Review: Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

Directed by: Anna Foerster | 88 minutes | action, adventure, fantasy | Actors: Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Tobias Menzies, Lara Pulver, Charles Dance, James Faulkner, Peter Andersson, Clementine Nicholson, Bradley James, Daisy Head, Oliver Star, Zuzana Stivinova, Brian Caspe, Jan Nemejovský, Sveta Driga

Underworld: Blood Wars is already the fifth installment in the Underworld series, a series that brings us into the epic and never-ending battle between vampires and Lycans (werewolves). The sexy death dealer (a vampire who actively hunts Lycans) Selene, an old acquaintance from parts one, two and four, is in a difficult position: she must defend herself against both werewolves and a group of vampires who cheated on her . With David and his father James by her side, Selene must end the centuries-long war between vampires and Lycans.

Where the combination of a gothic-looking world, superbeings fighting each other for life and death and spectacular action in the style of ‘The Matrix’ initially led to a fine film trilogy, the fourth part of the Underworld series was already a lot less. With ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’, the franchisees have unfortunately failed to break that downward spiral. Of course, the movie has its qualities. For the action lover there is quite a bit to enjoy, although the rapid fire and delay trick, which we also saw many times in the earlier parts and the films from the Matrix trilogy, is now getting a bit boring. And although the special effects look less than in the previous Underworld films, ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ scores sufficiently in that area.

But the biggest problem is that ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ feels like a perfunctory exercise that is mainly intended to milk the franchise a bit further financially. The acting of lead protagonist Beckinsale, the repeating story: it all goes on automatic pilot and contains almost exactly the same elements as the previous films, with the difference that parts one and three were still worn by charismatic characters such as the top vampire Viktor and Lycan leader. Lucian. Those characters were very convincingly played by Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen respectively and gave ‘Underworld’ and ‘Underworld: Rise of the Lycans’ extra cachet.

Although ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ has a few nice moments in store for the viewer, it is a flat, fairly uninspired film that hardly contributes to the series. Perhaps it would have been wiser to stop after the third part, which is a prequel to the original and provides an excellent background story for the first two parts, with this promising, but unfortunately gradually losing quality, story about the battle that has been raging since time immemorial. vampires and Lycans.