Only diehard fans will have kept count of how many films there have been in the Underworld series – this is the fifth – and even they will be increasingly hard pressed to tell them apart. Underworld: Blood Wars shares the same sooty palette, the same slice-and-dice aerial action sequences and it proves, yet again, that nobody can kick ass in a breathable PVC bodysuit quite like Kate Beckinsale.
The war between the vampires and Lycans rages on. In this instalment, the tables have turned. The Lycans have spent the intervening period stockpiling increasingly sophisticated weaponry. The vampires, meanwhile, seem to have been concentrating on internecine treachery and grooming products. Death-dealer Selene (Beckinsale) has been cast out by her own kind after killing a vampire, but in desperation, the committee of vampire elders reaches out to her to train their fighters. Not all, however, have noble motives and not all can forgive and forget. This slick, violent but insubstantial picture will sate existing fans but has little chance of connecting with new ones.
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