When I first saw the original UNDERWORLD, I walked out feeling like I wasted two hours of my life. But, as I usually do, I bought it on DVD anyway and ended up really liking it once I discovered the (get this) complexity of its storyline! That's right, that movie actually had a story behind it that was pretty interesting. Needless to say, I was really interested to see how this sequel would pick things up. What was Marcus going to do when he woke up? Would Selene have to go into exile? Will the war continue? So, I settled in for EVOLUTION and for about thirty minutes, I was floored! Marcus comes out like a bad mother jumper and doesn't just decapitate one character's head - that wouldn't be cool enough - no, he OBLITERATES his head! Yeah, Marcus means business. Shortly thereafter, one of the best sequences of either movie takes place in the form of an intense mountain road truck chase. So far, so good.
Then, Len tries to launch us into a new bit of story. But not before stopping over for what has to be one of the most gratuitous and laughable sex scenes in recent years. I'm not kidding, people were LAUGHING in the theater! The characters are contorted into some strange position and Michael looks like he's not sure where things go - I'll just leave it at that. And not too long after, we get a gratuitous T&A shot of some miscellaneous woman that feels just as tacked on. YAWN.
But the real problem comes in at this point. The character of Tanis fills our heroes in on what Marcus is doing, and after three minutes straight of exposition, I finally gave up trying to follow along. I still don't understand what the plot of this sequel was! Well, then our heroes go on to meet a surprise character who, given who he turns out to be, is VERY anti-climatic. All this leads up to the final action showdown - yet by this point even poor Selene seems bored with the proceedings. I think the quintessential image of this movie is Selene firing round after round from her pistols at the head Lycan while standing firmly in one place for about a full minute or two. It's like the producers decided they were tired of choreographing fight scenes so they just said, "Eh, just stand in one place and shoot at him for a few minutes - that'll be good enough for this scene." As it is, the final dispatching of one of the main baddies is so quick that if you were looking away from the screen for a moment you might miss it. The other is somewhat satisfyingly nasty, but again the action leading up to it is pretty boring.
And poor Michael - after being the focus of the first movie, he hardly seems to be able to do anything in this one besides react and ask questions. An early promise to show him coping with his new found Vampire/Lycan properties goes NOWHERE! So, what happened to our great story that the first movie set us up for? For the duration of this movie, Selene and Michael seem to be the only Vamps left in the world (plus the four or five from the helicopter at the end). Where is this war that we keep hearing about? By the time the movie was in its final act, I had taken on the idea that Selene was the last remaining Vampire in the world (which Derek Jacobi seems to nearly explicitly state). Yet in her closing monologue she refers to clans and battle lines and revenge and wars . . . oh, OK, so there ARE still others out there?? Eh, by that time I was ready to go home and go to bed. Too bad - this really could have been a great sequel if more time had been given to developing the characters and less time on sex and blood/gore/
Then, Len tries to launch us into a new bit of story. But not before stopping over for what has to be one of the most gratuitous and laughable sex scenes in recent years. I'm not kidding, people were LAUGHING in the theater! The characters are contorted into some strange position and Michael looks like he's not sure where things go - I'll just leave it at that. And not too long after, we get a gratuitous T&A shot of some miscellaneous woman that feels just as tacked on. YAWN.
But the real problem comes in at this point. The character of Tanis fills our heroes in on what Marcus is doing, and after three minutes straight of exposition, I finally gave up trying to follow along. I still don't understand what the plot of this sequel was! Well, then our heroes go on to meet a surprise character who, given who he turns out to be, is VERY anti-climatic. All this leads up to the final action showdown - yet by this point even poor Selene seems bored with the proceedings. I think the quintessential image of this movie is Selene firing round after round from her pistols at the head Lycan while standing firmly in one place for about a full minute or two. It's like the producers decided they were tired of choreographing fight scenes so they just said, "Eh, just stand in one place and shoot at him for a few minutes - that'll be good enough for this scene." As it is, the final dispatching of one of the main baddies is so quick that if you were looking away from the screen for a moment you might miss it. The other is somewhat satisfyingly nasty, but again the action leading up to it is pretty boring.
And poor Michael - after being the focus of the first movie, he hardly seems to be able to do anything in this one besides react and ask questions. An early promise to show him coping with his new found Vampire/Lycan properties goes NOWHERE! So, what happened to our great story that the first movie set us up for? For the duration of this movie, Selene and Michael seem to be the only Vamps left in the world (plus the four or five from the helicopter at the end). Where is this war that we keep hearing about? By the time the movie was in its final act, I had taken on the idea that Selene was the last remaining Vampire in the world (which Derek Jacobi seems to nearly explicitly state). Yet in her closing monologue she refers to clans and battle lines and revenge and wars . . . oh, OK, so there ARE still others out there?? Eh, by that time I was ready to go home and go to bed. Too bad - this really could have been a great sequel if more time had been given to developing the characters and less time on sex and blood/gore/