Thoughts on Underworld: Awakening
So this movie finally hit the Redbox! A few jumbled thoughts right after viewing it.
First of all, I agree with other fans of the series that this movie is definitely the second best of the series. The story in UW3 is a touch more tightly written, but this was much better than I expected!
-NO MORE EXCESSIVE EXPOSITION. I'm glad the writers stopped pretending the people watching these films weren't already fans and we didn't have to sit through a five minute State of the Protagonist speech from Selene. They told us the basics, and then we were done.
-The dystopian social collapse following the revelation about the existence of immortals was done fairly well. It was clever to subvert our preexisting assumptions about the lycans (uncivilized, disorganized, simplistic) to hide the movie's big twist. Six hundred years of antipathy is pretty hard to get over, I suppose. :P
-Was it really that hard to get Scott Speedman to show up for the whole five minutes Michael was in the film? Seriously? I admit I would have liked to have seen more of Michael, how the years as an immortal and the purges had changed him. It doesn't weaken the film excessively - Michael has always been an accessory to HER story, not the star of it - but I did sort of miss him. But this is Selene. We know she's tough. There's never a question that she'll survive this, with him or not. This is something I think Michael understands, possibly even loves most about her. This is a woman who will never die helplessly before his eyes.
-The CGI in this film is better than the first and second, but it could still use some work. The lycans in particularly seemed a bit off here and there.
-What was it Dr. Lane said he was going to use put Selene back to sleep? Fentanyl? What? Fentanyl is a powerful narcotic painkiller. It only causes torpor when overdosed. Considering the other drug references were correct, I'm surprised they got that wrong.
-I like that this film didn't skim over the reality that Selene is a hardened killer, and we finally get to see the soldier she was at her prime rather than the increasingly obsolete relic of a fading era. This is the first film where I felt like we really got to see Vampire!Selene instead of just Selene-the-badass-with-sharp-teeth. I'm also glad that this was taken to its logical conclusion with Michael's "death" and Eve's existence - it takes awhile for her to get to that place where she can connect emotionally. Her devotion to her daughter isn't surprising; Thomas was right when he said it was in her blood to fiercely protect what was hers. This is a woman who gave up her humanity and went on a six hundred year murder spree to avenge her family. Why anyone think it wise to cross her at this point is beyond me.
-This film never seems to stop. It just moves from one battle to the next, which keeps it from dawdling too much, but I do miss some of the lingering, character-oriented moments from the first film. I suppose that's part of Selene's reality now, though. The battle never ends, and there's never enough time for what matters. You shed a few tears, pick up the gun, and keep moving.
-Is it just me, or did this film contain almost UW2 levels of gore? I actually cringed at the part where Selene broke the guy's arm by pushing the bone through the elbow and aldsjflsjaljfldsa;jlfda oh how I cringed. D:
-♥ Eve. ♥ What an adorable little child killer. She could have benefited from a little more character development, but she had enough personality to keep her sympathetic. I do like the ugliness of her transformation. None of this "beauty is never tarnished" BS women usually get hit with in these movies.
-Did I just miss the dialogue reference or did they ever specify how Eve was conceived? Was Selene pregnant and unaware of it at the time or her capture or did they genetically produce her using Selene and Michael's DNA? If it's the latter, then that makes me curious if Selene can naturally conceive.
-Lida's character is a really blatant case of Women in the Refrigerator syndrome.
-Stephen Rea was very well cast as Dr. Lane. I loved how unnerving he was, no matter what scene he was in.
-So was Quint the same super-lycan that attacked the coven earlier or what? I'm kind of curious if Lane was a lycan before his son's birth or after. His explanation of Quint's Missing Mom syndrome makes it sound as though he willingly became one.
-FFFFFFFFFFFFFFfff <3 Did you love the scene where Selene finds "Subject 0" and only lingers long enough to shoot down the cryostasis? BECAUSE I DID. It speaks volumes about the level of trust between them. She knows he'll come find her.
-I find the explanation that Eve's brainwaves are "synched" to Selene's kind of strange, but I suppose amidst all of the other anatomical bullshit going on, I could buy it as a survival mechanic when Eve or her parents are under extreme fear or duress. Well, hopefully that's the extent of it. That could make for some awkward teen years.
-Canonically, immortals spread their viruses via bite, and with the exception of those with the Corvinus strain, those bitten by both wind up dying due to cellular atrophy. So how did David survive the lycan bite he received during the battle at the Coven? I'm assuming it must have been Selene's blood, but doesn't that mean she infected him with the Corvinus strain? Shouldn't he be super vampire, too? Edit: Wiki suggests that he did indeed become a hybrid. Okay, that makes a little more sense.
-SOMEBODY NEEDS TO WRITE ABOUT SEBASTIAN AND HIS WIFE. STAT.
-I like that the ending is left open-ended as far as the fate of the world, but I do feel Selene's story has come to a satisfying close. She went full circle, becoming a vampire to avenge the family she couldn't save, and now she ends the story hand-in-hand with the family she did.
OVERALL, AN ENJOYABLE FILM. Now, I must watch Thor. Saw The Avengers yesterday, SO THIS HAS BEEN A GOOD WEEK.
