Wait, what
Anybody else love the original Underworld movies? I loved how there were species weaknesses that the other exploited (Silver vs. UV light) and how they were given an origin backstory. Plus I love a good forbidden fruit supernatural romance. But I think I must have forgotten an awful lot because I was terribly confused when I checked out the Blood Wars sequel.
So they killed off Michael off screen, which ??? And Selene had a baby (also offscreen) while asleep which LOL. I'm guessing zero people who have ever actually carried babies were involved in the script. Like, I'm still building up bone density after having had kids years ago, making fetuses actually requires a lot of energy and raw material. Okay, so *handwavehandwave* since you needed her to have an upgraded hybrid plot device/motivation for your story, and a mystery for her to confront, plus our intrepid action heroine still needs to be sexay in a leather catsuit.
But I'm still really disappointed in how all the politics and maneuvering and backstabbing (that made the original couple of films interesting puzzle solving narratives) is resolved with like, Hand of God mystical powers granted by a last minute mystic voyage in this film. And what's odd is that it's out of place because the Out of Nowhere powers is actually exactly how it's supposed to go in Underworld, but there were a long string of narrative clues in the other ones, e.g. you were told all along how Michael's blood was different and you get to see it manifest in the final encounter. The ending to this one felt profoundly unsatisfying because it felt like they'd written themselves into a corner and then had to backtrack and get some kind of Ultimate Power-up instead of pulling on all the other strings they'd put into play which ???
I don't know, it reminded me a bit of the conclusion of A:TLA where Aang figures out how to defeat the Biggest Bad by getting out-of-nowhere powers after communing with Giant Mystical Turtle we'd never heard of before.
At first I wondered if they killed off Michael because of actor/studio conflict, but now it seems they just wanted to reboot the series with Selene's new love interest being Vampire Nobility, and her character arc culminating in being made an Elder. Michael being around would have been in the way and this movie gives that arc closure but I still wonder if there was some BTS fighting which led to Scott Speedman being written out.
I don't know why I'm so disappointed. Maybe because I really did love the original two films? It can be campy and gory BUT IT'S GOT TO MAKE NARRATIVE SENSE.
Also, I forgot to say I also watched Hidden Figures a couple weeks ago and it was WONDERFUL. I loved Mary the most:
"Mary. It's Sunday. Have some shame."
"I will not."
I love how they showed just how many people are involved in getting something up into space! I loved how all these incredible WoC got their own arcs and how starkly racial inequality was depicted right from the get-go. Just the visceral terror of three women who did nothing wrong in the face of a police officer, and then the surprise ending of them chasing him down. XDDD I also loved how they tried to disguise racism with sexism throughout, too, because it was the more acceptable version of the -isms. How Kirsten Dunst's character was never anybody except Mrs. Mitchell --her husband's name.
Also it's ruling at box office too, so HAHAHA. THERE IS SOME JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD.
Like, it's telling that when Obama was president, the conservatives were buying guns to protest with their dollars, and now that Lord Dampnut is in, the liberals are buying books. (There are two kinds of people...) This entry was originally posted at http://nrgburst.dreamwidth.org/87387.html. You can also comment there using OpenID.
So they killed off Michael off screen, which ??? And Selene had a baby (also offscreen) while asleep which LOL. I'm guessing zero people who have ever actually carried babies were involved in the script. Like, I'm still building up bone density after having had kids years ago, making fetuses actually requires a lot of energy and raw material. Okay, so *handwavehandwave* since you needed her to have an upgraded hybrid plot device/motivation for your story, and a mystery for her to confront, plus our intrepid action heroine still needs to be sexay in a leather catsuit.
But I'm still really disappointed in how all the politics and maneuvering and backstabbing (that made the original couple of films interesting puzzle solving narratives) is resolved with like, Hand of God mystical powers granted by a last minute mystic voyage in this film. And what's odd is that it's out of place because the Out of Nowhere powers is actually exactly how it's supposed to go in Underworld, but there were a long string of narrative clues in the other ones, e.g. you were told all along how Michael's blood was different and you get to see it manifest in the final encounter. The ending to this one felt profoundly unsatisfying because it felt like they'd written themselves into a corner and then had to backtrack and get some kind of Ultimate Power-up instead of pulling on all the other strings they'd put into play which ???
I don't know, it reminded me a bit of the conclusion of A:TLA where Aang figures out how to defeat the Biggest Bad by getting out-of-nowhere powers after communing with Giant Mystical Turtle we'd never heard of before.
At first I wondered if they killed off Michael because of actor/studio conflict, but now it seems they just wanted to reboot the series with Selene's new love interest being Vampire Nobility, and her character arc culminating in being made an Elder. Michael being around would have been in the way and this movie gives that arc closure but I still wonder if there was some BTS fighting which led to Scott Speedman being written out.
I don't know why I'm so disappointed. Maybe because I really did love the original two films? It can be campy and gory BUT IT'S GOT TO MAKE NARRATIVE SENSE.
Also, I forgot to say I also watched Hidden Figures a couple weeks ago and it was WONDERFUL. I loved Mary the most:
"Mary. It's Sunday. Have some shame."
"I will not."
I love how they showed just how many people are involved in getting something up into space! I loved how all these incredible WoC got their own arcs and how starkly racial inequality was depicted right from the get-go. Just the visceral terror of three women who did nothing wrong in the face of a police officer, and then the surprise ending of them chasing him down. XDDD I also loved how they tried to disguise racism with sexism throughout, too, because it was the more acceptable version of the -isms. How Kirsten Dunst's character was never anybody except Mrs. Mitchell --her husband's name.
Also it's ruling at box office too, so HAHAHA. THERE IS SOME JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD.
Like, it's telling that when Obama was president, the conservatives were buying guns to protest with their dollars, and now that Lord Dampnut is in, the liberals are buying books. (There are two kinds of people...) This entry was originally posted at http://nrgburst.dreamwidth.org/87387.html. You can also comment there using OpenID.