Review by Bob Ignizio
Plotless is a criticism one often sees leveled against action films. That's one failing UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS certainly does not suffer from. On the contrary, there is so much plot that the film becomes a huge, incomprehensible
mess. Not only do we have four previous films worth of backstory to recount in
flashbacks and voice-overs, but there are multiple factions of vampires and
werewolves each working to their own ends as they cross and double-cross each
other. And sure, you can follow it if you pay close attention, but given how
dumb and ridiculous it all is, the rewards don’t really justify the effort.
Dumb and ridiculous has always been a trademark of the UNDERWORLD series in which blood sucking
“death dealer” Selene (Kate Beckinsale) has to do battle with the savage
Lycans (the series name for werewolves) while simultaneously fending off scheming members her own
kind. That was fine in the previous films, though, as it never felt like they took themselves all
that seriously. As disposable as they may have been, they were
entertaining on a B movie level, always offering plenty of well-staged action
scenes and cheesy special effects. Here, the action and CGI monsters seem like
more of an afterthought, with Cory Goodman’s script instead focusing on the dense
mythology of the series.
