"There is no beginning, there is no end. There is only becoming."
Hello everyone!
So, alright. I kind of messed up with the whole 'I'm going to switch my Tuesday and Saturday posts' last week.
I'll admit, it completely slipped my mind and also, with the rain we've been having (nothing even remotely close to Irma or what's happening to our neighbours in Croatia, however) it's been kind of difficult to focus on anything specific, outside of just slowly regrouping and gathering all the things I may need in the coming weeks.
Anyway, I'm back with a proper movie review this week, and I've chosen one of the older ones for the time being (or well, semi-old really) as opposed to the newer I'd watched while away at the seaside. I'll do one of those next week though!
Moving to the actual theme of this week, I picked Underworld: Blood Wars because I have an affinity for these vampire movies, mostly because I thoroughly enjoyed the first, humoured the second, loved the prequel, and had a love-hate relationship with the Awakening one.
I put all that aside for Blood Wars, however, because THIS was a proper Underworld movie.
Once again, we team up with Selene, the Death Dealer who is now virtually obsolete, but pretty much everyone wants to get their hands on Selene because of her daughter, Eve. But Selene has no clue where Eve is, as she had promised her child not to follow her when Eve went her own way after the events in Awakening (probably looking for Michael, her dad, just like Selene's been doing, but you know how it goes, they have to grow up sometime!).
We are reunited with another vampire, David (Theo James), who saves Selene and ends up getting injured himself, but he also brings her a message: the Elders want her to teach a new generation of Death Dealers and train them in the hunt.
What neither David nor Selene know, however, is that Semira (Lara Pulver), a rather power-hungry vampire (and I'm not entirely sure she's an Elder, either), wants to kill anyone standing in her way and "evolve" by using Selene's blood (if you remember, Selene is a special kind of vampire who can walk in sunlight because of Michael's blood from way back when, which made her a Hybrid). Her henchman, Varga (that handsome guy who played Arthur in the Merlin TV show), helps her do it by poisoning Selene, but luckily David and his father Thomas (the incomparable Charles Dance) are on-scene and can smell a rat.
David manages to get Selene out, but Thomas sacrifices his own life to ensure their survival, obviously something that will keep David nice and pissed at Semira for a while.
The duo head north to the coven of Var Dorth, vampires who seem more mystic than anything else and who grant them sanctuary. Equally, they give them knowledge about some cryptic hints Thomas had dropped earlier: David is actually the son of Amelia (that vampire who was killed while on her way to wake up Viktor way back in movie one), and thus the rightful heir to the Eastern Coven.
Initially, David doesn't want to accept that kind of responsibility, especially hot on the heels of his father's demise, but the choice is made for him when the Lycans attack Var Dorth.
Previously described as a dying breed, large numbers of them seem to pop up from out of nowhere, under the leadership of one Marius (played to perfection by Tobias Menzies), who also happens to be having an affair with a vampiress. Also, he's on the hunt for Eve, just like everyone else, but he weirdly has some superstrength going for him and manages to kill Selene.
This decides David, who heads back to the Eastern Coven where Semira is just about to oust everyone, but is prevented to do so by David's declaration and his proof.
Varga figures out it's time to switch sides, just in time for a major Lycan attack - not that it's any surprise to Semira, who knew all about it because of Marius's lover (who unfortunately didn't survive that particular interrogation). The battle's going pretty grim when all of a sudden, Selene arrives, looking weirdly washed-out and whitened like the other Var Dorth vampires (who she's also brought along for the fight, by and by).
Selene survived her trial by ice and has now "evolved", not that I have any clue what that means, but she can move in a blur and pretty much take down anyone standing in her way.
This includes Marius, and through their battle she accidentally tastes his blood, which shows her a memory of him finding and killing Michael for the blood te Lycan had carried - the same blood which gave Marius his super-strength. As Michael had been the love of Selene's life, she's rightfully pissed and rips out her enemy's spine.
Boom.
Elsewhere, David corners and defeats Semira, killing her, before showing Marius's head to the remaining Lycans, who slink away without their Alpha.
The movie then ends with three new Elders - David, Selene and Lena of Var Dorth, and a new future for the vampires as they are seen drinking blood almost as if in ceremony (I'm not sure if this is normal when new Elders get selected or if it's actually Selene's blood with her sun-walking abilities, we'll have to wait and see). We're also let in on a little secret: as Selene was "evolving" up north, she was reunited with Eve, who had followed her mother through the telepathic link they share.
And that's a wrap for this one! Slated to be a sort of soft reboot of the entire series, there will supposedly be more movies heading our way with Theo's character David taking an even more prominent position, but in any event this was a very nice return to Underworld roots.
I felt that Awakening was meh in terms of storytelling, but this one certainly went right back and made everything worth while, much more reminiscent of how the series used to be. I'm eagerly looking forward to more, especially with the new cast and of course, the ever gorgeous Kate Beckinsale.
What can I say, even I'm not immune to her running around in skin-tight leather.
xx
*images and video not mine
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