Underworld: Awakening (2012) Review

Underworld: Awakening (2012) Review

 

I was looking forward to a new Underworld film after having discovered the first three movies on blu ray as a teenager, and Awakening was the only one I saw in theaters, which of course had the 3D gimmick going for it, because everything else did in that little post-Avatar 3D bubble. It opens with voiceover by Selene recapping the previous movies and shows clips of action scenes. It feels more generic than previous intros, and actually made me miss the more stylish beginning from the first movie. The intro switches gears and rapidly summarizes this new plot: humans know about vampires and lycans and want to kill them all, the world plunges into chaos, they show a doctor on the news who you immediately can tell will be the main villain, the news anchor calls it a “mass cleansing” and then after the opening title we get a little action sequence of Selene fighting generic soldiers.

Right away you can tell this sequel was made faster and cheaper than the previous sequel, Underworld: Evolution. Michael, the hybrid played by Scott Speedman, is killed almost immediately, and Selene is frozen. They instantly dispose of the one interesting connection from movie #2. The romance in Evolution wasn’t that good, but at least an effort was made. Selene wakes up in some laboratory (which conveniently has her costume on hand in a glass container as she breaks out of her cryo tube) and the feel of the previous Underworld disappears. It feels more like Resident Evil, only worse. Turns out Selene has been frozen for years and humans think Lycans are extinct…or are they? A generic police investigation begins, and some new world building is attempted, but it’s not that remarkable.

Everything that was great about the series before is made worse, and everything already lousy about it is now downright abysmal. The dialogue is worse than ever, there is a bunch of boring action, and the cgi is very fake looking. I don’t know if that’s because it was shot to be presented in 3D or because of a stricter budget, but whatever the case, it’s unacceptable. I don’t like the different lycan designs, or the fact that they are all predominantly computer generated instead of practical. One of the main things the previous Underworld movies had going for them were the practical effects, and with those gone, it really strips away a lot of the entertainment value for me.

The plot slogs along, then all of a sudden…Charles Dance! A.K.A. Tywin Lannister from Game of Thrones. He’s the father of David, and here’s the thing about these two characters: they are clearly just substitutes for previously deceased characters. Charles Dance is the new vampire elder (replacing Viktor) and David is replacing Michael as Selene’s side kick. Only problem? Neither are as interesting, and it wasn’t like Viktor or Michael were huge standouts in the first place. As far as the plot goes, Selene’s mission is to protect “Subject 2”, a vampire teenage girl named Eve who turns out to be Selene’s daughter. It makes for a dull story. There’s not much more to say. But Underworld has been about action and gore first and foremost from the start anyway, so at least there’s plenty of that? Yes, but if only it had been good…

There isn’t a lack of action like in the first movie, but it feels way more generic and hollow and less creative. Selene is just shooting her guns willy-nilly and killing lycans like they’re a mere nuisance rather than a real threat.  There’s a scene where she fights a giant lycan, and this thing proves that bigger doesn’t mean better, or scarier, or cooler. It’s really annoying how often quick editing and flashing lights are used to hide things or make it seem more terrifying. After a cgi-heavy final fight we get a little twist—oh boy, Michael isn’t dead after all, just frozen (and labelled “Subject 0”), but when they go to get him at the very end, they find he’s escaped, and it ends just like the first movie: everyone will be after Michael, so it’s up to Selene to save him. Great.

There’s a scene where Selene confronts one of the boring cops about knowing the lycans weren’t extinct. He says he just had a feeling, and Selene responds with this gem: "I'm not good with feelings.” That response pretty much sums up the whole movie. Underworld: Awakening is more weightless and more pointless than even the prequel, which says a lot. If you’re a fan of the first three, it might be something you’d want to watch once, I guess—it lacked any value in me re-watching it other than for this review. It also leaves off on an uninteresting note for a sequel, but a sequel was still made because the 3D gimmick got enough butts in theater seats to turn a profit. I was not excited for another sequel, so I didn’t see the next one when it came out in theaters. Let’s wrap up this franchise with one more review, because the last one can’t be worse than this one…can it?