Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Sandrine Holt, Michael Ealy, India Eisley
Director: Mans Marlind
Rating: 2.5/5
This awakening might put you off to sleep...
By Priyanka Ketkar
Romantic, coy, non-violent... These are hardly the qualities of a vampire or a werewolf. The Twilight series changed the way the world once looked at Vampires. Suddenly girls wanted boyfriends or husbands like Edward the Vampire; Vampires were reduced to mere beautiful looking creatures. But with the Underworld series' fourth installment- Underworld Awakening, people can expect the Blood-sucking, monstrous, real Vampires to be back.
The movie starts off where it left the last time. It is almost six months since the Evolution and the Vampires' Queen Bee, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) has been captured by the humans. But by the time she wakes up, twelve years have passed since her confinement. Who is it who rescued her? Is it her love- Michael who has saved her? Is he still alive? While Selene is lost in such confounding questions, she encounters a young girl, Eve (India Eisley). Eve, as it is revealed, is none other than Michael and her daughter. But Selene has no time for emotions because there are people after her, to get her. But they aren't really after her, are they? All they want is Eve. After losing Michael, Selene is not willing to lose her baby girl now. She will do anything to protect her. And she has "friends" to help her win this battle against the Lycans and the humans. Will she win? Can she protect her daughter? Is Michael alive? If he is dead, will she take her revenge? The answers to all of these will come on to your face ('coz of the 3D) in the form of blood, gore and shattered glasses.
At times, the story goes kind of haywire. There are a lot of unexplained things which will leave the viewers completely lost. Kate Beckinsale's full-fledged return will definitely be more than welcome although some more action on her part and less talking would have done the trick. Stephen Rea is good in his part and so is Theo James. Michael Ealy shines in his part. India Esley looks terrific, great start. Rest of the cast is fine and nothing much to talk about them as they barely have any role.
The dialogues are often sappy and cheesy and a minimal use of them or a better set of dialogues should've been used. The visuals are extremely shocking and needlessly gory. The movie is Adult and A-rated alright, but some scenes (if not censored by the time the movie reaches theatre) will really make you sick. Also, we are sure to see another Underworld after this one, as Awakening stops abruptly and incompletely, signaling- "To Be Continued..." The action sequences are well-choreographed and there are a few moments when your squirm but otherwise it is just about okay.
3D and Vampires, it is like we have had an overdose of both. And this one has both. If anything, the only relief is that we can see some real Vampire-like ferociousness but otherwise it is likely that you might fall asleep. The movie is definitely interesting in parts but as a whole, it is just too bloody and gory to digest.