Vampires- versus- werewolves series in need of silver bullet
UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, India Eisley Directed by: Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein Running time: 88 minutes 18A: violence, gory scenes Written by: Len Wiseman, John Hlavin, J. Michael Straczynski and Allison Burnett
The age- old war of the vampires and the lycans — the supernatural version of the Hatfields and Mccoys — resumes in Underworld: Awakening, an exercise in overkill that stands mostly as an opportunity to see Kate Beckinsale in her black leather jumpsuit one more time.
The fourth in the series, with more sequels hinted at, finds Beckinsale’s vampirish death dealer Selene being captured while trying to flee a human war against both vampires and lycans, which is actually a euphemism for werewolves although it doesn’t sound any better. Humans have declared a “mass cleansing” — about time too.
Selene awakens 12 years later in a laboratory where evil Dr. Lane ( Stephen Rea) has been doing experiments on her DNA. Fortunately, her black jumpsuit is in a nearby closet, and before long she’s in action again, using gun, knife, boots, axe and exploding Frisbees to battle her ferocious foes.
The most interesting thing about all this is the casting of Rea, one of several stale- dated British stars who are featured in the Underworld series, which seems to attract actors who couldn’t land parts in all that Harry Potter brouhaha. As a villain, he replaces Michael Sheen, who always seemed a little fineboned for the part anyway. Similarly, the vampire leader is now portrayed by Charles Dance, taking over from Bill Nighy, who had his head sliced open diagonally in a previous episode.
Anyway, Selene finds that she and her missing lover Michael — a hybrid of vampire and lycan who combines the best of each, kind of like a nectarine — have produced a daughter, Eve ( India Eisley), who is a hybrid as well. Just like here on planet Earth, hybrids are in great demand, so Selene and Eve must run for their lives, helped along by David ( Theo Jones), another vampire who has gone underground during the great human purge.
This results in a touching family story with a note of spiritual crisis that is enlivened by several scenes of people slicing their arms open or reaching right into other people’s stomachs to avail themselves of organs.
Underworld: Awakening is a dark film, and the 3- D version — except for an explosion or two that sends glass or particles of lycan- killing silver into the air — is too muted to be worth much.
The lycans are disarmingly retro, as if they were moulded out of clay. They look like something Ray Harryhausen created for The 7th Voyage of Sinbad back in 1958. That one had sequels too, but at least it knew when to stop.