Underworld

Underworld is an odd mix of many positive and negative elements. Some love it, others hate it, and the vast majority of critics simply don't care.

The best aspect of the film by far is its well-imagined fictional world. In this story, vampires and werewolves (called "Lycans") have been in conflict for many centuries, and continue their war in today's world. They live as underground gangs, ever looking for new ways to destroy each other. The vampires, using modern technology, have found ways to artificially create human blood, thus removing their need to feed on human beings. Additionally, the Lycans--unlike traditional werewolves--have the ability to completely control their transformations.
The major difference between the two factions is that the Lycans have the advantage of brute strength, while the vampires must avoid sunlight and rely on weaponry in order to stand a chance. Another rather refreshing spark of originality is that Underworld's vampires and werewolves are not supernatural beings at all, nor are they intrinsically malevolent. Instead, their abilities derive from a much more science fiction-esque mutated virus.

Kate Beckinsale plays Selene, a vampire "Death-Dealer" (Lycan hunter). When she meets a young man that may be the key to a long-forgotten secret of both the Lycans and Vampires, she delves into forbidden history, revealing some rather shocking truths.

The undersaturated, gothic visual style of Underworld is striking. This style makes the world of Underworld feel somewhat special, despite its lackluster character and emotional beats.

A rather surprising thing about the film is that, for an R-rated film, it is extremely light on mature content. For a film about a super-powered bloody gang war, there isn't actually that much gore, save for a specific scene or two. Even more surprising is the fact that—despite the film being centered on a vampire Kate Beckinsale wearing a tight black leather outfit—there was absolutely no R-rated sexual content whatsoever. I literally sat there after finishing the movie and thought "where was all the sex and violence?"

One place that Underworld truly stands out, however, is in its obviously-well-thought-out universe and mythology. Everything from the design and function of the characters' unique weaponry to the intricate history of the vampires and lycans is dense with detail. In fact, it's so dense that it can almost be hard to follow at times. There is a lot of exposition in this movie. A lot.

The main problem with Underworld, however, isn't its plot, its characters, or its world. It's simply that there aren't that many strong emotional beats in the story. Considering that this is largely a story of loyalty and betrayal (with a side of love), there should be a lot more punch in this movie's emotion. There's any number of reasons this could be: the flat and boring music, the only moderately-well-written script, the monotone feel of the directing, etc. In the end, this lack of heart is what turns Underworld from a good or great movie into a merely decent one.

Truth be told, the concept of Underworld is really its most enjoyable aspect. The mere idea of a "sci-fi vampire/werewolf gang war" makes this film at least passable. Kate Beckinsale perfectly fits—and defines—the character of Selene, adding some much-needed depth and interest to the otherwise bleak story.

If you're a big fan of gothic fantasy, I'd recommend this film. It's got some great ideas and a rather complex mythology that may hold your interest.

6/10

Daredevil

(Note: this review is based on the Director's Cut of the film, not the theatrical version)

As a twelve-year-old boy, Matt Murdock is blinded when toxic waste splashes in his eyes. However, his other senses develop to a superhuman degree, including a sonar-based "radar sense." When his father is murdered by criminals, Matt spends the rest of his life training to be a skilled martial artist and acrobat, eventually becoming the devil-themed crimefighting vigilante known as Daredevil, "the man without fear." Matt has also become an attorney, using his heightened senses as a lie detector.
Matt meets Elektra Natchios (who is both the daughter of a billionaire and trained in ninja-style martial arts), and the two begin dating. When Elektra's father comes into trouble with Wilson Fisk, the "Kingpin" of crime in New York, all manner of tragedy ensues, ending up in a three-way battle between Daredevil, Elektra, and "Bullseye," the deadly assassin who never misses.

This movie's plot, for the most part, is basic and not very well-developed. Most of the characters suffer from the same lack of development, and it really hurts the movie overall. Aside from Matt and Elektra, no one else in the film really has much to do other than "their jobs." Even though the Kingpin and Bullseye are excellently acted and highly entertaining to watch, they don't "develop;" they simply stay the same and play straight-up bad guys. This isn't necessarily a problem in itself, though it does place the focus of the film squarely on the leather-clad hero couple. That wouldn't be a bad thing, if not for the fact that they don't quite shine in the limelight.

The romantic story between Matt and Elektra isn't quite given the time it needs. Their relationship jumps from curious flirtation to deep affection too fast for the audience to emotionally follow along. In the beginning of the film, their story actually feels like a bizarre type of celebrity worship, as though the audience is supposed to fawn over the sheer spectacle of seeing Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck on-screen in a flirtatious action scene together.

Elektra is never given a real reason for learning such deadly martial arts, other than merely for self-defense (which doesn't make sense, considering that she's clearly trained with the skills of an assassin).

Fortunately, Matt is very well-developed in this movie. He may be slightly miscast with Ben Affleck, but not to a terrible degree. We get the most time with him, we understand what makes him tick, and we get why he's attracted to Elektra (and why he comes to care deeply for her).

Unfortunately, there's a certain level of silliness that permeates much of the film. Too many stunts involve entirely unbelievable wirework or extremely stiff fight choreography. Even worse, there are dozens of shots with obviously CGI versions of the characters doing ridiculous acrobatic stunts. No one in the film has actual superhuman strength, so why can characters sometimes leap 20-30 feet at a time? It all only serves to bring the film down.

The last twenty minutes of the movie, however, are excellent. The entire narrative switches from a slightly cheesy superhero crime story to a dark, tragic drama filled with powerful gothic imagery. It's these final moments that manage to elevate Daredevil to a seriously deep and enjoyable level.

