![]() ![]() ![]() Tomb Raider fans will enjoy Lara's latest quest even though it's lackluster. Some even stood still while Lara picked them off with ease. ![]() While Lara looks quite agile leaping away from gunfire as she shoots enemies, most opponents put forth little effort. It is the perfectly cast Beckinsale who lifts Underworld out and away from the film’s many moments of silly gravitas and steers it into a truly interesting take on the whole vampires 'n' werewolves genre. The combat is solid, but not very explosive. It's as goofy as it is gory - stay away if you don't like in-your-face mayhem. This makes executing big leaps all the more difficult. If you're moving too quickly, the camera struggles to follow, leaving you viewing the action from a bad angle. Beckinsale and supporting players Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen are all good, but Speedman and Shane Brolly are decidedly not. The worldbuilding here seems well thought-out, but the acting is wildly uneven. The platforming suffers because of an erractic camera. It’s not a particularly good one, but it’s not terrible either. However, the platforming and puzzles are pretty basic, so most players won't need this option. For newbies, the game provides a field guide that offers tips in case you're stuck on a level. Underworld emphasizes exploration, yet the game feels pretty linear. For a game with these epic locales, the actual adventure feels boring. Unfortunately, the action doesn't match up. You'll even see Lara get dirty as she climbs walls and darts through ruins. Ancient ruins sport fine details etched in stone, while jungles look lush and vibrant. This B-movie is “So You Think You Can Dance?” for martial arts brawlers, nothing more.Underworld is definitely one of the most attractive Tomb Raider titles in the series. I don't get any floral notes and the cumin is way back (unfortunately). The pepper-note is nicely done as it doesn't stick out too much but gives the scent a gentle spicy smokiness. But the fight sequences sell it, to those who are on the market for that sort of thing. 'Underworld' is a pretty usual affair of darker and slightly earthy woods albeit enhanced with a bit of pepper. The story doesn’t carry “Hydra,” and the characters are so confined to “types” that they’re rarely more than that. “Who the hell ARE you?” villains inevitably ask, those who have time to utter anything before it’s game on. His Takashi doesn’t wear his skills openly, so he’s always getting the drop on the bad guys who come after him or those close to him. Ninja”) makes a fine “strong, silent and competent” type. ![]() And if they’re really worried, they’re inclined to hire assassins of their own. Tokyo Life Group has a real jones for corrupt, murderous, date-rapist cops. “We kill people,” the leader (I didn’t catch his name, but I think that’s Tomorowo Taguchi‘s character) intones, in Japanese with English subtitles, to his former go-to-guy, Takashi. Jiro Kaneko’s script sets up a laughably arch back story that ties Takashi to this job in this place, and an “organization” called “Tokyo Life Group Ltd” that does these “purges.” That’s what they call them. Anime to action films, always beware of the dude too busy get a cut or a comb. The story takes its allegorical title from a tiny Tokyo pub, where young Rina ( Miu) presides, flirtatious Kenta ( Tasuku Nagase) is the waiter and stern, silent Takashi ( Masanori Mimoto) smokes and broods and cooks back in the kitchen.īut he’s not just “mysterious,” not merely a “quiet old fart.” He remembers customers, sizes up what they need to eat right now (hangovers call for tandoori chicken), cooks and does everything else, it seems, by memory.Īnd if we know about Japanese cinema semiotics, we can tell he’s a badass just from that familiar unruly mop of hair. There’s not much else to focus on in this 77 minute movie, which opens with ten dialogue-free minutes of a cop being killed in a men’s room, the baseball-capped young killer ( Satoshi Kibe) making his exit, the “cleaner” ( Takashi Nishina) showing up with his aluminum suitcase to dismember the body, take it home, and further whack it to pieces to feed to his tank of carnivorous fish. Audience Reviews for Underworld There's guilty pleasure movies, and then there's the garbage like Underworld that take themselves way too seriously in an attempt to make silly action. A knife or a screwdriver pierces flesh with a soft, metallic “shtuck shtuck.” None of this exaggerated post-production “POW, BAM SNAP” stuff here. We hear the “whoosh WHOOSH” of arms and legs in fabric, heavy breaths and the muffled “thump” of blows landing. Naohiro Kawamoto choreographed the fights in this minimalist, archetypal underworld collision of cops, mob assassins and vigilantes. Everything happens breathlessly fast, so much so that there’s a do-si-do dance to the life-or-death struggle. There’s no talking, rarely even grunts of exertion. In the Japanese mystery-thriller “Hydra” (Sorry, Marvel fans.) the brawls mimic the rest of the movie. When it’s done well, you realize why they call it “fight choreography.” ![]()
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