Movies about leather-clad vampires shooting UV bullets at oversized werewolves were once the literal backbone of early 2000s action cinema. By the time Underworld: Blood Wars hit theaters in 2016, the world had changed. Marvel was a juggernaut. Direct-to-streaming was becoming a real threat. Yet, there was Selene, still rocking the corset and the Berettas. It’s kinda fascinating when you think about it.
Most people dismiss this fifth installment as a "cash grab," but if you actually look at the production history and the lore shifts, it’s more like a desperate, bloody love letter to a genre that was already dying.
Honestly, the stakes were weirdly high for a movie with a relatively modest $35 million budget. Anna Foerster, who had done great work on Outlander, took the director's chair, making her the first woman to helm a film in the series. She inherited a mess of a timeline. We had the Lycan revolution, the "Purge" from the previous film Awakening, and a protagonist who was basically a god at that point.
The Messy Reality of Underworld: Blood Wars
The plot of Underworld: Blood Wars isn't exactly Shakespeare, but it tries remarkably hard to ground itself in the gothic political drama that made the 2003 original a cult classic. Selene is on the run. Again. Her daughter, Eve, is missing. The Lycans have a new leader named Marius, played by Tobias Menzies, who brings a certain "I’m too good for this movie but I’m having a blast" energy to the role.
Marius isn't just a generic beast; he’s a tactician. That was a big shift. Usually, the Lycans are just cannon fodder that gets mowed down by dual-wielding pistols, but here, they actually have a plan. They want Eve's blood to become unstoppable. It’s a classic MacGuffin, sure, but it drives the action toward the Nordic Coven, which is probably the coolest visual addition to the entire franchise.
The Varidhor coven lives in a frozen fortress. They use shields. They have white hair. They’re basically "Viking Vampires." This was a smart move by Foerster because it broke up the monotonous "blue-tinted parking garage" aesthetic that had started to plague the middle entries of the series.
Why the Critics Hated It (and Fans Didn't)
If you look at Rotten Tomatoes, the score for Underworld: Blood Wars is... grim. It sits somewhere in the high teens or low twenties. Critics called it "incomprehensible" and "stale."
But they kinda missed the point.
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The fans weren't there for a deep meditation on mortality. They were there to see Kate Beckinsale slide across a floor in slow motion while reloading a submachine gun. On that front, the movie delivers. The fight choreography in the final act, specifically the duel between Selene and Marius, has some genuinely "gross-out" moments that lean back into the horror roots of the series. Remember when Marius transforms? It’s not the clean CGI we see in PG-13 superhero movies. It’s messy.
There's a specific scene where Selene undergoes a "transformation" of her own at the Sacred World. She comes back with silver highlights and enhanced powers. It felt like a soft reboot within a sequel. The producers, including Kevin Grevioux (who actually created the original concept and played Raze), clearly wanted a path forward for a sixth movie.
The Technical Side of the Blood
Technically speaking, the film had to do a lot with a little.
Budget cuts meant they couldn't do the massive city-wide destruction seen in Awakening. Instead, they went for "Gothic Interior Design." The cinematography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub focuses heavily on practical sets in Prague. If you watch closely, you can see the influence of German Expressionism in the shadows. It’s darker—literally. It’s one of the darkest movies of the decade, to the point where if your TV's contrast isn't calibrated perfectly, you're basically watching 90 minutes of black-on-black violence.
The CGI for the Lycans remained a sticking point. Since 2003, the series has struggled to find a balance between the practical suits (which looked amazing but were hard to move in) and the digital models. In Underworld: Blood Wars, they leaned heavily on digital, and while it's better than the "CGI-heavy" mess of the early 2010s, it still lacks the weight of the original creature effects by Patrick Tatopoulos.
The Problem With the "Chosen One" Narrative
One thing that really bugs people about the later films is how Selene became a literal superhero. In the first movie, she was just a very skilled soldier. By the end of Underworld: Blood Wars, she’s effectively immortal, can move faster than the eye can see, and has been "resurrected" by mystical ice-vampires.
It’s the "Power Creep" problem.
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When your protagonist is that powerful, the villains have to be absurdly strong just to pose a threat. This is why Marius had to drink a specific serum just to keep up. It starts to feel a bit like Dragon Ball Z with fangs. However, the emotional core—Selene’s isolation and her status as a "pariah" even among her own kind—stays consistent. Beckinsale can play this role in her sleep, but she doesn't. She still brings a level of stoic grief that makes you actually care if she survives.
Production Facts vs. Internet Rumors
You’ll often see rumors online that a sixth movie is in "active development." Let's look at the facts.
- Box Office: The film grossed about $81 million worldwide. Against a $35 million budget, that’s technically a profit, but not a huge one once you factor in marketing and theater splits.
- The Lead Actress: Kate Beckinsale has been quoted multiple times, notably in an interview with Variety, saying she is likely done with the character. "I've done enough of those," she famously remarked.
- The Rights: Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment still hold the keys, but the trend has shifted toward television. There was talk of an Underworld TV series for years, but it has been stuck in "Development Hell" since roughly 2017.
What Actually Happens at the End?
The finale is a bit of a whirlwind. Semira (played by Lara Pulver) gets what’s coming to her in a very satisfying, albeit brief, confrontation. David (Theo James) finally embraces his role as a leader of the Eastern Coven.
The biggest reveal? Selene is now one of the three new Elders.
The movie ends with a shot of her looking out over the snowy mountains, finally at peace, or at least as much peace as a Death Dealer can ever have. It wraps up her arc from a "soldier who follows orders" to the "leader who defines the law."
How to Watch the Franchise Today
If you're planning a binge-watch, don't just go chronologically. The timeline is actually a bit fractured.
- Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (The Prequel)
- Underworld (The Original)
- Underworld: Evolution (The Direct Sequel)
- Underworld: Awakening (The Time Jump)
- Underworld: Blood Wars (The Finale)
Watching Rise of the Lycans first actually makes the events of the later films feel more tragic. You see how the war started, which makes the ending of the fifth film feel like a necessary closing of a cycle that lasted over a millennium.
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Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
If you're a die-hard fan of the aesthetic or the lore, there are a few things you should actually do rather than just waiting for a sequel that might never come.
First, check out the Underworld: Endless War animated shorts. They were released around the time of the fourth movie and bridge some gaps in the Selene/Michael Corvin story that the live-action films skipped over. Most people don't even know they exist.
Second, look into the "Legacy" behind-the-scenes features on the Blu-ray. They detail how the costume designers aged the leather suits. It’s a masterclass in "weathering" for any cosplayers out there. The suits in this film were designed to look more functional and armored than the high-fashion look of the first two movies.
Third, acknowledge that the "Blood Wars" subtitle wasn't just about the vampires and werewolves. It was a meta-commentary on the franchise itself fighting to stay relevant in an era of "Shared Universes." It didn't need a multiverse. It just needed a cold room, some silver nitrate, and a protagonist who never misses.
If you’re looking for more gothic action, you might find that modern games like Bloodborne or even the recent Resident Evil titles capture that "Underworld" vibe better than any current movie. The aesthetic of the Nordic Coven in this film, in particular, feels like it was ripped straight out of a high-end dark fantasy RPG.
The era of the mid-budget, R-rated gothic action movie is mostly over. Underworld: Blood Wars stands as one of the last true pillars of that specific, weirdly stylish subgenre. It’s flawed, it’s loud, and it’s very, very blue. And honestly? That’s exactly why people are still talking about it years later.