Underworld: Awakening Blu-ray Review

If nothing else, the Underworld franchise is consistent, in that each film offers a muted, desaturated blue palette, Matrix-inspired action, girls in skin-tight outfits, and plenty of mindless violence, all at the hands of werewolves (aka lycans) and vampires. The story is mostly dull, and the characters barely even exist other than to act as eye candy for various fetishists, be it leather, vampire, werewolf, or just those with a taste for everything Kate Beckinsale (even when she's in dreck like Serendipity – you know who you are).

Underworld: Awakening doesn't really offer much to the franchise, other than a handful of cheap 3D effects and a subplot about – gasp – another lycan/vampire hybrid. This time Death Dealer Selene (Beckinsale) awakens in a lab, having been cryogenically frozen during some sort of half-cocked lycan/vampire witch hunt that probably would have made for a much better plot for the film.

Selene meets up with a few fellow vampires, acquires a young girl with “mysterious” abilities and runs off to face the lycans once more. There's also a “super” lycan in the film. He's a neat looking creature, as long as you can get past most of the derivative set pieces he's tossed into.

As usual, of course, there's little character development to the whole experience. Kate Beckinsale remains as expressionless as ever, almost like she's competing with Kristin Stewart for the “least expressive” acting award. The action gets a little mind numbing at times. And most of the mythology feels a little worn out and recycled from the other three films.

Really, though, the plot and characters are of no consequence. Like pornography, it's merely a springboard for what fans really crave, in this case it's numerous Matrix-style action sequences, gunplay, fighting and gratuitous ass shots of Kate Beckinsale in skin-tight leather (not complaining there, just noting it).

The action is slick and occasionally pretty fun, and if you've become attached to the series' mythology, you'll likely enjoy what few additions this film offers. The “mysterious” young girl subplot is somewhat interesting at times, and the visuals that accent her face when she's vamping out are pretty damn creepy.

Basically, if you're a devoted fan of the Underworld franchise, you'll likely really enjoy this entry. Newcomers should probably start with the first film. If it's not for you, don't expect any of the sequels (or the prequel) to win you over.

Underworld: Awakening comes to Blu-ray with two separate releases – a standard Blu-ray and a Blu-ray 3D. The Blu-ray 3D can also play the film in 2D. Both discs include an UltraViolet cloud streaming copy of the film. For this review, we'll be looking at the Blu-ray 3D, both the 2D and 3D transfers.

The film is presented in 2.40:1, encoded in 1080p/MVC. Shot on RED EPIC, there's a very distinct difference between this latest chapter and previous installments. Noise is less distracting, and some of the bleeding blacks are less annoying. But, like other Underworld features, the transfer is plagued with heavy blue overtones and a desaturated palette that softens textures and detail. The camera also seems to smooth over images, rendering a transfer that doesn't quite look like film, nor does it really resemble video, either. Regardless, it's not always as appealing as one would hope.

There are some franchises that simply shouldn't make the transition to 3D. The Underworld franchise is one of these. Because of the film's dark, desaturated blue palette, many of the 3D visuals are simply lost in the translation, leaving only a trivial amount of gimmicky “comin' at ya” effects, as well as the usual stock flecks of flame and, in this case, silver. The illusion of depth is only put to good use in a few scenes, and even those don't pop as much as they should, dampened by the film's dark setting. For 3D to work, you need a bright canvas. While some may enjoy this film's 3D gags, the presentation as a whole is nothing short of disappointing, but also not surprising.

Audio picks up the slack with a robust, aggressive 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. Dialogue is clean, without a single distortion or crackle noted whatsoever. Bass is moody and impacting, offering weight to the film's many action set pieces. And surrounds are active and thoroughly engaging, enveloping the listener in the film's lively palette of gun shots, monster growls and gratuitous explosions. Let's hope Sony keeps it up with these 7.1 mixes. They're simply fantastic.

Extras include a commentary track with producers Richard Wright and Gary Lucchesi, directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, and executive producer/visual effects supervisor James McQuaide. It's a fairly tech-heavy track which should please some, but leave others bored. There are also five fairly insightful making-of featurettes, running roughly 60 minutes (presented in HD), a blooper reel and a music video (“Heavy Prey” by Lacey Sturm). The Blu-ray 3D boasts one exclusive – a series of previsualization sequences (22 minutes, HD).

Underworld: Awakening is for franchise enthusiasts only. It's not a bad film, but it's rough around the edges, and unless you're invested in the characters and story (what little there is) you probably won't take much out of this fourth installment. If you've got a 3DTV, give the Blu-ray 3D a rental, at least. It's a bit pricey to purchase, though, so for non-3DTV owners, you might just want to stick with the standard Blu-ray.



Source : ign[dot]com