The vampire warrior Selene continues her battle against werewolves to find her daughter's pure blood and end the war. However, the poor acting, graphic violence, and incoherent storytelling make the movie inappropriate. While there are themes of family and legacy, the overall message promotes an immoral pagan worldview of seeking immortality on Earth through violence and blood rather than through faith in Jesus Christ.
1. HEADLINE: ** More Lusting After Eternal Life on Earth **
Title: UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS
Quality: * Acceptability: -3
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: L
Violence: VVV
Sex: SS
Nudity: NN
MPAA RATING: R
RELEASE: January 6, 2017
TIME: 91 min.
STARRING: Kate Beckinsale, Theo James
DIRECTOR: Anna Foerster
PRODUCERS: David Kern, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Anna Foerster, James McQuaide, Skip Williamson
WRITER: Cory Goodman
DISTRIBUTOR: Lakeshore Entertainment
CONTENT: (PaPaPa, FrFrFr, RoRoRo, L, VVV, SS, Ho, NN, A, EvEv) ; Very strong
pagan worldview with a supporting romantic worldview that honors the idea of immortality
on earth through a the lens of mythical vampires as the heroes, There is talk of a chosen
one’s blood restoring life to other vampires, and although it is far from biblical, the heroes
rely on the legacy and commitment of their families to restore a proper order to their world
against the werewolves; Two obscenities; Very intense battle scenes that involve internal
body parts being graphically exposed, Decapitation is depicted, Guns and swords cause
violent wounds and impalements, The use of blood in these fights is not shied away from
either, Plenty of hand-to-hand combat, A person disintegrates into ashes, Surgical scenes
are rather gruesome; Many of the women wear very revealing clothing, and only for the
sake of sexualizing their appearance, Two people of the opposite sex are seen cuddling,
and something awfully suggestive takes place between the two off-screen, A love-making
scene is depicted through a quick flashback, Two women kiss; Upper male nudity;
Alcoholic drinks are seen briefly, but its affects are never shown, Although blood could be
seen as similar to alcohol in this world; No smoking or drug use; The subject of evolution
is mentioned in a description of the history between vampires and werewolves, The
transformations of the humans to werewolves is very frightening in appearance.
GENRE: Science Fiction/Fantasy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
REVIEWER: Trevor Pacelli
SUMMARY:
UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS continues the vampire vs. werewolves franchise with
2. the vampire warrior Selene hoping to find her daughter’s pure blood to end the war. The
poor acting, intense bloodshed, and incomprehensible storytelling are hard to get past,
which makes the strong pagan-romantic worldview of this movie much easier to be swayed
by. It is ultimately inappropriate for all media-wise viewers, and is a direct blasphemy
against the true spiritual immortality offered by Jesus.
REVIEW:
UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS is the sequel to UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING, a
continuation of the vampires vs. werewolves franchise that doesn’t know when to quit.
The vampire warrior Selene continues her battle against the werewolves. Her daughter is
off hiding from the rest of the world, as her blood is considered pure enough for the wolves
to want her gone.
So Selene is off to end this war between the vampires and the werewolves, which can only
be done through the dosage of pureblood. While she is out in search for her daughter, she
gets into a run-in with other werewolves, whom of which were specifically sent to stop her
and her daughter.
She goes to the vampire council, pleading that they help her. She beings a training session
for the others in how to kill these werewolves, but this only leads to a greater opportunity
for the enemy to locate her and the rest of the council. Meanwhile, her partner, David, is in
a period of self-denial in terms of the recent fate of his father against the werewolves, and
must seek out what his parents wanted from him in order to win this war.
As for the council, their leader is committed to finding her own means of stopping the war
through the blood of Selene, which she knows will offer the right immortality guaranteed
to make the rest of the council unstoppable.
UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS doesn’t do much of anything to boost up the franchise
in terms of quality: the acting is more awkward than ever before and the story is as
nonsensical as it is incoherent. The battle sequences, although thrilling enough, are still far
too graphic for anybody under the age of fifteen, making its R-rating well-deserved. It also
continues off the very strong pagan-romantic worldview that makes the idea of immortality
on earth as a healthy fantasy that is worth making sacrifices for.
There are also plenty of edgy moments depicted in a glorious light, including a super brief
sex scene and a kiss between two women. It is clear through the choice of wardrobe on
many of the women that they were cast purely for the sake of looking good, rather than for
their actual acting ability.
That is exactly why the poor acting and blank line deliveries makes UNDERWORLD much
more dangerous for the nonmedia-wise viewer. It means they will joyfully take in the media
while mentally seeing themselves in the characters’ place, for the absence of on-screen
personality allows room to fantasize about your own personality filling in the blanks of
3. their actions. Not to mention the fact that nobody in the cast passes as unattractive (even
after a long sword and bullet fight) offers an unhealthy desire to look as gorgeous as the
stars in Hollywood.
Although there are a couple of redemptive themes, such as commitment to family value
and legacy, and knowing what’s worth fighting for; but these themes are undermined by
the desire to make the most out of life on earth, even if it means living forever until you
are satisfied.
People need to understand that this flesh-and-blood life is not all that there is. A whole
eternity of everlasting joy awaits us in Heaven with our Lord and Savior, an invitation that
waits to be accepted by us once we accept the sacrifice made by the Holy Trinity to defeat
sin. No amount of human blood can be shed and drunk to make your physicality live
forever. Only the pure, spotless blood of Jesus can make your spirituality live forever.
So due to violence, sexuality, a mention of evolution, and a pagan-romantic look at what it
means to leave a historical legacy, MovieGuide declares that UNDERWORLD: BLOOD
WARS is excessively immoral and inappropriate viewing for media-wise viewers.
IN BRIEF:
In UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS, the vampire warrior Selene’s daughter is off hiding
from the rest of the world, as her blood is considered pure enough for the wolves to want
her gone. So Selene is off to end this war between the vampires and the werewolves, which
can only be done through the dosage of pureblood. While she is out in search for her
daughter, she gets into a run-in with other werewolves, whom of which were specifically
sent to stop her and her daughter. So now it is up to the council to help her end the war.
Not much of anything is done to boost the storytelling quality of the franchise, putting more
emphasis on the intense R-rated action scenes than the convincing nature of the acting.
Although there are a couple of redemptive themes, such as commitment to family value
and legacy, too many more negative elements are shown in a positive light, such as
sexualizing women and drinking blood as a way to live forever on earth. MovieGuide
ultimately declares that UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS is excessively immoral and
inappropriate viewing for media-wise viewers.
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