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 to the epic and everlasting 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, finds herself in a difficult position: she must defend herself against werewolves as well as against a group of vampires who betrayed her. . With David and his father James by her side, Selene must end the centuries-old war between vampires and Lycans.

Where the combination of a gothic-looking world, super creatures fighting each other to the death and dazzling action in the style of ‘The Matrix’ initially led to a fine film triptych, the fourth part of the Underworld series was already a lot less. Unfortunately, with ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ the franchisees failed to break that downward spiral. Of course, the film has its qualities. For the action enthusiast there is quite a bit to enjoy, although the rapid-fire and delay trick, which we also saw frequently in the earlier parts and the films from the Matrix trilogy, is now getting a bit boring. And although the special effects are less eye-catching than in the previous Underworld films, ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ still scores well in that regard. The story, on the other hand, is messy and slowly but surely corrupts the mythology behind the Underworld universe into a barely untangled, uncontextualized tangle of facts, names and legends.

But the biggest problem is that ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ feels like a perfunctory exercise that is mainly intended to milk the franchise a little further financially. The acting of the main protagonist Beckinsale, the repetitive 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 carried by charismatic characters such as the chief vampire Viktor and Lycan leader Lucian. Precisely those characters were played in a very convincing way by Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen respectively and gave ‘Underworld’ and ‘Underworld: Rise of the Lycans’ extra cachet.

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