Underworld: Blood Wars is the latest film in the long running Underworld film series. It comes directed by Anna Foerster who some may know for her work on multiple episodes of The Outlander TV show. The film stars Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Lara Pulver, Charles Dance, Tobias Menzies, Bradley James and Clementine Nicholson. This film sees Selene (Kate Beckinsale) continue the fight to end the war between the Lycans and the Vampire clans.
I really love the Underworld series. It’s a film series that’s been around ever since I was a kid and I’ve always enjoyed watching each version of them. I remember being quite impressed with the last once that was released back when I saw it in the cinema, it seemed like such a great new direction to take the series in and I loved all the action sequence. Strangely, most of the films I’ve seen, I forget most of the storyline and the point of them after a while, but always remember them to be a fun action flick to go and see at the cinema, that’s why I love Underworld and it’s why I watch it.
Underworld: Blood Wars in my view delivers all the action you could want or even expect from it. There’s lycans fighting vampires, vampires fighting lycans, both groups fighting each other and a lot of sword, gun and hand to hand action to see. There’s also the addition of a particularly brutal take down, which I won’t reveal, but it’s almost like watching a Mortal Kombat fatality, I loved it!
The story is really just okay. It does enough to move Selene around the place and lure her into different areas where enemies are that she’ll have to fight. As is a common theme in the series, it’s all about the war between the Lycans and Vampires. But there is an aspect to it that I did enjoy in this and I won’t spoil it because it will ruin your experience. But I did feel that this film was able to expand and build upon the lore that this series is slowly developing and it’s important to do it because as an action flick, it’s often this area that’s neglected so it’s good to see they are doing more with these characters and their stories. What’s interesting is Clementine Nicholson’s character who is this wraith like, fast moving vampire thing. I was very interested in this and am hoping if they make another film, they can continue to expand on Lena’s small but interesting group that was present in this one.
In talking about about the balance between the action and the story. The action is similar to the level we got with the last film in the series, but the story and the way it was told was a lot more similar to the first film, which is great. There’s elements of plotting and betrayal mixed into this one and it helps to keep things interesting for the 91 minute run time, which passes by very quickly by the way!
For Underworld fans such as myself, I think this film is likely to satisfy. But for those choosing this film just as something to go in and see this weekend, or ones who aren’t too keen on the film series at all, I think it’ll be a mediocre to average experience for them, it depends upon how much you enjoyed the films in the past. But for people such as myself who like these films just for the fun of them and not expecting so much out of it, I think it’s a fun movie to go and see, I certainly enjoyed my time with it this week and would happily watch it again for fun. Anna Foerster has done well directing this one and provided an entertaining and interesting experience at the cinema which I was happy to see.
The actors all did a good enough job considering what the Underworld series is. Kate Beckinsale has played this character so many times now, so she really knows what to do and was great in this one. I always enjoy watching Charles Dance act in anything so it was great to see him in this one too. Another standout was Bradley James who some may know for his work on TV’s Merlin, he was actually one of the more memorable characters and I hope to see Bradley James in more films in the future.
Overall this is a film for people looking to have a fun time at the cinema. It’s for people looking for an action flick that gives them a decent mix of guns, swords, fighting, gore and some supernatural characters to watch get ripped apart. As a film in the series of Underworld, it fits right in there in terms of quality and I think fans will be happy with the expansion of the lore in this one, I certainly was. But I’d be interested to hear from fans about it all. If you’re looking for a light action film this weekend, this might be the movie for you to choose to see.
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