least Beckinsale looked pretty and sounded cute with a vaguely Eastern-European accent). The actress has grown into her looks, too, as she no longer appears to be an awkward colt. Count me as one of her fans now.
In "Underworld", Selene (Beckinsale) is a vampire warrior who hunts werewolves. There´s been a long war between vampires and werewolves. While the vampires appear to be winning, sinister developments convince Selene that the werewolves may be on the verge of turning the tide in their favor. In particular, the werewolves´ obsession with one Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman, "Felicity") seems rather odd to Selene since vampires and werewolves usually care about humans only in terms of food. It seems that Michael might hold the key to evolutionary developments that would end the vampires-vs.-werewolves war.
It doesn´t help the movie that it´s a collection of obvious elements. For example, naming a traitorous vampire Kraven (Shane Brolly, sporting a lousy American accent) panders to the low-IQ crowd (craven means "cowardly"). The story is more interested in throwing vampires and werewolves into protracted battles rather than in examining why Selene and Michael might possibly be interested in each other beyond animal magnetism. Finally, there are a lot of thunderous speeches made about the complex social structures of both vampires and werewolves, but there is little effort to show how those social orders operate.
Yet, despite my complaints, the movie is an enjoyable ride. I had big-time dumb fun looking at gunfights scored to operatic arias and thundering techno music. Vampires are supposed to look cool and stylish according to all the "proper" legends, and the vampires in "Underworld" make me want to shun the sun, too. Kate Beckinsale wears leather better than any other actor that I´ve seen during the past ten years, and she has a forceful screen presence in this movie that is ironic considering her petite size and underwhelming performances in other movies. Perhaps Ms. Beckinsale was meant to be an action star rather than a character actor?
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[release]14003[/release]