UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING 3D (2012) Review

Directed by: Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Michael Ealy, India Eisley

Let’s be honest, nobody goes to see an UNDERWORLD movie expecting to see great acting or a spellbinding story do they? I know I don’t, in fact there is really only one reason I have seen any of them at all. Kate Beckinsale in skin-tight black latex is that reason. She’s also the reason I completely skipped the third film. Sure, it still had an attractive female lead clad in latex but it wasn’t Kate so it wasn’t for me. AWAKENING is the fourth film in the franchise so by now audiences should have a good idea of what to expect. Vampires, lycans, gunfights, explosions and physics-defying action scenes have been a staple of the previous films and AWAKENING is not much different.

Selene (Beckinsale) explains through narration her plan to meet up with her hybrid lover Michael so that they can escape together, but unfortunately things don't go to plan. A grenade explodes and everything turns black. Cut to the present where we see Selene frozen in a lab, but it looks as though somebody is trying to free her. After thawing out she manages to escape the Antigen laboratory where she has been trapped for 12 years. Soon she begins having visions, as though she is seeing through somebody else's eyes and so she assumes it is Michael and goes to look for him. Along the way she is pursued by both lycans and humans but soon runs into another vampire David who helps her look for Michael. But instead of finding him, they discover somebody else who has a strong connection to Selene.

The biggest difference between AWAKENING and the previous films is that the existence of vampires and lycans is now common knowledge and during the time Selene has been imprisoned, vampires and lycans have almost been wiped out. Now not only does Selene need to worry about the threat of the remaining lycans but also her human pursuers.

Just like the previous movies, AWAKENING is very visually focused. And the 3D elements are done really well. Lots of well choreographed, flashy, over the top fight scenes, heaps of muzzle flare and explosions, shattering glass etc. It's probably just to distract people from the scant plot. The movie travels at a rather quick pace and is action packed almost the whole way through. What there is regarding story is pretty weak and just seems like a way to hold the multitude of action sequences together, but then again story has never been a strong point in the UNDERWORLD films. What people want to see is Kate Beckinsale looking sexy and kicking some ass, and she does both of these things well.