Underworld: Awakening - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Underworld: Awakening



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
With Sony releasing the boxset this last week I'll be doing individual reviews for each movie of the boxset individually, and will be linked into the overview review with all the rest.

Following the pattern of releasing an Underworld movie every 3 years since 2003, we get a return to Selene (Kate Beckinsale) and her main story. This time with a jump into the future and a whole new enemy to fight against (along with more of the same). It’s also the film that started to nose dive the series into the “ok, this is getting a bit stale” category and offically marked it as the first film that I didn’t enjoy AS MUCH as the previous ones. It has some definite fun bits, but due to Scott Speedman refusing to return to the series, we had to sideline him with a few cheesy plot devices and focus on Selene and her unknown daughter.

After Michael (now photo-shopped Scott Speedman’s face onto another actor’s body) and Selene escape Marcus they attempt to leave the country and head somewhere else. However, humanity has found out about the existence of Vampires and Lycans, going on an all out war to purge them from society and get rid of the monsters once and for all. Trying to escape with their lives, Michael and Selene are gunned down by Human forces, with Selene waking up 12 years later inside of a cryogenic station where she was being held and experimented on by Doctor Jacob Lane. Michael is nowhere in sight, but Selene is seeing through the eyes of someone else. Someone who seems to be closer to her than she can pinpoint.

Teaming up with another coven run by Thomas (Charles Dance) and his son David (Theo James), the hunted vampire vixen soon finds out that she had a daughter while under the ice. A daughter who has the powers of a hybrid and Seline’s “Alexander Corvinus” enhanced blood that makes her more powerful than any other Vampire or Lycan or Hybrid in the world. But, the Lycans are hot on their tale, wanting to use Seline’s daughter Eve (India Eisley) in order to create a race of super Lycans, putting the Lycans up on top once more. Now Seline, David, Eve and a human cop named Sebastian (Micael Ealy) have to go back to the Lycan stronghold and take out this super Lycan before it unleashes more hell on earth.

Yeah, the Underworld series is sort of getting stale this time around. The movie has it’s strong points, but it’s mostly just boring action sequences shot with a film that feels like it has even a more shoestring budget than the original did. Theo James is only in there because he’s hunky and was top of the world with the Divergent series going on, and Charles Dance is sadly wasted in the few scenes he’s in. The idea of Selene having a daughter is a trope that movies have dealt with for years, and the story doesn’t exactly do anything spectacular with the idea of her either. They make her way OP (even more OP than Michael was), and even though they HINT that Michael is still alive at the end, his absence is sorely missed as he was an integral part to Selene’s growth.

The movie is a solid enough dumb action movie, and the prettiest out of all 5, but still suffers from Resident Evil syndrome. E.g., too much going on and not enough creativity to make the series last much longer. It was supposed to be the start of a new trilogy (which turned into a two film set as the 6th film hasn’t been heard of since Blood Wars bombed at the box office), but it’s just more rehashed Lycan vs. Vampire tropes without all of the gothic flair of the first two, and the inclusions of humans as the enemies (which could have gone a very interesting route, but just fizzled out as people wanted to see more monsters, less normies).




Rated R for strong violence and gore, and for some language




4K Video: Video:

The Blu-ray release of the film was always a 5/5 star encode from the get go, but I was truly floored by the 4K UHD release. It was the first film to shy away from film stock and go all digital, and it is GORGEOUS. Comparing the already great Blu-ray to this is just jaw dropping, as the 2160p encode just wipes the floors with the old encode. It’s crystal clear, deep blue in it’s color grading (this film stepped back from the green tones) and just sharp as a tack. The opening scene with Selene kicking her way out of the cyro chamber is incredible. You can see every reflection and crease on Seline’s leather outfit, as the obvious CGI blood spraying everywhere (a serious downside). I did notice that this was also the first time that the series really used mostly digital Lycan instead of the practical effects from the previous 3 films (though Rise of the Lycans did showcase some pretty obvious CGI during the conversions). Black levels are just so inky and deep that it’s almost sickening. You can see EVERYTHING in the shadows, and I didn’t really even notice any major crush this go around. The Blu-ray looked great, but this thing is on a whole nother level.







Audio:

Awakening came with a 7.1 DTS-HD MA track back in 2012 (which is included on this 4K disc as well as a legacy track), and the upgrade to Atmos just (once more) fine tunes an already FANTASTIC track to be just a little bit better. The track is probably the best of the entire series, with gut wrenching bass, roaring surrounds that just whistle with chaotic action, and a pulsating heavy score that pounds the listener into their seats. This is the type of immersion that you want from any high grade track, and it is pure sonic bliss. Vocals are above reproach and perfectly balanced with the rest of the track, but gunfire, explosions, and general fisticuffs literally pummel the listener from all sides. It’s one of those LOUD, brash and exciting mixes that you always want. The Atmos is a minor upgrade though, as the 7.1 mix was already very agile and exciting as it is. It’s just a bit more nimble and airy with shifting effects, and some minor ambient noises coming through in the overheads fleshes it out.






Extras:

4K UHD
• Trailer
• Underworld: Endless War 3-Part Animated Series

Blu-ray
• Cracking the Underworld: Picture-in-Picture Experience
• Filmmakers' Commentary
• 5 Featurettes
• Blooper Reel
• Previews

Final Score:
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Underworld: Awakening was the movie where I started getting bored with the franchise, and revisiting it some 9 years later hasn’t changed my opinion much. It’s not a horrible movie, but still a bit long in the tooth. That being said, the 4K UHD is GORGEOUS, easily outclassing the already fantastic looking Blu-ray (this is easily the best looking film in the franchise) and the upgrade to Atmos is a welcome change. It’s not something I would go buy on my own, but as part of a set it’s certainly a nice upgrade over your aging Blu-ray (or 3D Blu-ray, as awful as that disc was).


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Michael Ealy, India Esley, Stephen Rea, Theo James, Sandrine Holt, Charles Dance, Kris Holden-Reid
Directed by: Mans Marlind, Bjorn Stein
Written by: Len Wiseman, John Hlavin, J. Michael Straczynski
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1), English DTS-HD MA 7.1, German, Japanese, Spanish DGS-HD MA 5.1, English, French, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
Studio: Sony
Rated: R
Runtime: 89 minutes
Blu-Ray Release October 26th, 2021

Recommendation: Decent Watch