In the next installment of the blockbuster franchise, Underworld: Blood Wars follows Vampire death dealer, Selene as she fends off brutal attacks from both the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her. With her only allies, David  and his father Thomas, she must stop the eternal war between Lycans and Vampires, even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice...

The fifth movie in the franchise, Underworld: Blood Wars, sees Kate Beckinsale return as iconic Death Dealer Selene, more powerful than ever before. As the war between Vampires and Lycans escalates, Selene must end the battle that has raged for centuries, once and for all.

If you're a hardcore fan of the Underworld franchise, then you're obviously going to enjoy this movie. There's little story here (the synopsis of most blockbusters can be written on the back of a bus ticket) but the movie works best when you focus on its impressive set pieces (fight sequences, if you like).

Vampires Vs lycans... whoever in their right mind would believe that a bunch of savage, mindless dogs could outsmart or manoeuvre century old ex-humans? But wait... the lycan's have a new weapon in the guise of leader Marius (Tobias Menzies) who is not your average lycan.

The visuals are as impressive as ever with both the costumes and visual effects squeezing every last drop out of the film's meager budget. In fact on monetary costs alone this film manages to hold its own against productions with far more money to play with.

If you're not an Underworld fan then there's nothing here to convert you and, while this almost works as a standalone film, you're going to get the most out of if you've seen the previous four movies.

Extras could have been a little more interesting. All we get are Evolution of Selene (8 min, 09 sec featurette which examines how the character has evolved over the franchise); Old & New Blood (6 min, 15 sec look at the characters); The Evil Evolved (6 min, 07 sec look at the species in the film); Building a Blood War (12 min, 03 sec look behind the scenes); and Previews (trailers for other films - which also plays, rather annoyingly, before the Blu-ray loads up to the menu screen).

It's not a bad movie, it's just that it does exactly what you'll be expecting. There's nothing new or earth shattering on display here (other than the visuals).

6

Darren Rea