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In the mid-21st century, a virus has turned part of the earth's
population into hemophages, vampire-like creatures with heightened
speed and dexterity, and a fascist government is intent on
stamping them out. Enter Violet, a hemophage determined to
fight for her people. Her battle takes an unexpected turn,
however, when she finds herself protecting Six, a mysterious
young child who was raised in a lab...
Ultraviolet
Violet
stars Milla Jovovich as a vampire with a mission. Set in the
near future, the movie revolves around the after effects of
a laboratory created virus which has escaped into the outside
world. Those that come into contact with the virus, which
is generally passed on through the blood, turn into hemophages.
Those that are infected take on various powers, but the most
common side effect is the lengthening of teeth - leading them
to be known as vampires. Along with their increased powers,
the hemophages also suffer from a much shortened life cycle.
Okay,
so that's the background to the movie. The film opens with
Jovovich's character, Violet Song jat Shariff, breaking into
a secure base to steal a weapon that the humans plan to use
against the hemophages. And it's here that it suddenly dawns
on you that the movie is just going to be a collection of
rather large fight sequences tied together with a very flimsy
storyline. In fact, after the ridiculously overly long fight
sequence that opens this movie, I was starting to get a little
bored. Yes, it all looks great. Yes, you'll never have seen
any of these moves before in a movie. But for goodness sake
how much fighting can you take in one sitting before you start
to think: "Oh, okay. Now what about some plot?"
The
look of this movie is amazing. Every frame is like a beautifully
crafted work of art - serious attention to lighting and the
sets makes this look like a labour of love. It's just a shame
that director Kurt Wimmer forgot to spend a little more time
concentrating on some sort of story.
Scratch
at the surface and the tissue thin plot is exposed as total
nonsense. For starters why are the humans and hemophages fighting?
The hemophages don't actually appear to have lost their humanity
- they're just a little peed off that the rest of humanity
have shunned them. Oh, and I suppose there's the little matter
that they have very short life spans - hence humans not wanting
to become infected.
Wouldn't
it make more sense for the powers that be to find a cure?
Actually, as this movie unfolds you'll realise why a cure
wasn't found, but surely other scientists or drugs companies
would have developed a cure. But stop thinking about that!
Here comes some more fighting! Knives... guns... and guns
with knives in them!
Extras
include an audio commentary with Milla Jovovich; UV: Protection
- The Making of Ultraviolet (31 minute featurette that
could have been a lot more in depth); Deleted Scenes
(12 minutes of scenes which really help you understand the
movie a lot more); and trailers for other releases.
I
wanted to make a quick observation about the commentary. To
be honest it's not overly interesting. Jovovich doesn't really
provide much insightful information. However one comment made
me do a double take. There is a scene in the movie where Violet
switches on the auto guide system so that the car will drive
while she can do other things. Jovovich gets a little excited
about this and comments that there are are so many things
she would love to do if her real car had auto guide. These
include putting on her make-up, fiddling with the radio, eating
and... "Playing with my puppies!!!"
Now,
before you start e-mailing my editor with your complaints
on how I am a sexist pig, it wasn't just me that picked up
on this. Our reviews editor, Heather, said: "Pardon?
Playing with her puppies? I assume she means dogs and not
her breasts!"
The
Deleted Scenes are also noteworthy these show how Violet
became infected, as well as explaining that she only has 36
hours left to live - something that was never fully explained
in the finished cut of the movie. Not only that but Violet's
connection to Six seems so stupid in the movie. Why would
she risk everything to save a human child... but wait. What's
this in the deleted scenes? Oh, an explanation that Violet
was once pregnant but lost her child. Suddenly the child bonding
issue makes total sense. So why on earth was it cut from the
finished movie?
Yes
it's beautiful. Yes it's groundbreaking. But the final edit
leaves out so much that you'll be left wondering what on earth
is going on - unless you pay attention. And, as this is really
only going to appeal to teenagers who want to see some cool
acrobatic fighting, the heart of this movie will be totally
lost to the majority of viewers.
I
heard on the grapevine that the director didn't get the final
say on the cut of this movie - that the studio cut it down
to a shadow of it's intended self. If that's true I'd wait
to see if a Director's Cut is released - one that has
a plot... and a plot that actually makes sense at that.
Nick
Smithson
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