Underworld Awakening opens on January 20th, 2012.

Plot: “Kate Beckinsale, star of the first two films, returns in her lead role as the vampire warrioress Selene, who escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans, and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species.”

Underworld Awakening opens on January 20th, 2012.

The English-language “Blackthorn” has Shepard as an incognito Butch Cassidy 15 years after his supposed gunning down by the Bolivian police, plotting to return to the U.S. and retire. Noriega plays a trigger-happy cowboy who loses Cassidy’s life savings, pushing Cassidy into a final job, a mine heist. Rea limns a railroad employee, originally sent after Cassidy following his string of U.S. bank robberies, who’s still keen to hunt Cassidy down.

Directing the picture will be Mateo Gil, writer of the 2006 film Vanilla Sky which was a remake of the 1997 feature Abre Los Ojos. Sam Shepard, Eduardo Noreiga and Stephen Rea will star in it with filming beginning in March of 2010.

How did you hear of this film?

Jon: Word of mouth, thankfully. I say that because it’s a powerful tool in getting indie films play. I’ve heard that it’s really good and under-rated. Being a fan of Stuart Gordon, the director, and hearing about the concept-a man is hit by a drunk driver and gets stuck in her windshield-I was eager to see this.

Donny:  My other buddy John told me about the flick.  I’m not sure where he heard about it, but he dug it, and I trusted his judgment.  Plus I dig Stuart Gordon’s work.

Are you a fan of Stuart Gordon?

Donny:  As I said before, I really dig Stuart Gordon’s work.  Even his weaker movies like Edmond are fun to watch and not total losses.  This is the man that directed the classic Re-Animator, a classic horror film that helped cement my love of the genre. 

Jon: What about From Beyond? The man has a cool sense of what he likes in horror and while he’s not the greatest horror filmmaker out there, a few films he has done rocked hard. Even though he’s not a house hold name, stuff like Dagon or even his Masters of Horror episode were really good. Keep with Lovecraft my friend.

Thoughts on the film?

Jon: I was pretty disappointed. Not alone were the characters poorly conceived, but the subplots sucked all wind out of the films momentum. The film worked best when it focused on Brandi, on her decisions and what to do with Thomas. The sequence of Thomas crashing through the windshield is awesome, especially on the film’s budget. It’s visually cool looking as well as painful. Focus on this! They didn’t, they spend more time with subplots of Brandi’s boyfriend cheating on her then they needed. Even at 80 some minutes, I would’ve cut stuff out. All of that fat hindered the concept and the idea. What would you do if a man was stuck in your windshield after drinking and driving?

That’s the drive of the film. Mena Suvari is better in other films. She tries to show the duality of her decision and acts like a ghetto girl, but it’s flat. Stephen Rae on the on the other hand is really good, even though he has limited screen time. He’s a great actor and needs to be in better films. As much as I like Stuart Gordon, I think he lost control of the film’s direction. I needed to feel Brandi’s dilemma. Creating two tangible lives and how they interconnected and the decisions each made, would’ve been fascinating.

All this is based on some true story, but I can imagine that a lot of liberties were taken. That’s okay if the drama was interesting. Unfortunately, Stuck is a decent attempt but still a failure. I couldn’t by anything Mena Suvari was selling. She seemed out of place, over acted, and it didn’t help that the screenplay was a mess in the middle. Sad, it had a cool concept.

Donny:  I didn’t dislike the flick as much as Jon, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite of Gordon’s flicks.  It started out interesting enough, with Mena Suvari doing her best to illustrate her character’s hard working, pill popping ghetto girl persona.  While Stephen Rea rocked the down-on-his-luck Thomas Bardo character.  Actually I really dug the first thirty minutes of the movie.  Watching Thomas Bardo reach rock bottom had me glued to my seat, but as soon as Brandi (Mena Suvari) hits poor Thomas with her car the flick spirals downward at a steady pace. 

Unlike Jon, I kind of enjoyed Brandi’s boyfriend Rashid (Russell Hornsby).  It was a break from Suvari’s stiff performance.  This flick should have rocked so hard, but it really falls flat, mainly due to the decisions made by the screenwriter.  If this scenario were to happen to almost anyone except Brandi, everyday life, and everything that goes with it would have taken a backseat to the problem at hand, but not in this story.  Nope, here Brandi catches a cab to make it to work, and even squeezes in enough time to kick her boyfriend’s mistress’ ass. 

This movie is a mess, but it’s still better than flicks like Prom Night or Mirrors.  There’s plenty to enjoy here for Gordon fans, it’s just not as good as it could have been.  It was almost a killer film. 

Grade?

Jon: **

Donny: **1/2

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars