'Awakening' fails to appeal to viewers due to unoriginal storyline, tedious action
The first thing that I can say about "Underworld: Awakening" is that I am thankful it was released in January, the worst month of the year for movies, because it prevented "disappointment" from being added to my list of negative feelings toward this movie. Then again, I was never very impressed with the franchise in the first place so it probably wouldn't have mattered either way.
The generic story of vampires versus werewolves continues to be the center of the "Underworld" series. In fact, all of the original elements are present: the vampires versus Lycans war, the gory shooting and slashing and the sexy vampire hit woman. The only difference is that Swedish directors Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein have added more insipid action to try to disguise the gaping holes in the story. "Awakening" isn't as terrible as it could have been, but it most certainly isn't great.
The movie begins six months after the events of the two first films, with humans discovering the existence of both vampires and Lycans in their world. During their purge of both races, the humans capture heroine Selene (Kate Beckinsale) and imprison her within cryogenic suspension for 12 years as a subject of experimentation. Of course, Selene eventually escapes and the story goes into "The Matrix"-style action mode.
But Selene isn't the only vampire to escape the facility at the time. An adolescent vampire/werewolf hybrid girl named Eve (India Eisley), labeled "Subject 2" and born within the lab, also escapes and confronts Selene. It is later revealed that Eve is in fact the daughter of Selene and her Lycan lover, Michael (Scott Speedsman). Soon, the newly-reunited mother/daughter team find themselves running from werewolves and holed up with one of the few remaining vampire covens while Selene tries to find Michael.
That's pretty much all there is to this story. The rest of the movie is filled with scenes of Selene shooting and slicing up, which are, though plentiful, lackluster and unexciting. The big bad guy in this movie is a Hulk-sized, silver-resistant werewolf that would look more scary and impressive if the visual effects didn't look so cheesy.
The action is also gorier than ever in this movie. Aside from the typical bloodsucking and slicing, we also see young Eve ripping out throats and ripping off werewolves heads. This is the goriest action involving a young girl that I've seen since Chloe Moretz in "Kick-Ass" (2010).
This story is definitely the most generic of the series and, in a way, contradicts itself. The movie establishes a thematic element that forces its audiences to sympathize with the vampires from the moment that the villainous scientist (Stephen Rea) refers to Eve as "it." However, it's difficult to commiserate with a group of beasts, Selene included, that eat humans for breakfast. It kind of justifies the whole "vampire/Lycan extermination" thing.
On top of that, "Underworld: Awakening" is a good example of how adding the third dimension during post-production doesn't work, especially with its dimming backgrounds. The washed-out, murky colors of the original three films already made it difficult to comprehend what was happening, but 3-D ultimately does nothing but add more darkness to the already dim picture.
All this adds up to another mundane installment in the franchise and an ending that makes it thunderously palpable that another unnecessary sequel is underway. With that in mind, the "Underworld" series is becoming to Kate Beckinsale what the "Resident Evil" movie series is to Milla Jovovich: a less-than-decent movie series that keeps giving her work within the movie industry.
"Underworld: Awakening" has officially made the series so dull and unenjoyable that watching Beckinsale strut in her black leather dominatrix suit doesn't make up for the derivative, plodding story and tedious action. While the vampires in the movie are the ones killed off, it's the entire franchise that deserves a wooden stake through the heart.