Underworld: Evolution is a 2006 action-vampire film directed by Len Wiseman. It is the second (chronologically, the third) installment in the Underworld series, followingUnderworld in 2003. The events of the film begin during the same night of the first film's finale. In the film Selene and Michael fight to protect the future of the Corvinus bloodline from its hidden past.
Contents[]
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- 1 Plot
- 2 Cast
- 3 Reception
- 3.1 Critical response
- 3.2 Box office
- 4 Prequel and sequel
- 5 Music
- 5.1 Soundtrack
- 5.2 Score
- 6 References
- 7 External links
Plot[edit][]
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 vampire Kraven; she knows that Kraven intends to kill Marcus and plans to stop him. However, Marcus has awakened before Kraven arrives. Marcus kills Kraven. 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 Viktor's 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 William's 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 Selene's father was the architect who built William's prison and that the pendant is a key to the latter. Viktor killed Selene's family as they knew the prison's 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 injures Tanis to drink his blood so that he learns Selene and Michael's 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 William's prison by drinking Selene's blood. He mortally wounds his father and obtains the other half of the pendant, after deriding his father's refusal to help William and revealing that he and William intend to rule the world as god-like masters of a race of vampire-Lycan hybrids. On Alexander's 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 which, 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. Selene kills Marcus. After the battle, Selene realizes that she is immune to the sunlight's killing effect on vampires.
Cast[edit][]
- Kate Beckinsale as Selene
- Scott Speedman as Michael Corvin
- Tony Curran as Marcus Corvinus
- Derek Jacobi as Alexander Corvinus/Lorenz Macaro - headed a secret mercenary group called the Cleaners tasked with destroying/hiding any evidence of Vampires and Lycans, and the war between them, from human awareness.
- Steven Mackintosh as Andreas Tanis
- Bill Nighy as Viktor
- Zita Görög as Amelia
- Shane Brolly as Kraven
- Brian Steele as William Corvinus
- Andrew Kavadas as Selene's Father
- John Mann as Samuel
Reception[edit][]
Critical response[edit][]
The film was not well received by critics. As of May 30, 2012, it has a 16% overall approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 101 reviews.[2] 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.[3]
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times criticized the film's "steel-blue filter" and described it as "a monotonous barrage of computer-generated fur and fangs".[4] Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicleopened 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.[5]
Box office[edit][]
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.[6] As of March 12, 2006, the film grossed a total of $62.3 million in the United States and $111.3 million worldwide.[6]
Prequel and sequel[edit][]
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.[7]
Music[edit][]
Soundtrack[edit][]
| Underworld: Evolution – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album | |||
| Released | January 10, 2006 | ||
| Genre | Alternative rock, alternative metal,post-hardcore, industrial, nu metal,metalcore, gothic metal | ||
| Length | 62:19 | ||
| Label | Lakeshore | ||
| Producer | Skip Williamson, Brain McNelis & Len Wiseman | ||
| chronology | |||
|
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [8] |
- Track listing
- "The Undertaker" (Renholdër Mix) by Puscifer – 3:57
- "Morning After" (Julien-K Remix) by Chester Bennington – 4:14
- "Where Do I Stab Myself in the Ears" (The Legion of Doom Remix) by Hawthorne Heights – 3:58
- "To the End" (RnR Cheryl Mix) by My Chemical Romance – 3:12
- "Vermillion, Pt. 2" (Bloodstone Mix) by Slipknot – 3:39
- "Burn" (Alleged Remix) by Alkaline Trio – 4:02
- "The Last Sunrise" (Dusk Mix) by Aiden – 3:55
- "Bite to Break Skin" (The Legion of Doom Remix) by Senses Fail – 4:08
- "Her Portrait in Black" by Atreyu – 4:02
- "Washing Away Me in the Tides" by Trivium – 3:47
- "Eternal Battle" by Mendozza – 4:10
- "Our Truth" by Lacuna Coil – 4:04
- "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" by Gosling – 5:01
- "Why Are You Up" by Bobby Gold – 3:10
- "Suicide" by Meat Beat Manifesto – 3:14
- "HW2" by Cradle of Filth (Cover of "Halloween II", originally recorded by Samhain) – 3:38
Score[edit][]
| Underworld Evolution (Original Score) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Film score by Marco Beltrami | |||
| Released | February 28, 2006 | ||
| Length | 75:56 | ||
| Label | Lakeshore Records | ||
| Producer | Skip Williamson, Brain McNelis & Len Wiseman | ||
| Underworld film series score album chronology | |||
|
| Underworld Evolution (Original Score) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |
| 1. | "The Crawl" | 0:52 | |
| 2. | "Ol' Timey Music" | 4:58 | |
| 3. | "William Captured" | 0:55 | |
| 4. | "Previously..." | 2:18 | |
| 5. | "Safehouse 2 Crypt" | 4:12 | |
| 6. | "Stay" | 0:55 | |
| 7. | "Corvin's Cruisin' Crypt" | 3:11 | |
| 8. | "Morgue Medallion" | 2:43 | |
| 9. | "Mike to Tarvern" | 1:30 | |
| 10. | "Mikey Doesn't Like It" | 3:31 | |
| 11. | "Cue de Cilantro" | 2:15 | |
| 12. | "Trunkin'" | 2:38 | |
| 13. | "Marcus Trumped" | 0:30 | |
| 14. | "Marcus Hits Snooze" | 0:50 | |
| 15. | "Beware of Dog" | 3:53 | |
| 16. | "Shot Glass" | 1:53 | |
| 17. | "Family Values" | 4:29 | |
| 18. | "Marcus Taps Tannis" | 2:08 | |
| 19. | "Patricide" | 4:15 | |
| 20. | "Alexander Can Help" | 1:02 | |
| 21. | "He Is My Sonshine" | 1:31 | |
| 22. | "Heli Ride" | 3:36 | |
| 23. | "William's Castle" | 2:54 | |
| 24. | "Selene, Willie & Marcus" | 3:36 | |
| 25. | "Trying to Kill Will" | 0:59 | |
| 26. | "Kill Will 2" | 2:10 | |
| 27. | "Marcus Trumped Again" | 1:33 | |
| 28. | "The Future" | 2:34 | |
| 29. | "Something I Can Never Have" (performed by Flyleaf; cover of the original record of Nine Inch Nails) | 4:57 | |
| 30. | "EracTou" (performed by Cevin Key & Ken Marshall) | 3:19 | |
| Total length: | 75:56 |