Underworld: Blood Wars

Right in line with its awful predecessor, Underworld: Blood Wars follows Kate Beckinsale’s Selene as she once again finds herself caught in the middle of an ongoing battle between vampires and werewolves. It’s ultimately clear that Underworld: Blood Wars‘ biggest problem is its inability to even partially capture the viewer’s interest, as the far-from-streamlined narrative contains scene after scene of underdeveloped characters plotting and scheming – with the heavy emphasis on such Shakespearean happenings paving the way for a midsection that is, for the most part, nothing short of interminable. There’s simply nothing here to get invested in; scripter Cory Goodman delivers a storyline devoid of attention-grabbing scenes and interludes, while the movie’s smattering of action set-pieces are foiled by filmmaker Anna Foerster’s inability to infuse such moments with excitement or even clarity (ie the director’s decision to utilize shaky camerawork and rapid-fire editing proves typically disastrous). Beckinsale’s charisma-free turn as the wooden central character doesn’t help alleviate the hopelessly laborious atmosphere, while talented performers like Charles Dance and Lara Pulver are left floundering in roles that couldn’t possibly be less developed. The climactic battle that closes the proceedings is about as tedious and uninvolving as one might’ve anticipated, with the ineffectiveness of this stretch compounded by a growing realization that there’s just nobody to root for here – which is emblematic of the mechanical, by-the-numbers nature of the entire production (ie Underworld: Blood Wars never quite justifies its very existence, really).

* out of ****