Reviews of Ultraviolet

Lost potential

Posted : 2 weeks, 6 days ago on 20 October 2009 02:04 (A review of Ultraviolet)

First of all, this review is made based on the UNRATED cut of the movie. It does indeed contain some major changes when compared to the original, primarily the kind of stuff that you can't believe was originally left out. Anyhow, on with the review. This has got to be the most critically underrated movie in quite a few years. It has a whoopping 7% rating from the critics at rottentomatoes.com, and I am always stunned when I hear that number. I mean Ultraviolet has it's fair share of problems. The pacing does seem pretty awkward at times, and there's not much build up to the spectacular final fight to make it meaningful. Also, there's little to no actual character development on Violet, which seems sorta odd, especially since she is the main character here. But hell, are we supposed to not like this movie because of those things? I mean some issues it indeed does have, but something actually bad? My ass.

Kurt Wimmer got himself a huge fanbase back when he made Equilibrium, and trust me, this movie could've easily topped that one. If Screen Gems wouldn't have went all freelance and edited the movie from 150 minutes into 90 minutes, this would've been one of the best action movies on earth. I can quarantee that. Jovovich would've also become known as an actor again, instead of a good ass. If there's an oscar for best coreography, this movie would've nailed that and the special effects-oscar. But no. That's just me dreaming. Would've been kickass though. But still, no. What we have here now... It isn't bad. It isn't mediocre. It's in that awful stage in between. It isn't such a bad place to be in. I mean you get to hang out with Jet Li's The One after all. But why is it in that category?

Let's start with directing. Wimmer has always had an extremely keen sense of what people are able to comprehend visually. He is able to create such incredibly complex fight scenes (into which I will go further in detail in a moment), but still make them easily understandable. He is also capable of portraying raw human emotion through celluloid, and his actors do exactly what you might expect; they act. Cameron Bright is propably the best hollywood child actor out there currently. He isn't annoying like that kid who sees dead people, nor does he completely overact everything like that girl who is named after the dryest state in the states. He can act just like a normal child would in the situations presented in the movie, and that is something that all child actors should aim for. Jovovich is also good in her part, but doesn't get much to work with, and hence it's also hard to review her performance. Now, then we have one of the best villains in recent memory in action movies; Ferdinand Daxus, played by Nick Chindlund. He plays an extraordinary villain here, a man who is a narcicist and a tyran at the same time, and he does it better than anyone else who has ever attempted such a performance, not that I could quickly recall any though. He has spectacular charisma, and his voice is something out of this world. Since he basically wears a nose flap throughout the entire movie, his voice sounds twisted and, well, villanous and fiendish.

Now, to why people watch this movie in its current form: The action scenes. Are they worth renting or buying this movie? Yes they are. In the beginning of the flick, we don't get an actual action scene up until the first ten minutes or so have passed. The first one seems somewhat silly, since the goons seem to break like porcelain upon impact, but it still looks gorgeous. Right after the exhasperating scene, we get a long chase, that is just unbelievable. Since Violet has a nice toy that shifts her gravity, we see her driving a motorcycle alongside the wall of a skyscraper, and other fun things. Then, soon after this thing has gone past, at about 32 minutes into the movie or so, we get THE scene. You know how there are some scenes that simply define something? Well this fight scene right here defines just how genious Kurt Wimmer is. I won't spoil most of the scene here, but I will say that it has the best use of weird ass camera tricks ever in a film, and that ain't exaggerating. It really has. Also, Klaus Badelt composed a great score for the entire film, but here it works perfectly. You seriously need to see this movie just to view that mindblowing scene. Then there are tons of other awesome action scenes here, and even though they are all very worth mentioning, I won't do that. I will say though that the final fight is audiovisually spectacular, and almost is as good as the scene I mentioned earlier.

So what the hell is wrong here then? It sounds pretty damn great, true. But the thing is Screen Gems did butcher all the character development and such out of this, and hence it feels meaningless. Especially the final fight between Daxus and Violet is obviously meant to be something special, and even though it audiovisually is, it truly has no actual content or such in it. It just looks and sounds great. If SG hadn't screwed this movie up, it would be one of the best action movies ever. As it is, it's just an extraordinarily good looking one that entertains you throughout the movie.

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An appalling film!

Posted : 1 year, 3 months ago on 2 August 2008 08:33 (A review of Ultraviolet)

"Hello. My name is Violet and I was born into a world you may not understand."

