Underworld: Awakening

Directed by: Mans Marlind, Bjorn Stein
Written by: Allison Burnett, Kevin Grevioux

Cast
Kate Beckinsale - Selene
Michael Ealy - Detective Sebastian
India Eisley - Eve
Stephen Rae - Dr. Jacob Lane

Review
As a person that never was that impressed with the Underworld franchise, I can say without a shadow of a doubt in my mind that this movie was utterly terrible. It was messy, inconsistent, unrealistic, it lacked depth and it was entirely too impressed with itself.

I suppose we should start with the plot, such as it is. It starts with Kate giving us the backstory from the previous movies with flashbacks. This small section of the film actually had the most engaging story out of the entire film. Once we are caught up, we see that now the government has become aware of both the vampires and the lycans and has taken to systematically wiping them out. What?! Yes the idea that the government will raid your house and flat out murder people in the streets in inhumane ways is completely plausible. Not only is the action taken by the government outrageous, but the fact that they are somehow magically armed with all the necessary weaponry and tactics needed to put the vampires and lycans down with extreme prejudice is outrageous as well.

Okay then we have Selene, who is supposed to be the most powerful vampire alive but she cannot even settle on when she wants to use her super human speed and when she wants to be just barely faster than everyone else. This is a thing throughout the entire film. Anyway she survives a military attack and then goes to find Michael (her love interest played by Scott Speedman) who promptly gets shot with ease and he falls to his death in the bay. She dives in after him and the humans drop a light grenade in on both of them and she wakes up 12 years later in some cryogenic chamber. She breaks out (and this is my favorite part) her leather outfit is just waiting for her to pluck from laboratory shelves. In fact, her leather outfit is sitting in front of the chemicals in this lab. One wonders what those scientists were doing if her leather outfit was more of a priority to them than the chemicals used to keep her asleep. Maybe that lent to her escape?

So she gets out, goes back searching for Michael but instead finds Subject 2, her daughter. Whoa! Total shocker right there. Anyway, the movie goes on sort of randomly and we get some semblance of a plot but mostly it seems like it was written by a child.

The CGI was honestly the best part of the movie and it did have plenty of action. But it is hard to enjoy the action when literally everything else about the movie sucked so terribly. The acting was paper thin. It seemed like Kate was phoning in her performance this time around, which is funny because she never portrayed Selene as a particularly deep character to begin with. The constant "badass" moments honestly had me rolling my eyes less than half an hour into the movie and not even half way through the film, I was looking at my watch and trying to estimate how much more I had to endure.

I did like that the cast had fairly unfamiliar faces. I usually can appreciate when lesser known actors get major roles in big budget films. But no one stole the show. There was no stand out performances. Usually in this situation where there is a strong cast, I lay the blame at the director's feet but since most of these actors I have never even heard of, I honestly cannot say for sure if the director sucks or if the actors should look for day jobs. The "touching" scenes between Selene and her daughter were awkward and embarrassing to watch and even though the action was the best part of the film, I think it was still a little over the top, such as when Eve rips a lycan's head in half and it peels like a banana.

I have spent a great deal of time bashing this film but in reality, it could have been worse. It certainly was not the worst film I have ever seen. But it most certainly will be the worst one I have seen for 2012. Do not see this movie. I saw it for free and I felt like something was stolen from me. This is only a film a diehard Underworld fan would enjoy and even then, maybe not. The picture below is the only decent part of the movie.

I give this film a 1.8/5. Don't waste your time or money. Convince Screen Gems to do better by not supporting this film. Honestly the only way I will ever happen across this movie again is if it is included in the box set with the other movies I actually find to be okay films. And I still will not watch it again.

The Avengers!

Okay I have to admit right off the bat that this movie is not the best movie ever. But that said, I absolutely cannot praise this movie enough. It is far and away my favorite comic book movie (or CBM). Joss Whedon is a spectacular director and it really could not have been done better by anyone else. It is not an overly complex movie and it really is not necessary to watch the 5 movies that set  it up to enjoy this film. I personally did watch all 5 movies beforehand and all it did was increase the enjoyment.

The CGI is stunning and very realistic. Never was there a scene where I was pulled from the movie due to crappy CGI. Usually this is a problem for me with CGI. I can tell Marvel had a lot of faith in this film. All the characters are well respected in this film. Everyone seems to get equal face time. The humor in this film is pretty much what you can expect from Whedon. Wry wit with a bit of slapstick, it is hard to find better quips than what you get from Whedon. If you like comedy, then banter from Iron Man will be the highlight of the movie for you. The choreography for the actions scenes is spectacular and it is clear that Whedon was not overwhelmed by it in the slightest. Very easy to follow and enjoy.

Anyone that knows Whedon's work knows that he has a great love for strong women and that is still true for this movie. Black Widow and to a lesser extent, Maria Hill get the Whedon Women treatment. Anyone who is a fan of Widow either from the comics or from Iron Man 2 will love her here. Source material is respected as well as well as plenty of nods to the fans. Amazingly, Loki does not steal the show a second time around. Though he is one of my favorite characters here. That goes to either Iron Man or Hulk.

My only gripes with the movie are that at the end, I wanted so much more and I felt that Captain America could have used more wow feats. Not that it did not give plenty but I felt it was too short at 147 minutes. And Captain America was given his dues here. I just wanted to see the upper limits of his enhanced abilities. But these are very minor complaints from a fanboy of the comics and they in no way took away from the movie experience. But I have full confidence that this will be explored more in Avengers 2. I also felt a bit underwhelmed by Banner, played by Mark Ruffalo. He did a fine job but honestly, I just would have preferred Edward Norton's take on Banner. There are strong differences in the portrayals and my personal preference just leans more towards Norton.

As for my rating of this film, it is a 4.8/5. A nearly flawless film. If I were to give it a rating based purely on it being a comic book movie, I would say it is a solid 5/5. Go see this movie. Throw all your money at it. And if someone you know says it is not that great, it is your duty to make them watch it again.