Underworld: Evolution continues the saga of war between the Death Dealers and the Lycans. The film goes back to the beginnings of the ancient feud between the two tribes as Selene (Kate Beckinsale), the beautiful vampire heroine, and Michael (Scott Speedman), the lycan hybrid, try to unlock the secrets of their bloodlines.Well, that's pretty accurate.
This movie begins with a flashback to events in the 1200's, when the Corvinus brothers first became vampire and werewolf. It then returns to the "present," that being about an hour or so after the events of the first movie.
I always like it when filmmakers do that; having a break of days, weeks, months, or even years between the events of the original and the events of the sequel suggests that the two in fact have nothing to do with each other besides milking a few dollars out of a profitable franchise, which I always hate.
Now, the IMDB users point out a few continuity errors, which I noticed, although I have to say they're much less glaring than has become the norm these days; things like a ripped shirt becoming whole are minor after seeing the cab windshield becoming whole in Collateral - several times.
I will admit that I derive a great deal of enjoyment from watching Kate Beckinsale in skintight leather; what straight male doesn't? But unlike the first, this movie brings its formula to the table more effectively, and that is action. There's nothing wrong with an action film, and this is a good one. Does the plot make sense? Well, sort of, but really it's mostly a backdrop used to provide the characters a way to beat the crap out of each other.
The effects are, if anything, more effective than in the first Underworld title, mostly because the crew got past the whole "whoa, we're making a werewolf film" issue and passed off the transformations as commonplace, often panning the camera past a human-werewolf transformation without even stopping. This is effective - usually, even in the first Underworld movie,directors of werewolf pictures end up "drawing out the drama" of the transformation at some point by giving an extended close-up effects shot - which is universally a mistake. Special effects are most convincing in moderation. Your brain has a tolerance level for visual effects, and past a certain point, the brain rebels against it. Spiderman and Spiderman 2 are perfect examples of how to do it right - the Spiderman character is entirely CG, but it's never focused on as the exclusive core of the frame, so your eye doesn't have time to pick out the details that give it away.
It's for exactly this reason that Evolution works. Both the effects and the plot, which does have holes, like any action movie, are tacitly accepted by the crew, and therefore easier to accept by the audience, because they move past before you have a chance for your mind to nitpick it to pieces. Since this is something that I am notorious for, I expect that the fact that I liked this movie will come as somewhat of a surprise, but the way the movie is put together, and the pacing, really doesn't give you much of a chance to do anything other than wince and cringe a bit when someone's head gets ripped off.
I will give this movie a good recommendation, with the caveat that you will enjoy it more if you watched the first movie, and the second caveat that you really shouldn't eat during some of the fight scenes.
