By: Ali Habous
As long as Underworld and Resident Evil movies continue to make money then don’t be surprised to see a new one every year or two. A movie like Underworld: Blood Wars with a budget of around 50 million and an expected box office gross of over 100 million is a good deal for the producers and the fans alike, who certainly wouldn’t mind another action packed Underworld movie. This one is watchable and delivers some fun action and battle scenes but it suffers greatly from franchise fatigue as it will certainly test the patience of the current fans and struggle greatly to add any new ones.
There is absolutely nothing new to the story or the setting, unlike the last installment which took the franchise to a different place, trying to breathe some fresh air into the franchise (Selene waking up in the future). Here we barely see any humans or anything outside the Vampires Vs Lycans war. In Blood Wars, we have the Lycans regrouping under a new leader and trying to realize their full potential and crush the vampires once and for all. The vampires on the other hand are starting to realise that they will need the help of the renegade and the greatest of all the death dealers Selene (Kate Beckinsale). Add some obvious betrayals and some plot twists and you will probably have everything figured out before the film’s midway.
Even though most of the cast are capable actors, some seem out of their comfort zone especially Tobias Menzies as Marius. He is a talented English actor but not an action star, at least not yet, and here he seems to be getting used to that idea. Like the previous installments, the action scenes are fun to watch with plenty of gore. The dim atmosphere that the fans are expecting is strongly present and serves as a reminder of how fun the first two installments were.
Kate Beckinsale continues to be the main attraction as the ever-deadly death dealer Selene and if one day she decides to call it a day then the franchise should be put to permanent rest. The main problem with “Underworld: Blood Wars” is its struggle to offer anything new in any department whether its action, character, or story. It is exactly as you expect it to be and that is the movie’s main weakness and ironically the movie’s main strength too because it tries to keep in line with the fans’ expectations and not take a lot of risk to deviate from that path.
Rating: 5.5/10
What did you think of Underworld: Blood Wars? Let us know in the comments below…
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @GetReelMovies