Underworld: Evolution

Kate Beckinsale is back in leather and fangs for Underworld: Evolution, the sequel to the Vampires versus Lycans action hit from a few years ago. This time around, without having to introduce anything new, director Len Wiseman is able to make an easier to follow story by just having the entire history of his universe plus the whole first movie, all in the first 15 minutes, via narration and showing some key shots, and so that sets us up for what's to come, which is non-stop action, gore, and almost naked Kate. The result is a better movie that expands what we knew and though it ends with everything pretty much explained and done, there is hope for this to be a trilogy and that third outing really can't get here any faster.

After the summary we start this one right where left off the last time, which Kate's Selene having just killed Viktor (Bill Nighy) and now on the run from those who are sure to want to get revenge for killing one of the powerful ancestors. Scott Speedman's Michael, who is now a hybrid (originally lycan now mixed with vampire) with unknown abilities and maybe unlimited power is with her, and they start kind of cold, mostly because of the shock of what they just did and running away, but then they get close again and the love is palpable. No real nudity, but Wiseman gives us a really erotic sex scene between the two of them, especially awesome because Beckinsale is his real life wife.
While that happens, vampire traitor and second in command Kraven (Shane Brolly), goes back to the mansion to destroy Marcus (Tony Curran), or his body actually which is in his tomb waiting to be waken up some day. But when he gets there and opens the tomb there's nothing there. If you remember, the first movie ended with the scientist lycan dying on the floor and his blood ran through the cracks and so now Marcus is alive again, more powerful than before, and wanting to get his sweet revenge. Not on Selene for killing Viktor though, it's more of a general revenge on his race for what happened in the past, which we learned at the beginning of the movie.

It turns out that, as we all know, at the top of the pyramid was Alexander Corvinus (Derek Jacobi) who had 2 sons. One them was Marcus and he was bit by a bat, and went on to be the royalty of the vampires under the command of Viktor who was the warrior and leader. The other son was William, and he was bit by a wolf, and went on to lead the lycans in battle, but they were different lycans back then. Once bitten, they couldn't go back to their human form.
At one point Viktor finally captured William, but since he was also royalty, even being a lycan, he didn't kill him but put him in a tomb in a cave with a lock he could only open, and Marcus always resented him for that, and has always wanted to set his brother free again. The lock consists of 2 parts, one is inside Viktor himself (easy to access now that he's dead), but the other part is a medallion Viktor gave his daughter, the one that fell in love with the lycan Lucious (Michael Sheen) and was sacrificed by Viktor because of it. But Lucious kept the medallion, which he ended up giving to Michael at the end of the first movie, and so that's what Marcus is looking for now. Plus the blood of Selene, so he can get her memories, and this is because she is the only living person who knows where the tomb is, since she was there when she was a kid with her father, who was the one that made it, and that's why Viktor killed him and all of Selene's family, because they knew, but since he didn't have a daughter no more, he took mercy on Selene and let her live, and that's how the whole circle ends is complete.

Yes, I know that was too long maybe but I absolutely love the story and everything Wiseman and his co-creators Danny McBride (who wrote the screenplay) and Kevin Grevioux have done with this movies. The action, the gadgets, the style, the pacing, the effects and the characters, everything is great in Underworld: Evolution, and hopefully what's best is yet to come.