Underworld: Evolution

Movie Name: Underworld: Evolution
Year of Release: 2006
Director: Len Wiseman
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Derek Jacobi, Tony Curran, Bill Nighy, Steven Mackintosh, Shane Brolly, Sophia Myles, John Mann, Scott McElroy, Michael Sheen, Richard Cetrone, Brian Steele
Genre: Action, Fantasy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
Watch it on Amazon

Synopsis and Review

Following the unexpected success of "Underworld", the creative team behind that film united efforts to create this more ambitious sequel. The film picks up after the events of the first chapter. Selene and Michael (the vampire/werewolf hybrid), are lovers on the run, both from the vampire clans and also from the lycans. Unbeknownst to them, their actions have brought to life one of the first known vampires, the dangerous and ruthless Marcus. He kills the deceitful Kraven, but before doing so consumes his past actions and the events that have led to Selene and Michael's escape. Marcus is intent on freeing his brother William, one of the original lycans who has been imprisoned for centuries. Unlike modern lycans, who can revert back to human form, the ones descendant from his brother can never do so, and are ferocious, killing everything in sight. Marcus wants to take hold of Selene, since she holds the secret for his brother's location. Selene and Michael in the meantime realize some of Michael's bodily limitations, and are tracked by Marcus, who nearly takes them. They seek out information from Tanis, on why Marcus is so intent on getting information from Selene. Their sleuthing takes them all the way to the original vampire, Corvinus, the father of Marcus and William, who warns them that they're no match for Marcus' powers. As Marcus eventually catches up with them, wreaking havoc in the process, Selene also suffers changes that enable her to battle Marcus on a very different level.

"Underworld: Evolution" was the first sequel to a series that has continued to be a successful one for Sony Pictures (and specifically Screen Gems, their label that specializes in this genre of films). This film had double the budget of the first one, which allowed for the team to expand their scope in terms of visual effects, makeup, production design, production aspects in general. The film also had the original writers back, which allowed them to continue to focus on the relationship between Selene and Michael, while probing deeper in the origins of vampires and lycans. Sadly that's one of the aspects where the film falters most, the script. Very little background is provided for Selene or Michael, with Selene in this episode getting some of the lion share of exposition, but even that is very limited in scope, information, or how the character eventually became what she is. There's quite a bit of missed opportunities here when it comes to bringing these characters to life, mostly because the script is more focused on pitting Selene and Michael against a powerful elder, aiming for the action set pieces, disregarding character development in the process. The film is rendered like a slick and polished B-movie, which in certain aspects it manages to succeed, particularly when it comes to the creative work supervised by Patrick Tatopoulos, responsible for the Production Design, but also for the Makeup effects. All this work is a substantial departure from the prior installment, but once again is more style and not so much substance. However the action set pieces are fairly well staged, and the film mostly capitalizes on that. The cast has far more talent than what the material is giving them, starting with the underrated Kate Beckinsale, who has an enormously talented trifecta of support: Derek Jacobi, Bill Nighy, Tony Curran. All these talented performers manage to keep the events of the film always compelling. The production team is also solid, including Marco Beltrami's score, Simon Duggan's cinematography, Wendy Partridge's costumes, and the aforementioned Patrick Tatopoulos. It's a film with quite a few limitations, but its lack of pretension, married with the talent of everyone involved, elevates it to something watchable and even entertaining in certain parts. 

Batman Begins

Movie Name: Batman Begins
Year of Release: 2005
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Katie Holmes, Tom Wilkinson, Ken Watanabe, Linus Roache, Rutger Hauer, Mark Boone Junior, Gerard Murphy, Richard Brake
Genre: Action/Adventure
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Amazon

Synopsis and Review

When Warner Brothers assigned "Batman Begins" to Christopher Nolan, the writer/producer/director was still a rather neophyte navigating big budget films. He had created a name for himself with "Following", "Memento" (his big calling card at the time), and the remake of "Insomnia", which featured Al Pacino and Robin Williams. Working with David S. Goyer, who at the time was mostly well known for the scripts of "Blade" and "Dark City" (from director Alex Proyas), Christopher Nolan had the arduous task of recapturing the public's attention following the previous and disastrous Joel Schumacher Batman entries ("Batman Forever" and the rotten "Batman and Robin"). The film focuses on the narrative of Bruce Wayne, whom we once again encounter in Gotham City, who is infested with crime. His parents get brutally murdered in front of him as a child, and the young boy gets sent to a private school while a trust is set in order to manage all the interests of his family, across all the businesses they own. Bruce returns as a young man, once the murderer of his parents is up for parole. He has bitterness towards the whole ordeal, which he shares with his loyal caregiver, Alfred. The criminal is killed by one of Carmine Falcone's hired killers, and when attempting to get his revenge, Bruce is humiliated and tossed aside by Falcone. Attempting to better understand the underworld, Bruce ditches his identity and goes to Asia, where he eventually ends in prison, but also captures the attention of a man by the name of Ducard, who is working for a sinister group led by Ra's Al Ghul. While Bruce is trained in that group's ways, he's horrified by their approach to punishment, urban order, and revenge. He violently distances himself from them, and returns to Gotham, where he and Alfred start a plan to clean up the crime infection destroying the city, and they both decide to use a masked alter ego to protect themselves, which they name Batman.

Ironically of the Batman trilogy Christopher Nolan tackled, this first film is the one that is closest to the comic book aesthetic from where Batman originates. The co-writer/director is successful in creating a Gotham City that is divided by social-economic imbalances, where crime is indeed rampant, but one where the wealthy, also get to enjoy their beautiful art-deco buildings and social events. Into this world that seems ready to crack, he drops Batman, a catalyst of change, one that aims to restore more balance (or even peace) to the urban war taking place, but who finds himself battling more than he expected. The film manages to successfully illustrate Batman's first steps, his inexperience, and also his fears on what he's attempting to do (with a considerable amount of self doubt). Mr. Nolan is able to map out an intricate and diverse array of characters, some with more dimension than others, but all of them with a clear motivation expressed throughout their actions. The film is economical in their description, but robust in the manner it sets the different pieces together with all these characters. It's not Batman seen through the eyes of someone like Tim Burton, who was interested in the whole concept of outsider/freak of nature aspect the character had. Christopher Nolan goes more in the direction of a sleuthing/detective story, something he pushed even further with the following features, and that Matt Reeves also explored on his take with this character (a la "French Connection" but distilled into comic books). The cast is solid, particularly Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman, though Liam Neeson could have benefited from a slightly better written part, the same going for Katie Holmes (who has little to do). The production team is impeccable, with highlights going for Wally Pfister's cinematography, James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's score, Nathan Crowley's production design, and Lindy Hemming's costume design. It's an entertaining film and interpretation of this iconic character.