* out of five stars

Hollywood puts a modern twist on the ancient legends of vampires and werewolves in the high-concept action flick, ‘Underworld.’

The twist, casting vampires as sophisticated aristocrats and werewolves as lower-class gang members, is an interesting one. However, instead of following through with its original idea, ‘Underworld’ takes the easy and unimaginative way out by copying other movies. It takes the leather cat suits, high-tech gadgets and slow-motion bullets straight out of ‘The Matrix’ and ‘Blade.’

Granted, other films have stolen moves from ‘The Matrix,’ and ‘Underworld’ also includes a fair amount of fun action sequences and creepy special effects. However, it proves less entertaining because of a lack of chemistry between the two romantic leads, slow pacing and unintentionally hilarious dialogue.

Kate Beckinsale stars as Selene, the Juliet of this story, a cold and deadly vampire warrior who is most comfortable in tight-fitting leather. Having seen her mortal family fall prey to the werewolves – or lycans as they are called throughout the film – Selene has a personal interest in the bitter war that has been raging between the two species for centuries. Romeo comes along in the form of human doctor Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman, TV’s ‘Felicity’), who has been targeted by the lycan leader, Lucian (Michael Sheen, ‘The Four Feathers’). Selene gets involved in the mystery and the two form an unexplainable bond, to the outrage of the respective clans.

Beckinsale, better known for her dramatic roles, fails to fully convince as an action heroine. She pulls it off in some scenes, including one where she wordlessly slugs piggish vampire leader Kraven (Shane Brolly, ‘Rennie’s Landing’) for getting fresh with her. But too often Beckinsale appears overshadowed by her co-stars – despite her numerous steely gazes and the frosty presence she tries to project. Her quiet voice gets lost in the din of the fighting all around her.

Speedman gets little to do. As the sole human character in the plot, Michael is expected to reflect the bewilderment and confusion that any rational person would feel upon learning that vampires and werewolves are real. Speedman does a decent job of that, but his screams for information about what’s happening to him soon grow old. The character never gets in on the action or evolves beyond his role as pawn in this ongoing war.

Among the supporting cast, Sophia Myles (‘From Hell’) deserves notice for the spunk she brings to the role of vampire vixen Erika. The buxom blonde, a constant foil for Selene, serves as a fun reminder to the audience that all the film’s characters, whether hero or villain, are doers of evil. At one point, Erika helps Selene escape so she can rescue Michael. When asked why, Erika smiles wickedly and says, ‘I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for myself.’ It’s a line that sums up the motivations of all the film’s characters.

Directed and written by first-timers Len Wiseman and Danny McBride, respectively, ‘Underworld’ dives into the action – the film’s saving grace. There are some interesting fights scattered within, including a vampire with silver whips taking on a werewolf and the climactic battle between Selene and a foe where a head is cut into pieces. The transformation of the werewolves from human to animal, courtesy of computer wizardry, is grotesque and well-handled. However, to get to these scenes, the audience is forced to sit through long speeches of muddled exposition and corny dialogue.

Fancy effects and mildly interesting action sequences, unfortunately, fail to make up for the film’s faults: unconvincing acting, endless and unimportant plot twists and its slow-moving running time.

It would be better to stay above ground than go down into ‘Underworld.’

Christopher Reilly is a senior magazine major. His reviews appear Fridays in the Daily Orange. E-mail him at cgreilly@syr.edu.

Published on September 18, 2003 at 12:00 pm