Underworld: Evolution

Director: Len Wiseman

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran, Derek Jacobi, Bill Nighy

Underworld: Evolution continues the saga between the Death Dealers and the Lycans. The film goes back to the beginnings of the ancient feud between the two tribes as Selene (Beckinsale), the beautiful vampire heroine, and Michael (Speedman), the werewolf hybrid, try to unlock the secrets of their respective bloodlines. Their search will lead them into a war to end all wars. The film explores the repercussions of a betrayal that changes the path of Selene’s life. Her relationship with Michael is a key point of the story.

The cast does a decent job, but most of their work is in two shades of emotion: angry and sad. Nighy’s performance as the vampire Viktor is excellent. He steals the show with his glorious evil lines. Wiseman has not much learned from his first experience. The film’s original concept of a relationship between vampires and werewolves is intriguing, and for horror fans, there is plenty of bloodshed: jaws are dismantled and heads are disintegrated. The effects have also been upgraded; the werewolves’ transformation and their movement are much improved from the prequel. Where the film perhaps falls down is in trying to strike an emotional chord. We feel something for Selene, and to some degree Michael, but we need more. It’s like watching superheroes fight without finding out what they’re like when they aren’t saving the world.

The original movie presented an altered view of interracial love and the inevitable decay of a decadent society. Evolution: Underworld is a worthy sequel to its predecessor in that it simply allows the battles to play out. There are lagging sections of exposition and a lot of gratuitous violence but the action retains the film’s main driving force.

Sarah Hall