Underworld

Carrying more than a few similarities to The Matrix in terms of visuals, Len Wiseman's 2003 action adventure Underworld celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and much like former film, it created a franchise of sequels with diminishing results each time. However, it had been a long time since I saw Kate Beckinsale's vampire, Selene, go to battle against werewolves so it seemed like now would be good to see if this had been resistant to age like the blood sucking beasts themselves.

Set in an unnamed, rain-soaked, gothic city, Underworld isn't based on any previous material but comes packed with its own lore and history. Vampires are the ruling class who reside in the background of the modern world having suppressed Lycans many centuries ago but they still hunt them and their leader played by Michael Sheen. Selene, a Lycan hunter, starts to question her beliefs though when she rescues Scott Speedman's human who is being targeted by Lycans and soon finds herself caught in the middle of the century old war that will pit her against her own family. 

Amongst that all are a lot of names, dates and flashbacks thrown to the audience but Wiseman keeps it all very manageable and entertaining. Made on a limited budget and filmed mostly on location in Budapest, it seems whatever restraints Wiseman and crew came up against only helped to make the action more grounded without copious amounts of CGI.

The visuals also still hold-up but it is the cast who really sell this and keep what could have been a campy action flick engaging. Beckinsale is great in the leading role as Selene but almost overshadowed by two great villainous performances from Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy. Both are a hell of a lot of fun to watch here who would both go on to return in the third prequel film Rise of the Lycans six years later. 

Underworld is still a perfectly enjoyable slice of vampire action that is very much a product of its time with leather-clad heroes wielding two guns with a flare for acrobatics. The argument could be made this takes itself too seriously but I found story and its lore to be a lot of fun to immerse myself in for just under two hours. Now I do remember finding the fifth film to be a complete dud but I hope I can find something to enjoy in the other three sequels when rewatching them soon.