the Mind’s Chew Toy

After seeing the first Underworld, both Heather and I couldn’t wait when we heard a sequel was in the works. But, we decided to wait until the sequel, Underworld: Evolution, hit DVD rather than seeing it in theaters.

Both of us have been disappointed so many times by rotten sequels to good films, so we didn’t want to throw a ton of money at a possibly retched sequel. The previews, while interesting, didn’t spark our interest enough to change our minds, so we waited with baited breath until Underworld: Evolution hit DVD.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones, as Blockbuster.com wasn’t able to send us a copy until today - almost a month after it’s DVD release. Unwilling to wait even one day longer, we immediately popped in the DVD and settled back to see if Underworld: Evolution would be able to live up to the high expectations set by it’s predecessor.

Kate Beckinsale returns as death dealer heroine Selene in Underworld: Evolution, and proves once again why she’s so good for this role. She kicks butt and takes names throughout most of the film once again, doing so with a flair that seems to be a mix of both Blade and Neo - yet uniquely all her own. She does falter a bit when it comes to expressing passion in her co-star Scott Speedman, but that doesn’t distract the viewer for long. Her haunted look, coupled with her pale skin and an outfit from a masochist’s dream, seem to embody vampirism so perfectly it’s not neccessary for her to flash her extended canines and dig into someone’s neck.

It’s unfortunate that, after starring in her most recent film Click, she seemingly has sworn off action heroines, as she is so good at being Selene. Let’s hope that’s temporary, and Selene will return again.

Scott Speedman, on the other hand, has very little on-screen prescence (or anything more than a feigned interest in the scenes) when he’s human-looking. But once the changes overtake him, and the animal in him comes out once more, he bursts into his own, and amps his performance up a hundred-fold. He seems to really be enjoying himself then, and seems to relish his changes…even while he’s afraid of what he’s becoming.

After a bit of back story, Underworld: Evolution starts off soon after the first film ended, keeping the storyline flowing nicely between the films. On the run from her own kind, Selene - with Michael in tow - is just trying to survive when she and Michael become wrapped up in a new struggle between the founders of the races of death dealers and lichens.

The new threat was hinted at somewhat near the end of the first film, and following up on that seems a logical continuation. Thankfully, the filmmakers agreed, and the film seems, more than most sequels, to be a second part of the first film, rather than a totally separate film. Tying the two films in together is usually difficult, but this seemed to have been planned from the start. The viewer will easily become wrapped back up in the storyline, and once the viewer is hooked, the quick pacing of the film keeps them tuned in to the very end.

While viewers may have expected a little more exploration into what Michael can do (since he was touted as the next big thing in the first film so much), Underworld: Evolution doesn’t really delve into it at all. Instead, the film focuses almost entirely on this new threat to humankind, and the other ideas from the first film, unfortunately, fall by the wayside. By the time the film wraps up, it raises all sorts of new issues that the viewer will be eager for the film to explore, most likely setting up the series for future films.

Surprisingly, the viewer will have to wait on those answers, however, as the next Underworld film - according to the latest gossip - is set to take place before the events of the first film, and won’t feature Selene at all.

The impressive special effects that helped make the first film such a success are back as well in Underworld: Evolution. The effects people have gotten so good at changing humans to Lycans that no matter how many times the viewer sees the change, it always is worth seeing again. That’s a huge testament to the talents of the effects crew. They have been able to perfect that change so well that no matter how much scrutiny the viewer gives to it, it will look just as remarkably realistic as it did on first glance.

The explosions are a bit bigger, as is to be expected, and the fight scenes are a bit bigger, but each of these sequences is also pulled off with seeming ease, so the effects never distract the viewer from the story - in fact, with effects as good as the change sequences, they help pull the viewer even deeper into the film.

Fans of the first film will relish Underworld: Evolution, which allows them to once again lose themselves in a world of vampires and werewolves. With it’s engrossing storyline that ties in so neatly to the first film, and Kate Beckinsale’s Selene once again your guide to this hidden world beneath our own, Underworld: Evolution is one sequel that does a good job of living up to the legacy of it’s predecessor…despite leaving a few unanswered questions.