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SPOILERS
Have you ever been to a movie where the opening credits sequence was the only part that made sense? And where the best acting was done by the faceless, nameless guard who dies in the first 15 minutes?
Yeah. That'd it Ultraviolet. Between the victims of the "horrible, deadly, and virulent" disease which doesn't seem to do anything other than make them superhumans, the "flat space" and "counter-gravity" technology (which explained by Violet was able to carry lots of guns and still wear form fitting vinyl, leather, and spandex), and the nonsensical plot...yeah. It was bad. Very bad.
There was a LOT that was never explained, which made it very difficult to understand parts of the plot. I don't expect "flat space" technology to be explained, but at the same time it would be nice if they mentioned WHY the "hemophages" had it and normal people didn't (more to the point: why the average hemophage thug had technology that was hundreds of times better than the average human "elite" soldier). Similarly, it woudl have been nice if they explained what the virus DID. Presumably, given that its called "hemophagic virus" it makes you want to drink blood, but we never see anyone in the movie do that. There is a derth of blood drinking. Nor do people seem to be affected by sunlight.
The movie focused too much on special effects and Milla Jovovich's color changing, skin tight outfit, to the detriment of any sense of dialogue (people have a tendency to take William Shatner-style pauses when they speak) or setting. For instance: Why do all the government people have religious titles, including plenty of cross iconography on their buildings and uniforms, and yet none of them actually seem to care about religion at all?
In the end, the best parts of the movie really are the fight scenes (some of which, early on at least, or somewhat amusing), and the opening credit sequence, which is done in the form of comic book covers of various "Ultraviolet" comic books that have, apparently, been published over the years (they got some good artists to do the covers for the movie, I'll give them that). Though it was slightly odd to see the camera's obsession with doing slow pans over the breasts on the cover artwork. I mean, I can understand why they did it, intellectually...but at the same time it really was more than a touch silly.
Put asses into seats, though. I mean the theater was PACKED, and this was one of the last showings on Saturday, so I'm wondering if it was getting a pretty strong and consistent audience. |
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