Were the entire film like the last section, it would flat-out be a great dramatic superhero movie. As it is, it's just decent fun. Not worth raving over, but certainly worth watching.

6/10

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The Chamber of Secrets takes what was in The Sorcerer's Stone and makes it a bit deeper, darker, and ultimately better.

The story here flows much, much better than last time. Whereas The Sorcerer's Stone was jumpy and jumbled as it flowed from start to finish, this movie feels more appropriately suited for film, and is much easier to sink into.

While The Sorcerer's Stone had some very dark moments, it retained a somewhat lighthearted tone that didn't always match the action.  The Chamber of Secrets, however, manages to blend its tone and subject matter much better.  While death was often mentioned in the previous film, here we actually see a bit of bloody on-screen violence.

The visual effects in this film are much better than in the last, but are still far from perfect.  The Quidditch match is less embarassing to watch, but it's not great either.  The spiders go back and forth from looking obviously fake to rather impressively realistic.  The Basilisk itself looks near-perfect, but the difference between the CG model and the real-life animatronic model is very obvious.  I'm actually not sure which model is inferior; it could be that the CG model doesn't correctly reflect light, or it could be that the fake skin on the animatronic model isn't as realistic as it should be.  Either way, both models look amazing on their own; they're just distractingly different.

The set design is amazing. The Chamber of Secrets itself looks completely real; it simultaneously scares the audience and piques their curiosity.

The acting in this film has also improved over the last one.  The child actors are less awkward, and it helps a bit.  Jason Isaacs' portrayal of Lucius Malfoy is masterful; he's the very model of a great villain.

John Williams' musical score is catchy to be sure, but it also feels extremely similar to his other works.  The Quidditch match's score sounds almost identical to the generic action music heard in the Star Wars prequels, and many of the themes that are meant to evoke "the majesty and wonder" of Harry's magical world sound very much like themes from Jurassic Park and E.T. While there's nothing wrong with The Chamber of Secrets's musical score when examined on its own, it sounds so similar to other soundtracks that it's distracting for a fantasy-genre soundtrack geek like myself.

This chapter in the Harry Potter series initially seems to be a self-contained adventure, where nothing is lost or gained, and everything merely returns to the status quo at the end. A singular evil rose, and Harry defeated it. Were someone to judge the entire series based on the first two books/films, they might assume that it was nothing more than a series of magical mystery stories for children, rather than what it truly is: a deeply-woven mythology filled with realistically developing characters and wonderful storytelling.

However, future Potter books/films refer back to The Chamber of Secrets, revealing how the specific events here are, in fact, of immense importance. Repeat viewings, in light of the sequels, are much more entertaining.

Honestly, there's not much to say about this film that wasn't already said about the first.  The acting is better, the special effects are better, and the story gets a tad darker. Certain elements work extremely well in film form, notably the Basilisk battle and certain lines of well-said dialogue.  These little bits of fun elevate the film above its predecessor, and set the bar just a bit higher for the series as a whole.

7/10

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

This film is the very definition of a straight book-to-screen translation, for better or for worse.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone follows the original children’s novel very closely, perhaps to a fault. The film covers nearly every single aspect of the book, leaving very little out. Unfortunately, this means that the movie is crammed full at two and a half hours, but still feels as though it's rushing in order to cover everything. The dramatic pace of the movie is a bit off because of this, sometimes making the film feel a little bit like a childrens' roller coaster rather than a well-rounded story.

However, the casting here is completely flawless. Good child actors are seemingly non-existent, yet the lead three characters are played perfectly by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint.

The visual effects go back and forth between astounding and disgusting. All of the “solid” objects look amazing. Hogwarts castle looks completely real, as do all of the other environments. The makeup on the goblins is particularly good; they look like evil, pale-faced Yodas. The attention to detail in the film's visuals overall is practically unmatched. When it comes to the CGI, however, it's an entirely different matter. Almost every time a CG monster or human is shown, it looks obviously fake and cartoonish. Because CG creatures are the focus of many important scenes in the film, this can be extremely distracting.
On the other hand, the whimsical and kid-friendly tone of the movie counters this somewhat. After all, when you have eleven-year-old wizards using tiny wands to battle a slimy mountain troll, realism takes a slight dive. It would have been nice to have real-looking CG effects, but the movie isn't ruined because of the bad ones.

The music is almost astoundingly good. John Williams has apparently not yet lost his touch, managing to craft musical themes that reflect the mystery, wonder, and excitement of Harry’s strange magical world.

An odd thing about the film is its constantly contrasting tone and subject matter. While the film has the whimsical quality of a five-year-old’s brain, the events in the story are far more mature. Voldemort is said to have murdered Harry’s parents, and drinks a slain unicorn’s blood on-screen. Later, Harry purposely uses powerful magic to defend himself, burning his attacker down to ashes. As if that wasn’t enough, Ron occasionally throws out a “damn” or “hell.” While it’s nice to see the film not dodge the book’s more mature content, it does make one occasionally wonder who the target audience is.

The most important part of this film, however, is the manner in which it uses the character of Harry to bring us into this new magical world. He, like Luke Skywalker before him, is the young, ordinary hero who is transported from his grounded reality into a fantastical adventure. There's a sense of wish fulfillment in The Sorcerer's Stone: that dream of taking the Hogwarts Express and being swept way to a land of wonder and excitement.

All in all, this film has a slightly jumpy narrative structure and sometimes-shoddy visual effects, but everything else is of the highest quality. The entire experience is slightly shallow, but it works well enough as an audiovisual spectacle that it's absolutely worth watching. While The Sorcerer’s Stone definitely works better as a book, it functions just fine as a film.

6/10