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Title: Underworld: Widescreen Special
Edition
Region: One
Stars: Kate
Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Michael Sheen, Shane Brolly, Bill Nighy, Erwin Leder,
Sophia Myles, Robbie Gee, Wentworth Miller, and Kevin Grevioux
Writer: Danny
McBride
Based On A Story By: Kevin Grevioux,
Len Wiseman, and
Danny McBride
Director: Len
Wiseman
Feature
length: 121 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Director And Writers’ Commentary, Feature Length Technical
Commentary, Featurettes, Music Video, Storyboard Comparisons, TV Spots, Trailers
Languages:
English and French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound: Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year of
Theatrical Release: 2003/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: Screen Gems
Home Video
Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating:
R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“Underworld”
is a high octane, pulse pounding action thriller set in a dark fantasy world
that coexists within and around our mortal world though most may never know it.
For centuries, the Vampires and the Lycans have been locked in mortal combat. It
was believed that the vampires won, but the standing order for all members of
the coven is to kill a lycan or as we may call it, a werewolf, on sight. Kate
Beckinsale plays a sexy vampire soldier, also known as a “death dealer,” who
engages two werewolves stalking what appears to be an ordinary mortal man (Scott
Speedman). As she becomes obsessed with finding out why the lycans would be
interested in the human, she becomes embroiled in a larger conspiracy on both
sides of the battle lines where the hunter becomes the hunted and the truth is
elusive.
Columbia
TriStar is going to release “Underworld” in both widescreen and pan and scan
versions with identical special features day and date of each other, but sold
separately. “Underworld” reminded me a lot of both “Blade” features in
particular because those films and this film are really more focused on the
supernatural characters than they are the mortals with the exception of whoever
the star mortal character might be. The film is very entertaining and has lots
of action even if at times it does not make a whole lot of sense. Overall this
is a comic book picture for a graphic novel that doesn’t exit. The film
refreshingly uses a lot of live action special effects with prosthetics and
animatronics intermixed with CGI so as a result the film feels more like a movie
than a video game on celluloid. According to Director Len Wiseman in the feature
length audio commentary that he shares with Actor, Producer, Writer Kevin
Grevioux, and Writer
Danny McBride, the color timing for the theatrical prints did not work quite as
expected and resulted in a film that looked too blue in tone. However for the
DVD the picture is what he intended it to look like. So as a result the image
quality is still very blue and monochromatic, but we can now see a bit more of
variance between the bone white like flesh tones of the vampire and the more
normal looking skin tone of the few mortal characters that appear in the film.
There is also a healthy grayscale mixed in with green and red palettes where
appropriate that add a lot toward creating a more realistic and yet still
stylized dark fantasy world. The overall look of the film gives it a higher
production value without an insanely large budget too.
“Underworld: Widescreen Special
Edition” is presented in an anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio and
the transfer looks quite good, but the sin of it all is one cannot help but
think it could have looked better because the film and all of the extra value
features are presented on a single dual layered DVD instead of two discs.
Ideally I think all of the extra value features should have been placed on a
second disc. As it is, I imagine that we will see a “Superbit” release one
day though none has been officially announced or even hinted at. Some of the
background detail resolution looks a bit muddled though there are no real
compression anomalies to note. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack
is excellent. If I were blindfolded and told to guess whether or not the
soundtrack I was listening to was Double Digital or DTS, I would have said DTS
in a heartbeat because this mix truly rocks. The floors trembled and the sound
exploded from the speakers like lightening. I know it may read far-fetched, but
in my opinion the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack found on this DVD rivals
most DTS soundtracks and I am a person who generally prefers DTS to Dolby
Digital. A French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and English
Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired as well as French and
Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded as options on to the DVD too.
There are two feature length audio
commentaries on the DVD. The first one features Director
Len Wiseman, Actor, Producer, Writer Kevin Grevioux, and
Writer Danny McBride and what I liked a lot about this
commentary track was that it seemed to address my questions about the film
ranging from story points and staging to even the most mundane questions like
does Kevin Grevioux really speak that way outside of the film? Those who saw the
film in theaters will know what I’m talking about. There was even some
scientific consideration given to the advanced projectile weapons the lycans and
vampires use or more specifically the special bullets. Creature Designer Patrick
Tatopoulos, the Visual Effects Supervisor, and Sound Designer Claude Letessier
participate in their own technical commentary and share anecdotes and
inspirations regarding their work in the film. What is great about both
commentaries also is that in both tracks the speakers are actually together and
so they each work well off of each other and that translates better to the
listener instead of a mix of separate recordings and both commentaries are also
screen specific.
Next are five featurettes that can be
viewed individually or as a whole made up of the rather EPK “Making Of
Underworld” (13:02) and the more interesting installments entitled “Creature
Effects” (12:29), “Stunts” (11:42), and “Sights & Sounds” (9:07).
There is also a reel of storyboard to finished scene comparisons (6:42) for five
sequences in the film, the music video for “Worms Of The Earth” by Finch
(2:45), twp 32-second TV spots and the theatrical trailer (2:30). Bonus trailers
include “The Forsaken” (1:58), “John Carpenter’s Vampires” (1:39),
“John Carpenter Presents Vampires Los Muertos” (2:07), “Resident Evil”
(2:17) and the theatrical teaser for “Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse” (1:24).
The main menu is animated with motion
transitions to standard interactive still frame menus and all are easy to
navigate. I really enjoyed “Underworld” and think this is a good DVD. I wish
it were a two-disc set because I think the picture quality would benefit from
having the featurettes and whatnot placed on a second disc instead of everything
all on one, but regardless I think this is still a cool DVD release that is
definitely worth checking out. “Underworld: Widescreen Special Edition” will
debut on DVD-Video at retailers on and offline on Tuesday, December 30, 2003
from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
© Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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