Empire's Ultraviolet Movie Review

Plot
It’s the late 21st century and normal humans war with those turned into vampires by a bio-engineered virus. As one of the few vamps left, Violet (Jovovich) infiltrates a secret government facility to steal the humans’ ultimate weapon: a nine-year-old boy (Bright).

Kurt Wimmer’s previous film, the underrated Equilibrium, was a derivative tale but showcased the director’s eye for action with spectacularly choreographed sequences. This follow-up, set in a similarly dystopian future, shows what can happen when such potential is beaten unconscious, stuffed in a suitcase and buried alive beneath 100 tons of concrete.

It's only 87 minutes long, but every second of Ultraviolet feels like a month in detention. All meaningful narrative is disposed of in an excruciating voiceover, leaving it impossible to underthink the first-draft nonsense that passes for a story here. Which would be bad enough if the action were impressive, but even the elaborate martial arts prove awkwardly shot and stultifyingly repetitive.


Worst film I've seen in nearly ten years ... More


Posted by david hayes at 15:36, 26 May 2010 \| Report This Post



By and large terrible
If I hadn't read the review before I'd had probably seen this is the cinema like I did when Equilibrum came out (in fact I watched that twice at the cinema), as I did read the review first I waited well over a year before renting the DVD. And its definitely not worth the wait. Let's be clear there were somethings I liked about the film, mainly the gadgets. The 'gravity shift', the 'colour changing clothing' (big market there for whoever gets it going) and 'pocket dimensions'. These are coo... More


Posted by brokenking at 13:38, 02 July 2009 \| Report This Post




Its ok, the plot is not as bad as some, and I completely disagree with Empires reveiw, the action was exiciting, the dialouge was poor but not terrible, and the falut of the movie was its lack of action, and the awful chase scene, the background looked like a mix between real-life, CGI, and comic book backgrounds, and it just doesn't work, and is confusing, however though Mila is sexy as ever, and you can tell she's trying to work with the lines she's given, all she has to do is stop doing actio... More


Posted by dgribble at 11:51, 04 March 2008 \| Report This Post



TRAGIC! OH SO VERY VERY TRAGIC.
Some films can be bad and yet still fun. I like some quite bad films, I mean as a bench mark for my taste I think 'Remo: unarmed and dangerous AKA the legend begins' while bad is still great fun. This is just bad. Equilibrium was silly but fun. This is just silly. the weak effects could have been overlooked if the action was any good. The awful acting and script could also have been forgiven if it wasn't taking itself so VERY seriously. The music was a distraction too. The soundtrack was either ... More


Posted by giddig at 15:18, 30 May 2007 \| Report This Post



RE: The world has got a little stupider
This is the worst type of film ever! Its the one where you can see the germ of a good idea and an ambition to make the most dazzling sci-fi spectacle ever and then they gave the director 50 quid to spend on special effects and cut the script in half and hired second rate performers.... My God its SHIT ... More

Posted by lloyddobler at 22:16, 15 November 2006 \| Report This Post



Que???
Okay, I kinda get where Kurt Whimmer was going with the visuals. He invented himself a comic book character and wanted that to transpose into the CGI backdrops he was using. It didn't work. I get where he was going with the story, and if reports are true that 30mins were cut by the studio then maybe it's not his fault that it makes absolutely no sense. I watched it. I had one immediate thought..........."I've wasted my life" My house mate rented it. Due to his bad taste in film... More

Posted by damn im good! at 16:10, 14 November 2006 \| Report This Post



!
! ... More


Posted by Mat Sansom at 13:48, 25 September 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: The world has got a little stupider
Watched it last week and overall it was just alright. The film is visually beautiful - a cross between The Fith Element/Luc Besson/pop-French/Japanese Manga-style, that really overwhelms the eye. Jovovich is great and sexy (didnt like her hair though) and whoops major balls. Her character and the world seemed to have a lot of franchise potentional (especially hinted at in the credits and the promitional campaign "Blood War Is On" etc), that could've been a Matrix-e... More


Posted by kenada_woo at 14:06, 03 July 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: The world has got a little stupider
Yeah, she's just dodging all the bullets. Or though it's not explained what a Blood Chinoi, or whatever, is. Not human, not vampire... so what are they? To be honest, I'm suprised more people don't take it for what it is. The film is visually engaging, I haven't seen anything quite like it before. That was enough for me to ignore most of the bad stuff. It feels experimental and its ideas are interesting enough that I hope future filmmakers rip this one off to better effect. And seein... More

Posted by MoBiUGeArSkIn at 14:07, 02 July 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: The world has got a little stupider
I'm glad to see at least some people haven't jumped on the bandwagon. I've even seen some good reviews on DVD Talk and other places basically agreeing it's silly but stylish and fun. I still think the rooftop fight is amazing and has stuff we've never seen before (the camera floating through the reflections in sunglasses) One thing I noticed is it makes a lot more sense second time around. Things happen so fast and there's so much exposition that you get a little lo... More


Posted by Caster at 21:38, 29 June 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: The world has got a little stupider
All the reviews for this movie have just put me off this film. I was considering going to see it but i just cant be bothered now ... More

Posted by zombiemaster at 11:11, 29 June 2006 \| Report This Post



The world has got a little stupider
Truly words cannot describe how appaulingly bad this film was. Ignoring the terrible story, plot and acting (because hey it's an action movie and that doesn't matter) It was still terrible. The effects were awful. The gadegets and gimmicks were daft. The fight scenes were dire, made all the worse by random cut aways, and silly camera angles. This was just bad. I never thought I'd see a film worse than Super Mario Brothers The Movie. I was wrong. Kurt Weimer owes me £3.50 and ninety m... More


