Underworld: Evolution

Plot

In 1202, an army led by the three vampire elders (Marcus, Viktor, and Amelia) arrives at a Lycan-ravaged village. Viktor and Amelia capture their target: Marcus brother, William Corvinus, the first and most powerful werewolf. Despite Marcus defiance, Viktor orders that William be imprisoned in a secret location forever.

In the present day, vampire Selene takes Michael to a safe house so that she can confront the vampire regent Kraven; she knows that Kraven intends to kill Marcus and plans to stop him. However, Marcus has awakened before Kraven arrives. Marcus kills Kraven and his men. Lorenz Macaro, an elderly man, sends in a team of "cleaners" to investigate the aftermath from the battle in the Lycans lair. When Lorenz Macaro examines Viktors corpse he finds a metal disc inside it which is the match to a pendant worn by Sonja. The other half of the pendant is possessed by Selene and Michael.

Marcus tracks Selene and Michael down and attacks them, but they evade him and hide in a warehouse. There, Selene and Michael share their feelings and engage in sexual intercourse. Now knowing that the pendant is important to Marcus, Michael and Selene set out to discover why Marcus wants it. Selene recalls that she saw it as a child, but does not know its significance. They travel to the hideout of the exiled vampire historian Andreas Tanis who reveals that Marcus was the first vampire; one of the three sons of Alexander Corvinus, the first immortal. Marcus was bitten by a bat and became a vampire; his twin brother William was bitten by a wolf and became a werewolf. The third son remained human and gave rise to a line of descendants including Michael who became the first Lycan–Vampire hybrid. The first werewolves created by William were entirely animal and unable to assume human form. Due to Williams destructiveness, Marcus approached Viktor, who was a dying warlord at the time, and offered to turn him and his army into immortal vampires in exchange for tracking down and stopping William, and in destroying those he had infected.

Viktor did not kill the brothers because he was deceived by Marcus into believing that doing so would result in the immediate extinction of all other vampires and his Lycan slaves. Tanis reveals that Selenes father was the architect who built Williams prison and that the pendant is a key to the latter. Viktor killed Selenes family as they knew the prisons location, but turned Selene into a vampire. Tanis then refers Selene and Michael to Macaro for help. After Selene and Michael leave Tanis residence, Marcus arrives and drinks Tanis blood so that he learns Selene and Michaels location, killing Tanis.

Selene and Michael visit Macaro and discover that he actually is Alexander Corvinus. Alexander reveals that he has devoted his life to containing the Vampire-Lycan war from the mortals. However, he refuses to assist Selene in killing his sons. Then Marcus arrives, impaling Michael and learns the location of Williams prison by drinking Selenes blood. He mortally wounds his father and obtains the other half of the pendant, after deriding his fathers refusal to help William and revealing that he intends with William to rule the world as the god-like master of a race of vampire-Lycan hybrids. On Alexanders bidding, Selene drinks his blood, enhancing her physical strength and healing abilities to a level equivalent to that of a hybrid. Afterwards, Alexander blows up his ship, killing himself.

Selene, aboard Corvinus helicopter, leads his cleaners to the prison to confront and destroy Marcus, but he has already freed William. A battle ensues in which William bites the cleaners who, as a result, are turned into werewolves. Michael, who is presumed to be dead and is carried aboard the helicopter, regenerates and joins the fight in his hybrid form, killing William by ripping his head off. Selene engages Marcus in hand to hand combat, killing him by kicking him into the rotor blades of the cleaners crashed helicopter. After the battle, Selene realizes that she has become immune to the lethal effects of sunlight on vampires.

Cast

Critical response

The film was panned by critics. As of May 30, 2012, it has a 16% overall approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 101 reviews. A few scenes of the film were shown in a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego, in July 2005; however, these scenes did not contain any plot spoilers of the new script, with attendees only being informed about the new hybrids by production designer Patrick Tatopoulos. The previewing was well-received as hundreds of fans waited hours to see a clip of the film as well as Kate Beckinsale and the other stars of the movie.

Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times criticized the films "steel-blue filter" and described it as "a monotonous barrage of computer-generated fur and fangs". Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle opened his review "you can tell that Underworld: Evolution is trying to be an artistic action-horror film, because every scene is bathed in the color blue", going on to say the film is "an admirable attempt to test the boundaries of the Genre" but that it is confusing and not fun to watch.

Box office

The film opened on 3,207 screens with a weekend box office (January 20–22, 2006) of $26.9 million or an average of $8,388 per theater. As of March 12, 2006, the film grossed a total of $62.3 million in the United States and $111.3 million worldwide.

Prequel and sequel

The background history that led to the current Vampire-Lycan War (depicted in the first and second films) continues in the third film of the series, the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

A fourth film, sequel to Underworld: Evolution, was released on January 20, 2012, called Underworld: Awakening.

Soundtrack

1. "The Undertaker" (Renholder Mix) by Puscifer – 3:57
2. "Morning After" (Julien-K Remix) by Chester Bennington – 4:14
3. "Where Do I Stab Myself in the Ears" (The Legion of Doom Remix) by Hawthorne Heights – 3:58
4. "To the End" (RnR Cheryl Mix) by My Chemical Romance – 3:12
5. "Vermillion, Pt. 2" (Bloodstone Mix) by Slipknot – 3:39
6. "Burn" (Alleged Remix) by Alkaline Trio – 4:02
7. "The Last Sunrise" (Dusk Mix) by Aiden – 3:55
8. "Bite to Break Skin" (The Legion of Doom Remix) by Senses Fail – 4:08
9. "Her Portrait in Black" by Atreyu – 4:02
10. "Washing Away Me in the Tides" by Trivium – 3:47
11. "Eternal Battle" by Mendozza – 4:10
12. "Our Truth" by Lacuna Coil – 4:04
13. "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" by Gosling – 5:01
14. "Why Are You Up" by Bobby Gold – 3:10
15. "Suicide" by Meat Beat Manifesto – 3:14
16. "HW2" by Cradle of Filth (Cover of "Halloween II", originally recorded by Samhain) – 3:38

Score