Oh the Untapped Potential: The "Underworld" Franchise

 Hello all, I am Musing Matt and this is my first ever blog post. I like to talk about the things that interest me and I believe this is a good place in which to do it. My interests mostly concern movies and video games but I am also into novels, music, and recipes, so the subjects of my thoughts may cover many areas.

  Today we are going to talk about a movie- Well four movies that should have been three movies and two of them probably shouldn't have been made. Alright, confused yet? Good now we can dive right in.

  "Underworld Awakening" is in theatres now, I have not seen it but I would like to at some point because I would like to find out if its worth it. It will be the fourth installment of a series that started back in 2003 with the simply titled "Underworld". It was a great action flick concerning a civil war between Vampires and Lycans (werewolves) and in 2006 we received the sequel that the first one had set up. "Underworld Evolution" was okay, certainly not as good as the first one but it was trying to create an epic narrative. In 2009 "Rise of the Lycans" was released. Whether it was good or not is irrelevant, its story had already been told in the first movie making this movie unnecessary, for many reasons. Without this prequel the first two movies could have been a terrific trilogy.



  Before I get into this I would like to inform you that this will not include any plot synopses of any of the movies. This is more for those who have seen the movies and will thusly be able to follow my train of thought. I only intend to include plot points or characters as they pertain to the point that I'm trying to make. If you have not seen the first two "Underworld" movies I recommend that you do so. Not only so you'll be able to follow along but I think the franchise is worth the time and provides a contrast with a certain other vampire and werewolf franchise, which will remain nameless here. Now on to business.

  Okay, the trilogy model is popular in Hollywood and pretty much every big studio production is planned as a trilogy. Its mostly wishful thinking on the part of the big wigs who like all the money made from the brand recognition of three related movies and their promotional tie-ins. From a storytelling perspective the trilogy is a great format for telling a great sweeping story or stories with plenty of room developing well rounded, engaging characters. (Note: This is unfortunately not a quality found in all trilogies but the potential is there when using this format.) Okay how does this relate to "Underworld" which is now a quadrilogy? Well as I said earlier the first two movies in the series had all the makings of a great trilogy. The first movie was a good start, especially the extended cut. It was the perfect way to start a series. It was its own self-contained story that introduced the characters and the conflict while leaving it open for more. The biggest problem with the both movies is that the world is not well established. We have no idea where this takes place. Everyone is speaking English so the United States is a safe bet but the second one seems to travel across Europe. The audience is not given any indication that the an ocean has been crossed between films.

  When at its best the trilogy model starts with a self-contained story that introduces the characters, conflict(s) and world. The second installment is usually a sort of travelogue, wherein the characters travel from the location of the first movie to the showdown in the third movie, and includes the most character growth and backstory. Part three is usually a no holds barred final show down in which the characters utilize what they have learned from the last two movies. In some cases this is a great place showcase some backstory and further character growth to help build up the final showdown and remind the audience what the stakes are.

  As stated the first "Underworld" fits the bill of part one rather well. Its "Underworld Evolution" where we run across problems. This movie picks up just after the first movie. Our two leads, Selene and Michael, are on the run because they just killed one of the three vampire elders. Now the last elder,Marcus, is chasing them turning the first two acts into an extended chase scene. "U. E." is trying to be both part two and three and its just not long enough to pull it off. The entire movie feels rushed as they move from place to place trying to stay ahead of the monster who is hunting them.

  Now part 2 should have ended after the fight on the boat and Selene drank the blood of Alexander Corvinus, the first immortal. (He is neither vampire or werewolf) He tells Selene, the vampire, that she will become something else entirely. When she asks what that is his response is, "The future." That would have been the perfect spot to end the movie and they could have added scenes throughout the rest of the film to better establish some of the other characters and better flesh out the relationship between Marcus and Alexander, his father.

  Now we get into the more hypothetical areas because aside from being act three of "U.E." the part three I will describe doesn't exist as a movie unto itself, unfortunately. Part three would begin where part two left off on the boat or just after leaving the boat and on the way to the central location of the movie which holds the central conflict of the movie. Marcus is a vampire and his brother, who he loves dearly, is a werewolf. This relationship was pretty well established in "U.E." but more could have been done with it and an entire movie dedicated to part three would have been a great way to handle it. In part three we could have seen more character back story from all the principle characters and explored the changes that Selene was going through as a result of drinking the blood of the first immortal. It would have also been nice to see Michael grow as a character as well because after the first movie he doesn't grow much as a character. All of this coming together could have made an excellent third movie and I'm not sure why it didn't happen that way.

  I really enjoy the first two "Underworld" movies the first one because it was good and the second one because it had such potential to be something more. This series could have seriously benefited from the structure and time allowance of the trilogy model but maybe the new movie will be that part three that the series needed. Provided that they filmmakers were concerned about the continuity up to this point. We'll just have to see.