First of all, I agree with other fans of the series that this movie is definitely the second best of the series. The story in UW3 is a touch more tightly written, but this was much better than I expected!
-NO MORE EXCESSIVE EXPOSITION. I'm glad the writers stopped pretending the people watching these films weren't already fans and we didn't have to sit through a five minute State of the Protagonist speech from Selene. They told us the basics, and then we were done.
-The dystopian social collapse following the revelation about the existence of immortals was done fairly well. It was clever to subvert our preexisting assumptions about the lycans (uncivilized, disorganized, simplistic) to hide the movie's big twist. Six hundred years of antipathy is pretty hard to get over, I suppose. :P
-Was it really that hard to get Scott Speedman to show up for the whole five minutes Michael was in the film? Seriously? I admit I would have liked to have seen more of Michael, how the years as an immortal and the purges had changed him. It doesn't weaken the film excessively - Michael has always been an accessory to HER story, not the star of it - but I did sort of miss him. But this is Selene. We know she's tough. There's never a question that she'll survive this, with him or not. This is something I think Michael understands, possibly even loves most about her. This is a woman who will never die helplessly before his eyes.
-The CGI in this film is better than the first and second, but it could still use some work. The lycans in particularly seemed a bit off here and there.
-What was it Dr. Lane said he was going to use put Selene back to sleep? Fentanyl? What? Fentanyl is a powerful narcotic painkiller. It only causes torpor when overdosed. Considering the other drug references were correct, I'm surprised they got that wrong.
-I like that this film didn't skim over the reality that Selene is a hardened killer, and we finally get to see the soldier she was at her prime rather than the increasingly obsolete relic of a fading era. This is the first film where I felt like we really got to see Vampire!Selene instead of just Selene-the-badass-with-sharp-teeth. I'm also glad that this was taken to its logical conclusion with Michael's "death" and Eve's existence - it takes awhile for her to get to that place where she can connect emotionally. Her devotion to her daughter isn't surprising; Thomas was right when he said it was in her blood to fiercely protect what was hers. This is a woman who gave up her humanity and went on a six hundred year murder spree to avenge her family. Why anyone think it wise to cross her at this point is beyond me.
-This film never seems to stop. It just moves from one battle to the next, which keeps it from dawdling too much, but I do miss some of the lingering, character-oriented moments from the first film. I suppose that's part of Selene's reality now, though. The battle never ends, and there's never enough time for what matters. You shed a few tears, pick up the gun, and keep moving.
-Is it just me, or did this film contain almost UW2 levels of gore? I actually cringed at the part where Selene broke the guy's arm by pushing the bone through the elbow and aldsjflsjaljfldsa;jlfda oh how I cringed. D:
-♥ Eve. ♥ What an adorable little child killer. She could have benefited from a little more character development, but she had enough personality to keep her sympathetic. I do like the ugliness of her transformation. None of this "beauty is never tarnished" BS women usually get hit with in these movies.
-Did I just miss the dialogue reference or did they ever specify how Eve was conceived? Was Selene pregnant and unaware of it at the time or her capture or did they genetically produce her using Selene and Michael's DNA? If it's the latter, then that makes me curious if Selene can naturally conceive.
-Lida's character is a really blatant case of Women in the Refrigerator syndrome.
-Stephen Rea was very well cast as Dr. Lane. I loved how unnerving he was, no matter what scene he was in.
-So was Quint the same super-lycan that attacked the coven earlier or what? I'm kind of curious if Lane was a lycan before his son's birth or after. His explanation of Quint's Missing Mom syndrome makes it sound as though he willingly became one.
-FFFFFFFFFFFFFFfff <3 Did you love the scene where Selene finds "Subject 0" and only lingers long enough to shoot down the cryostasis? BECAUSE I DID. It speaks volumes about the level of trust between them. She knows he'll come find her.
-I find the explanation that Eve's brainwaves are "synched" to Selene's kind of strange, but I suppose amidst all of the other anatomical bullshit going on, I could buy it as a survival mechanic when Eve or her parents are under extreme fear or duress. Well, hopefully that's the extent of it. That could make for some awkward teen years.
-Canonically, immortals spread their viruses via bite, and with the exception of those with the Corvinus strain, those bitten by both wind up dying due to cellular atrophy. So how did David survive the lycan bite he received during the battle at the Coven? I'm assuming it must have been Selene's blood, but doesn't that mean she infected him with the Corvinus strain? Shouldn't he be super vampire, too? Edit: Wiki suggests that he did indeed become a hybrid. Okay, that makes a little more sense.
-SOMEBODY NEEDS TO WRITE ABOUT SEBASTIAN AND HIS WIFE. STAT.
-I like that the ending is left open-ended as far as the fate of the world, but I do feel Selene's story has come to a satisfying close. She went full circle, becoming a vampire to avenge the family she couldn't save, and now she ends the story hand-in-hand with the family she did.
OVERALL, AN ENJOYABLE FILM. Now, I must watch Thor. Saw The Avengers yesterday, SO THIS HAS BEEN A GOOD WEEK.