Review: Ultraviolet (2006)

Director: Kurt Wimmer | 83 minutes | action, horror, science fiction | Actors: Milla Jovovich, Cameron Bright, Nick Chinlund, Sebastien Andrieu, Ida Martin, William Fichtner, David Collier, Kieran O’Rorke, Digger Mesch, Ryan Martin, Steven Calcote, Ricardo Mamood, Mike Smith, Clay Cullen, Jennifer Caputo

Cyber ​​ninjas, photo models, hip house beats, men with raspy voices and a scantily clad Milla Jovovich: what’s not to like? You can laugh about it, but ‘Ultraviolet’ is the new action film for a young generation. Flashy, smooth and cleverly made. While as a teenager in the 80s you had to make do with Arnie’s granite head or Sly’s angular penny tray, today’s teenagers can enjoy Mila Jovovich’s cuddly face. Those youth also of today… How good they are again!

In ‘Ultraviolet’ it is a sad affair. The planet has been hit by a whole series of plagues. The population has been considerably thinned by a hi-tech variant of the plague. At least that’s what people think. After a rather drastic ‘clean-up’ reminiscent of what happened in Europe in the 1940s-45s of the last century, there are still some ‘sick’ who survived the slaughter. The survivors have special qualities that make them stronger than the average person.

Violet (Jovovich) is one of them. The young woman is furious and demands revenge. But then her life suddenly changes when she meets the kid Six (Bright). The child has a gene that can cure the ‘sick’. Will Violet choose to live a normal life or will she continue to spend her days as an outcast?

Okay, story-wise, ‘Ultraviolet’ doesn’t do anything new. You can dismiss the movie as a clone of ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Mad Max’, but then you are doing the movie short. ‘Ultraviolet’ is never too heavy on the hand and also visually, the film differs strongly from the competition. Director Kurt Wimmer loves colors and you will notice it. The movie is constantly changing color and bright color filters and fresh decors cannot be dragged around. To complete the sharp palette of yellow, red and magenta tones, Wimmer also uses photoshop techniques to accentuate shapes and structures. Sometimes ‘Ultraviolet’ comes across as rather sterile and some action scenes clearly come out of a roaring laptop. At times you watch a runaway computer game, but what the heck is that? The film remains entertaining for the full 83 minutes, thanks to the pumped-up mounting and Milla Jovovich. What the gorgeous actress delivers here is certainly not worthy of an Oscar, but for a film like this it is enough. If you really want to see Milla doing well as an actress, then you better fish tragicomedy ‘Dummy’ from the budget bin. In ‘Ultraviolet’ the photo model is mainly acting physically and to be honest, that is absolutely no punishment to look at. She has the right attitude and her action scenes look convincing. that is absolutely no punishment to watch. She has the right attitude and her action scenes look convincing. that is absolutely no punishment to watch. She has the right attitude and her action scenes look convincing.

The other actors are not worth mentioning. This is a one woman show. ‘Ultraviolet’ is certainly not a film that increases your brain content, asks meaningful questions about this world or puts a hip band or child star on the map. However, this does not alter the fact that this 83-minute thrill ride will mainly appeal to adolescents and for them this could be a life-changing film. Come on, admit it: Who didn’t enjoy a stupid brawl movie in their youth? A production that was destroyed by the serious press, but which has given countless young people a lot of pleasure? Think of a ‘Commando’ from Arnie or a ‘Nico’ from Mister Seagal. In retrospect, you may be ashamed of those ‘guilty pleasures’, but it has been your entrance ticket to the film world.

What Wimmer has achieved with this film is a nice film, nothing more and nothing less. By choosing Milla as the heroine, the director has made a great choice. The actress has girl power. For girls a role model and for boys… Well, fill that in yourself. One look at that belly and you’re sold.