Underworld: Evolution

Rated: R (for pervasive strong violence and gore, some sexuality/nudity and language)
Runtime: 105 minutes
Directed by: Len Wiseman
Written by: Danny McBride
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran, Derek Jacobi

Underworld: Evolution is exactly what you’d expect from a sequel – bigger, louder, faster and meaner. I liked the first one, but this one’s better.

Perhaps best described as The Matrix meets Bram Stoker, the Underworld series centers on a centuries-long blood feud between Vampires and Lycans (Werewolves). This installment picks up immediately where its predecessor left off. For newcomers, there’s a scrolling narration preceding the film and several flashbacks throughout (this borders on annoyance for those in the know).

This chapter focuses on two brothers - William and Marcus (Tony Curran), both descendants of Corvinus (Derek Jacobi), the first immortal. William was bitten by wolf and Marcus by bat, thus the genesis of the species.

Evolution starts with a gruesomely delightful flashback as the Vampire elders slaughter a clan of Lycans and capture William, imprisoning him for life. We then rejoin our heroic couple Selene (Kate Beckinsale) and Michael (Scott Speedman - now a Vampire-Lycan hybrid). Their quest ultimately becomes to stop Marcus from freeing William, who is supposedly unstoppable.

This episode strives harder for the R-rating. It’s much more violent (gallons of blood!) and sexual, and embraces these notions to good effect. There’s a sense of humanity amidst the chaos that feels sublimely real.

Kate Beckinsale, who has a natural, sensuous frailty about her, wouldn’t be my first pick for an action heroine. But once in her leather outfit with her cold stare, guns blazing, she becomes the epitome of cool ferocity (though I’ll admit her character’s a tad underdeveloped). Scott Speedman, while underused, proves effective, if not mildly stoic. Their chemistry is subtle, but enough to heat up the screen. The movie hints that these two are leaders of a new generation of the species, but it fades into a sort of latent, clichéd romanticism.

Director Len Wiseman returns, showing significant growth from last time. He has since married Kate Beckinsale, which may explain some of the camera’s ogling of Selene. He shows an eye for keen visuals, and delivers a uniquely exciting, better-paced film (the first Underworld was somewhat disjointed).

Visually, the movie’s extremely lush. The action is eloquently choreographed and the camera consistently captures it with a dramatic vigor. The ending (while brutally cool) is severely anti-climactic – the unstoppable baddies are easily stopped.

Danny McBride’s script is rife with fun characters and a crafty mythology. It does get fairly dense, though, with twists to the effect of so-and-so being the brother of someone who’s the descendant of this guy who was thought to be the first Vampire but really isn’t because this other guy is. If you follow it, cool. If you miss something, it’s just a frustratingly tangled web of ancestry.

Like the first movie, every dollar is put on screen (despite a doubled budget). There are no high-priced actors, the funds spent wisely on sets and effects. Bottom line, these flicks look like slick $100-mil productions (costing only $22 and $48 million).

This is a sequel worth seeing. It’s a smart, fun, sexy, action-packed blitz on the senses that leaves you wanting a third installment (which there indefinitely will be).

My Rating: B+

Hostel

Rated R: (for brutal scenes of torture and violence, strong sexual content, nudity, language and drug use) – consider yourself warned
Runtime: 95 minutes
Written and Directed by: Eli Roth
Starring: Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Barbara Nedeljakova, Jana Kaderabkova

I should preface by saying I love horror movies. So, Hostel is not for everyone. It’s rough, loud, violent and sets out to shock and offend with no alleviation. In some regards, it’s brilliant.

Ultimately, Hostel is a welcome return to horror films of old and abroad, drawing inspiration from staple 70s and 80s slasher flicks, as well as more recent Asian contributions. The whole film has an intense Euro-vibe, and presents itself as a liberal alternative to conservative cinema, freely lingering on frequent depictions of explicit violence and sex that audiences won’t see coming.

It starts with three friends, Paxton (Jay Hernandez), Josh (Derek Richardson) and Oli (Eythor Gudjonsson), backpacking through Europe with two prerogatives: drugs and sex, and plenty of each. They hear of a Hostel near Bratislava where the most beautiful girls imaginable will do whatever they want. Libido in tow, the gang sets off.

When they arrive, everything seems perfect – the parties are great and they have two exotic girls as roommates who effectively seduce them. But when Oli turns up missing, the guys are spiraled into a hellish nightmare where for a price people can torture, mame, and kill victims in a controlled environment.

Produced by cinematic wunderkind, Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill), Hostel delivers on its promise: unrequited visceral terror. There are no slick Hollywood tricks. It barely feels like an American horror film. Rather, it longs to sit alongside the European greats Lucio Fulci or Dario Argento, or perhaps more appropriately, Asia’s reigning maestro of horror, Takashi Miike (who makes a welcome cameo).

Only the second movie from writer/director Eli Roth (his 2002 Cabin Fever was a mixed bag I readily enjoyed), this sophomore effort shows significant growth, with apt camerawork and characters honed to a realistic edge. The story flows evenly, dragging very little. Roth goes out on a limb delivering truly gruesome material, and seems utterly at home. But some of his characters’ dialogue feels unnatural, trying too hard to be vulgar. And with one-track minded protagonists driven by their libido and objectification of all things female, audiences may find themselves either amused and rooting for their cause, or wholly unsympathetic and rooting for their demise. But there is a bit of a character arc that redeems humanity in the end, and the immaturity fades throughout.

The moment characters verge on development, they’re killed off. As a result you believe that anyone could bite it before the final reel. The atmosphere and tone the film elicits is altogether uncomfortable. The sets are minimally lit, dank chambers from which at a glance you can tell unspeakable acts have taken place.

Hostel received a lot of online buzz prior to release. At screenings, people were mortified, sickened and supposedly paramedics were called. That was the NC-17 cut of the film. This R-rated version, while extremely difficult to watch, feels watered down. The torture scenes seem as if moments were excised to appease the Ratings Board (as I’m sure they were). Though not as violent as I expected, it still retains a twisted morbidity.

At my screening five people walked out in the first 10 minutes. Granted three of those people were a mom and her two kids (around age 10 or so) and they walked out after the first prolonged bits of swearing, drug use and nudity, but still it says something – know what you’re walking into.

If you really like horror films and you can handle (or are entertained by) characters being drilled, chainsawed and sliced (and seeing an eyeball dangling from a screaming victim’s socket), see it. If after being warned you find yourself uncomfortable, don’t. I’m going to get flak for this. Knowing most would give this a D or F, I’ll stand by my rating…

My Rating: B