Madison County (2012/Unrated/Image DVD)/Underworld:
Awakening (2012/aka Underworld 4/Sony Blu-ray)
Picture:
C/B- Sound: C+/B Extras: D/C Films: D/C
So how
wrecked is the horror genre. Here are
two more examples.
Apparently,
adultery and bridges are not the only thing in Eric England’s lame Madison County
(2012), but the new Unrated DVD also has a serial killer running around with
the head of a dead pig over his face like a mask! Sound familiar? Yup.
As a matter of fact, everything here is, recycling the slasher genre in
every tired way possible and not even trying to do anything new with it. At least it is not outright torture porn, but
it is outright boring, derivative and a total waste of time. The tag line says “you’re not welcome here”
and it is accurate, but not for the reasons intended. It is just a cynical rip-off by its own
admission and yawn-inducing. A
yawn-inducing audio commentary and trailer are among the tired extras.
I have
been no fan of Len Wiseman, the man who ruined the Die Hard franchise, but his Underworld franchise is one of the
dumbest ever. Now, a fourth installment
has arrived in Underworld: Awakening
(2012) and it is originally shot in 3D (we only got a 2D version), Kate
Beckinsale is back and werewolves are finally disappearing after all those
special bullets never seemed to work on any of them or the vampires much in the
“trilogy” as they call it. If you missed
it, here is our coverage of the recent Blu-ray set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11378/Underworld+Trilogy+%E2%80%93+T
We even
covered it a few times before and I was especially bored, but by default, this
is at least the first one that is watchable as the dummy formula is played out
and they decide to start imitating Resident
Evil on some level. Can our heroine
find her lost love? What bad things have
happened to the world now? Does that
include looking like a bad videogame?
The fight sequences resemble that all the way to subconsciously having
us watch them battle “to the next level” and you have seen most of this before,
including the sometimes overdone violence.
The
makers also want to imitate the third and fourth Alien films, but not always for the best, though Charles Dance
(from the third Alien) shows up in
an odd role and the underrated Stephen Rea also turns up as a villain, but even
they, the 3D effects and somewhat of a budget cannot make this that good,
especially when it only runs about 80 minutes excluding end credits. It is just too little too late, but fans
might be interested.
Extras
include a music video, a fun Blooper Reel, 5 featurettes, a sixth Blu-ray
exclusive featurette and a feature length filmmakers commentary track by co-directors
Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein, who try to have a vision but never really pull it
off.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Madison shows
its low budget digital limits with motion blur and other location video issues,
even as it tries to sometimes imitate an older horror film look. Don’t expect much. The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition
image on Underworld has some
purposely degraded images and was shot entirely in REDCODE RAW 3D 5K HD,
leading to some detail issues, though this has more color range than all three
of its predecessors. Director of
Photography Scott Kevan has just shot the awful The Darkest Hour (reviewed on Blu-ray 3D elsewhere on this site) and
does a better job here. I would be
interested in comparing to the 3D version sometime.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 on Madison tries
to upgrade simple stereo with limited effect, so maybe they should have stayed
with stereo, plus the use of LFE bass is no plus. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 7.1 lossless mix
on Underworld has some of the best
sound design of any film released this year, but sometimes dialogue is trapped
more in the center channel than I would have liked and narration can sound
boxed in. That holds it from a higher
letter grade, but anyone with a home theater system will find the sound design
a plus often enough.
- Nicholas Sheffo