Posted by montimer at 00:23, 29 June 2006 \| Report This Post



Quite cool
The script was bad, the plot was ok, it was an original idea. I think the fight scenes are cool, the way she handles the sword is amazing, but it was boring to listen to. ... More


Posted by ~Firefly~ at 19:37, 28 June 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: A Mixed Mask of Kill Bill, Resident Evil & A Waste of Time
Ultraviolet - 3/5 I liked it. Very cool looking with plenty of quality action sequences. Some of the CGI was a little weak but the first half of the film pretty much rocked my brain. Then it slowed down and the plot, or what was left of it after Sony's recut, bogged the whole thing down. There was quite a lot of "emotion" in there but it felt out of place since all the real character stuff had been removed. I really, REALLY hope a directors cut comes out eventually. Plenty of cool ideas i... More

Posted by MoBiUGeArSkIn at 16:18, 28 June 2006 \| Report This Post



A Mixed Mask of Kill Bill, Resident Evil & A Waste of Time
There are many films that can enhance a career, then other films that can ruin careers especially for that of female actor’s, for example Monster's Ball & Catwoman for Halle Berry. Then we have Monster & Aeon Flux for Charlie Theron. Now we have Resident Evil & Ultraviolet for Milla Jonovich. Despite being under 90 minutes, every moment of the film feels pushed and predictable. All main dialogue is quickly used up and then it is straight into action with no time to think an... More


Posted by indysid at 11:18, 28 June 2006 \| Report This Post



Reap What You Sow, People!
I don't care whether Wimmer was shafted, locked out of the edit suite, cryogenically lobotimised or whatever, there can be no justification for the existence of such meaningless pieces of pseudo-meaningful CG crap that look so bad it will make your eyes bleed! As an action subgenre, this kind of nonsense should have ended with The Matrix. Will they never learn?! ... More


Posted by god25 at 16:39, 26 June 2006 \| Report This Post



ARRGGHH
DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!! It will SERIOUSLY damage your will to live! Why oh why didn't I LISTEN to you Empire? I went to see this with my girlfriend, thinking it would be amusing in a "ohmygawsh that's bad" kind of way... but the truth was so far beyond funny that after 5 minutes I was squirming uncomfortably in my seat, wishing I was ANYWHERE away from this tragedy of a film. I turned to my girlfriend, who had a of vacant, disbelieving "Is this really this bad?" look on her face - neith... More


Posted by Mnemonic at 09:35, 26 June 2006 \| Report This Post



Missing The Point
Okay, so the script was shonky, and the CG somewhat low-grade, but Ultraviolet was certainly an original art form in terms of visual texture. ... More


Posted by Jash at 03:14, 25 June 2006 \| Report This Post



Missing The Point
Okay, so the script was shonky, and the CG somewhat low-grade, but Ultraviolet was certainly an original art form in terms of visual texture. ... More


Posted by Jash at 03:13, 25 June 2006 \| Report This Post



Can movies get any dumber?
Well, that was 87 minutes of my life I'll never get back. The only reason I didn't walk out was that I had to kill an hour before a dental appointment (which actually proved less painful). The only reason I'm reviewing it here is to try to get that 2-star reader average down to 1-star. If I can help save a few more poor unsuspecting movie goers from wasting £5 on this garbage then at least some good will have come of my experience. ... More


Posted by Baldrick at 17:22, 24 June 2006 \| Report This Post



Can movies get any dumber?
Well, that was 87 minutes of my life I'll never get back. The only reason I didn't walk out was that I had to kill an hour before a dental appointment (which actually proved less painful). The only reason I'm reviewing it here is to try to get that 2-star reader average down to 1-star. If I can help save a few more poor unsuspecting movie goers from wasting £5 on this garbage then at least some good will have come of my experience. ... More


Posted by Baldrick at 17:22, 24 June 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: Not bad at all
No more please. It wasn't even slightly entertaining. I would have fallen asleep if it wasn't for the terrible over-use of suspenseful music. What was it about again? I can't remember. Or did I ever figure it out? AAARRRGGGHHH!!! It's dulled my brain. Zero stars. ... More

Posted by kevmalone at 23:32, 23 June 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: I 100% agree with biggzy1991
Gonna' see this tommorow, hope it's passable... ... More


Posted by DJ Rob C: Mark II! at 16:51, 22 June 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: I 100% agree with biggzy1991
Apprently, the two hour plus version made sense. It was still camp, but it made sense. Sony didn't want it to make sense, so they took out the story, assuming people wouldn't miss it. I'm still going to go see this at the weekend, if only for the action sequences. I just hope that someday we get a difinitive version. The US Unrated DVD restores 7 minutes of footage... but where's the rest? ... More

Posted by MoBiUGeArSkIn at 21:32, 20 June 2006 \| Report This Post



RE: I 100% agree with biggzy1991
I don't know about that! I mean he did write the script (Which was why the movie was bad). I was disappointed to hear that 30 minutes was removed from the movie. But maybe the material in the 30 mintues was full of dire dialogue, so its all good because I like it for the action! ... More


Posted by LeonX42 at 20:09, 20 June 2006 \| Report This Post



Next Page

UltravioletVampire film from the man who brought us Equilibrium

Ultraviolet
Vampire film from the man who brought us Equilibrium