Underworld
Directed by Len Wiseman
It's vampires vs. werewolves in the slickly produced Underworld, a Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment Widescreen Special Edition release (03152, $29). Reminiscent of Blade, the film is set in a contemporary city (it was shot in Eastern Europe and looks it) where a rivalry that has gone on for a millennia is finally coming to a head, thanks to liquid silver and irradiated bullets, and the emergence of an inheritor of a unique bloodline. The vampires are effete aristocrats who hang out in an oversized mansion and the werewolves are scrappy homeless types who live in subway tunnels. The heroine is a vampire, and a bit of a Romeo & Juliet story develops, among other things. Although washy colors are a general cliché these days, the muted hues are highly effective and convey just enough of an otherworldly sense to differentiate the film's environment from the real world. The beginning is highly confusing because the filmmakers take their sweet time explaining what is going on, and the grand battle at the end is a few beats too long, but neither condition is really a flaw, just something that some viewers may have a harder time adjusting to than others. Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman have top billing, and both bring a fresh, stars-of-the-future presence to the production. The special effects are not greatly innovative, but they are extensively and rousingly applied, and the action scenes are justified by the moderately complex narrative.
The letterboxing has an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The color transfer looks terrific, with precise shadings. The 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound is jacked up, and is probably jacked up too much. There is a decent amount of entertaining separation detail, and very crisp tones, but you really have to lower the volume some to catch it all, or else the noise overwhelms the subtleties. The 121-minute program has an alternate French audio track in 5.1 Dolby, optional English, French and Spanish subtitles, a Finch music video (hidden on a somewhat obscure second 'Special Features' menu page), a 7-minute storyboard comparison segment, two TV commercials, a trailer, trailers for Resident Evil 2 and The Forsaken, and 36 minutes of fairly basic but informative production featurettes.
There is a very good commentary track featuring the director, Len Wiseman, and the co-writers with Wiseman, Kevin Grevioux and Danny McBride. Grevioux has a very unique sounding voice-the cartoons are calling him-and a supporting role in the film, too. They talk all about developing the concept and the story, and then making it in Hungary for much less than it would have cost elsewhere. Once in a while, Wiseman wasn't able to get the effects he wanted, such as during a scene where two werewolves are fighting with each other ("I'm still a bit disappointed in myself, because I picture the werewolves being down on all fours and fighting much more like dogs, and it was just so difficult to work it out with the guys in the suits on the wires and the whole bit. So they had to kind of stand up and fight like Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots."), but he was able to achieve quite a bit with very limited resources. They also talk about the performers, the sets and costumes, the cinematography and all other aspects of the production.
On a second track, visual effects supervisor James McQuaide, creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos and soundman Claude Letessier discuss technical aspects of the film's production in greater detail. As an addendum to Wiseman's talk, the track is excellent, because it expands effectively on subjects such as the special effects, the stunts, the sound mix, the cinematography, etc. The details are often fascinating. Tatopoulos describes what the process of having a plaster cast made of your face is like, and how claustrophobic it becomes when the plaster starts to harden. "It feels like your head is sealed in stone or something." Even though it takes just a few minutes, with the applicators talking to the subject the entire time, not everyone stays calm. "Some actors just totally trash the thing in the middle of it. They freak out so bad that they just pull all the [plaster off them]. It's funny, because people contain themselves for a while. You can see them starting to shiver a bit. And then 'bccghgh!' They burst." He assures us, however, that Speedman had no problems.
The Review Vault
The Best of 2003
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