Ultraviolet is high-concept, visually spectacular science fiction movie...it is also a criminal waste of both time and talent. Audiences may remember director Kurt Wimmer's initial success with the film Equilibrium. That was a highly impressive, taut action movie with an underlying message regarding the cost of being human. The established fans of Wimmer probably aimed their expectations unfathomably high when Ultraviolet was announced. Could this be another massive cult hit like The Matrix? Unfortunately, the emphatic answer is NO! It's difficult to describe all things that went wrong, as the answer is pretty much everything. The film is so dreadful, in fact, that finding the positives would prove so hard and stating the negatives is virtually redundant.

Critics and audiences alike expressed their hatred for Ultraviolet and after watching the film with high hopes, I can see why. Practically everything on show here is below average - it features an incompetent script, terrible acting, bleak directing that never generates a moment of engagement, and the entire film doesn't make a lick of sense as the exposition is drowned out by the action.

The film's setting reflects that of 2005's Aeon Flux and the plot is essentially identical. Human society has been decimated by a holocaust caused by biological warfare gone wrong. The objective of the research was to create super-soldiers with superhuman abilities...instead this materialises into a destructive virus. Said virus infects humans and transforms them into Hemophages - a sub-species with enhanced physical aptitude and vampire characteristics. Violet (Jovovich) is an infected woman battling the totalitarian dictator who is determined to wipe out her species at any cost. She steals the recently developed secret weapon...and discovers that this weapon is in fact a young boy named Six (Bright) who encompasses valuable antigens. With Violet's species wanting to eliminate Six, and the government desiring for Six's return to their facilities...let the mayhem commence.

The Hemophages are not vampires as some have said, and Ultraviolet is not a vampire movie. The species possess a few characteristics of the vampires - like teeth and sensitivity to bright light - but they don't suck blood and sleep in coffins. It's a shame, though, because that'd be something far more interesting than this.

Ultraviolet is dumb, big, loud and overblown. The sometimes impressive and colourful visuals are never grounded in any degree of credibility. Worse yet, there's no heart behind anything. The action scenes are entertaining for sure; however never are they riveting, and never is there any point! Precious little exposition means we're travelling from one needless action scene to the next. By the film's conclusion you'll be scratching your head with confusion. There is no meaningful narrative - setting up the plot is restricted to a few minutes of an excruciating voiceover. Considering the bad dialogue we do have, maybe it was for the best that it's kept to a minimum.

Worse yet, the action is awkwardly shot and stultifyingly repetitive. The overabundance of corny visual effects makes the action inscrutable. Occasionally it is entertaining and fun to watch...but not past the first 5 minutes. The use of swords mirrors Kill Bill in a sense. But here the action is seriously lacking blood. It's sanitary to extremes, ergo growing tiresome very quickly. And when the characters begin talking, they're twisting their tongues around dialogue so unswervingly awful it sounds like a feebly translated dub track.

The CGI is sub-par as well. Apparently it was to give the impression of a comic book, but this fails badly. Sometimes I honestly thought the CGI was a joke. The characters are also atom-thin, with acting that makes the proceedings seem like a corny melodrama. So neither the action, visuals, nor dialogue redeem this putrid mess! I will admit that the first 10 minutes did have me mildly interested and it saved the film from complete disaster. Things only go downhill from there. Wimmer's lens contains as much style as a monkey with a paint brush...and most shots resemble a poor man's video game.

2.3/10

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Terrible

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago on 25 February 2008 12:26 (A review of Ultraviolet)

I've was told from plenty of people that Ultraviolet was a terrible movie and after watching I would have to agree.
The writing was bad with little story that really wasn't interesting.
The acting was bad as no one felt real and spoke crappy dialog.
Action scenes felt dry and uninteresting also.
Music was bad techno music that felt forced.
Now I've heard that the director of this directed Equilibrium which I've been wanting to see and it's suppose to be good and I hope it is because this movie says to me that the director can't direct.

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Ultraviolet

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 24 June 2007 03:06 (A review of Ultraviolet)

I wish this was filmed in Ultraviolet, so I wouldn't be able to see it.

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Ok

Posted : 2 years, 5 months ago on 6 June 2007 01:23 (A review of Ultraviolet)

I was actually surprised by this one. I was expecting it to be an absolute piece of crap but it really wasn't as pathetic as some people led me to believe. Perhaps I didn't find it as bad as I thought it would be as I'd watched it with very low expectations.

I was able to tell that this was Kurt Wimmer's work because there were similarities to Equilibrium but unlike Equilibrium, Ultraviolet didn't have me enthralled. In fact I felt nothing during the movie and was left with nothing after it had finished. There were some cool moves though but there was also a lot of sweeping shots of Milla Jovovich's abdomen. It's safe to say I can recall what her belly button looks like...

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