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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.
7/10
