Underworld Trilogy – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll May 12, 2009, 8:58 GMT

Underworld: Underneath the city streets, amid the labyrinth of subway tunnels and gothic ruins, the two most notorious creatures of the night are embroiled in an all-out war that has been going on for centuries. It is the culmination of a blood-thirsty battle between the vampires and their mortal enemies, the werewolves. Stars: Kate Beckinsale (Pearl Harbor, My Life Without Me), Scott Speedman (My Life Without Me, TV\'s Felicity). Underworld: Evolution: ...more

Just in time for the third film to hit DVD, Underworld gets a collection that puts all the films in one convenient box (a strange one at that). 

If you’re a fan, you’ll just want to stick to the single disc release as you’ve already got parts one and two, but others might want to pick all of the films up at a discounted rate.  

Every trilogy has a beginning and Underworld chose to go back to it with the third film, Rise of the Lycans.  However, in the beginning (this plot description will go in chronological order) Alexander Corvinus was the first immortal after being the only person in his village to survive a plague.  He later had two sons, Markus and Michael.  Markus (Tony Curran – Underworld: Evolution) was bitten by a bat and became a vampire and Michael became a werewolf. 

Markus and vampire elder Viktor (Bill Nighy) imprison Michael (Brian Steele - Evolution).  Markus then goes into hibernation and Viktor becomes the leader of the vampire clan.  The werewolves and the vampires do not get along, but it’s the birth of Lucian (Michael Sheen) that changes things.  Lucian is the first werewolf to be able to take human form, dubbed Lycans.

Viktor sees a way for his race to be protected during the daylight hours as well as a source of slavery as he spreads Lucian’s virus and enslaves the recipients.  Lucian has a secret as he and Viktor’s daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra) are secret lovers.  Viktor condemns her to death when he discovers the secret and this makes the servile Lucian lead a rebellion to avenge his beloved.  Viktor then goes into hibernation, allowing the clan to be ruled by Kraven (Shane Brolly). 

In modern times (Underworld), Selene (Kate Beckinsale) is a Death Dealer or hunter of werewolves.  She discovers that the werewolves have been following Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman).  She discovers that he carries the Corvinus bloodline and will become a hybrid of vampire and werewolf.  She awakens Viktor to deal with the situation, but also discovers that he has secrets of his own involving her origins as well as the feud between Lucian.

Later (Underworld: Evolution), Markus is awakened and Selene and Michael attempt to find the hidden prison of the first werewolf, Michael Corvinus.  

The Underworld film series has been an exciting action packed one.  The first film (4 stars) featured a hot Kate Beckinsale in a leather outfit and loads of violent werewolf versus vampire action, as well as a villainous turn by Bill Nighy. 

The second film (3.5 stars) moves forward with the arrival of Markus and more into the past of the origins of the vampires and werewolves.  Another British thespian showed up in the form of the always reliable Derek Jacobi and we had a flashback of Nighy.  The result was a little confusing and was just a hair below the first film. 

The third film (3.5 stars) delves deeper into the past and only has Kate Beckinsale narrating with some reused footage.  This film has some silliness (the werewolves are kept in line with silly collars that are opened with a skeleton key??) but it does feature a battle royale between the two races in the film’s finale.  It may suffer from the absence of Beckinsale as since much is made of her resemblance to Sonja that I wondered if she was supposed to also play the role, but chose not to participate in this prequel. 

Bill Nighy does participate in all the films and the third film does give him a chance to add a tiny bit of sympathy to the character after growling through the first half of the prequel. 

The three films are housed in a stacked fashion in a regular case.  When opened I thought I’d been given the shaft and the first film was the only one in there, but they’re all stacked on top of each other in a deep well.  No scratches, but it’s the first time I’ve seen this type of packaging.  The first film is the unrated, extended edition and is labeled “disc one.”  Since the others are not labeled with “disc two and three” I’m guessing that this is disc one of a two disc Underworld set.
 
All three films are presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and are enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Underworld’s special features include a commentary (director Len Wiseman, Kate Beckinsale, and Scott Speedman), 4 minutes of outtakes, the 47 minute “Fangs versus Fiction” on vampires and werewolves, 2 TV spots (1 minute total), and previews of other Sony DVDs. 

Evolution features a commentary (director Len Wiseman, production designer Patrick Tatopoulos, 2nd unit director/stunt coordinator Brad Martin, and editor Nick DeToth), an hour and 13 minutes of featurettes, a 4 minute music video, and previews. 

Rise of the Lycans has a commentary (producer Len Wiseman, director Patrick Tatopoulos, producers Richard Wright and Gary Lucchesi, and effects supervisor/executive producer James McQuaide), the 9 minute “Underworld: From Script to Screen,” the 20 minute “Origin of the Feud,” the 13 minute “Recreating the Dark Ages: the Look of Rise of the Lycans,” and a 4 minute music video.  

If you’re an Underworld fan then you probably already have two of the three films on this set.  If you’re not then you may well want to grab all three in one fell swoop.  It’s quite a popcorn trilogy for vampire and werewolf fans.  

Underworld Trilogy is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a May 18th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.