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Underworld Awakening DVD

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Written by Jonathan Jacobs

The Lycans are coming, the Lycans are coming, oh wait, there are already here. When the reels begin turning, our vampiress heroine (Beckinsale as Selene) is busy trying to escape an undead creature extermination courtesy of the federal government. Man, will the fed ever stop interfering in our lives? What's next Obamacare?

When vaccinations and barricades fail to prevent the spread of the transformative "disease", martial law is declared and all werewolfism breaks loose. Selene is devoted to escaping with her lover Michael Corwin (Scott Speedman) when a concussion grenade intervenes. The two are separated and to the viewer ostensibly executed. Twelve years later however, things have changed. Thought to be long dead, the Lycans are rising in secret and their experimental serums have provided them a new power.

Dr. Jacob Lane (Stephen Rea) has pulled the proverbial wool over the eyes of the world. Leading a group Lycans disguised as scientists, Dr. Lane has assembled an entire team of geneticists to work at a facility called Antigen (an antigen is an immunological substance that catalyzes the production of antibodies) . The experimenters have several vampire and Lycan test subjects. The two most featured are a cryogenically frozen Selene, and her newly discovered daughter Eve (India Eisley). Eve frees her mother by defrosting her and the two manage to barely escape Antigen with their lives intact, but not without raising the awareness of the police force. Detective Sebastian (Michael Ealy) suspects that Lycans are thriving and that something is seriously wrong in the state of Denmark as it were.

In order to survive the Lycan onslaught (made more inimical by their increased size and strength), Selene seeks shelter in a nearby coven. There she finds an ally in David (Theo James), but the rest of the vampires are content to survive in hiding. Her escape to the coven brings about a war between the threadbare vampires and the newly reinforced Lycans. Between the homo sapiens purging the undead and the eternal conflict between vampires and Lycans, there is enough action and storytelling to entertain practically any moviegoer.

Forgive my hyper-libidinous dialogue, but Kate Beckinsale is flat out beautiful and as physically fit as a gymnast. I have been a fan since her romantic drama film Serendipity alongside John Cusack. Michael Ealy plays a sleuth with a great deal of style, and Theo James is badass.  In order to extend the franchise, directors Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein have deviated from the previous course and gone the route of Resident Evil. There is no rational reason why movie fans should have to suffer never-ending series that are fairly repetitive and in which the conclusions are foregone. I will have to write the studio a missive about the state of redundancy in Hollywood. The only criticism I can offer about this new Underworld is that vampires are now suddenly sunlight proof. This is a pure mimic of Twilight which I believe is an absurd mistake out loud. Underworld Awakening 3D is an entertaining new twist on an old story. Though frenetic enough to make one's hair fall out, there is never a dull moment which keeps us in our seats and entertained. This might be worth the price of admission if you smuggle in Real D 3D glasses ahead of time.

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