Underworld: Awakening

Vengeance Returns

Today we are going to talk about the 4th movie in the Underworld series. I actually put this one off a while, since I hadn't ever seen films 2 or 3 and wanted to watch them before I saw this one. So, in a whirlwind of craziness, I watched 2, 3 & 4 in a matter of 2 days, and boy was I amazed.

For those of you who are new to the series, Underworld is centered around two races of immortals, the Vampires and the Lycans (essentially werewolves who can control their transformation). The first 3 have essentially their own storyline, so it isn't entirely necessary to watch them before Awakening. I say that, but watching the first 3 before this one will give you some good back story that will help to explain certain things in U:A.

But I digress.

Underworld: Awakening starts after the events of the second movie, Underworld: Evolution (Rise of the Lycans, the 3rd movie, served as a prequel story), where we are once again introduced to Selene (Kate Beckinsale), the rogue vampire. She also happens to be one of the only characters from the first movies to be in Awakening.

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║    SPOILER ALERT!!    ║

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Selene gets captured by a group of humans (who are now fully aware of the Vampires and Lycans, and are working to eradicate them) and is separated from Michael, the first Vampire/Lycan hybrid. Next thing we know, 12 years have passed. Selene manages to escape with the help of who she thinks is Michael. She was mistaken however. It was her daughter.

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Most of the movie is centered around Selene and her trying to reunite with the above mentioned person. After they are reunited, a lot of effort goes into protecting the person, both by Selene and others. After the dust settles, they end up leaving it wide open for a second trilogy to start, which will make fans of the series pretty happy in my opinion.

On the other hand of things, I really feel that the original 3 movies were a lot better than Awakening. There was really not a lot of story this time around, it was mainly just a bunch of action thrown together. While this satisfies those action junkies out there, fans of the series (myself included) may feel a bit let down. And with that, it's time for me to give you my rating.

U: A gets an average rating of 5½ stars

While the movie works well with the first 3 tied in, it can barely stand on it's own in my opinion. I understand that they had to essentially set up a new story, but seriously? I got to the end of the movie and literally thought that they forgot to put the ending in, the cliffhanger was that bad. Due to this, Awakening gets only 5½ stars from The Review. But don't just take my word for it, see it for yourself, just wait for it to come out on DVD or BluRay to rent/buy.

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