Ultraviolet (2006) Review:

Since Resident Evil (2002) came out, Milla Jovovich has gained a reputation for being cast in female action leads. Because of that, it is not much of a surprise to see her as a blade / gun wielding vampire either. I am actually more surprised how audiences and critics alike do not favor this over the Twilight series. Many people consider this, because of that specific franchise, vampires have become an extremely tired genre. But in this movie, it was the exact opposite of what one would expect from a vampire movie. I will admit it is not the strongest in its genre but I'm sure people would favor it now than when it came out.

Nick Chinlund as Daxus.....does anyone see that weird
thing in his nose!?

Jovovich plays Violet, once a human that became a hemophage (a type of vampire) after becoming infected by a contagious virus that got out of control. At the time she was infected, she was also pregnant and ended up having her unborn child die. Since then, she has called it upon herself to kill any human that fights her and the rest of the hemophages that stand behind her. Supplying her with weapons is her friend Garth (William Fichtner). The villain, Ferdinand Daxus, is played by Nick Chinlund and although he doesn't come across as menacing at all, he is rather comical because of his unintentional deadpan acting. However I did not understand that "thing" in his nose. What is the point of that? To prevent him from wearing a face mask?

As listed above, these three actors are really all that is note worthy of a mention. Every other character that has more than 30 seconds on screen are just lambs to the slaughter of Jovovich. The film was written and directed by Kurt Wimmer, a decent advocate of the film industry. He also wrote for Law Abiding Citizen (2009), Salt (2010) and others, which have received positive recognition. So why he couldn't conjure up as great a product here? More than likely it was due to the film being cut back so much in running time and writing and directing is not the easiest thing to do simultaneously; especially film making. The story doesn't go into much depth, which can end up leaving audiences either confused or bored.

Milla Jovovich as Violet

As for everything else, the set design looked cool for a futuristic piece. I was surprised however to see various parts of the movie look like it was completely CGI. I think by 2006, that kind of problem could be fixed easily. As for the rest, I did like the special effects; they seemed to blend in well with their surroundings. What really got points for this movie was the action. Going back to what I said before, Jovovich is action oriented and the way she performs doing her stunts is awesome no matter what else has happened. Lastly, Klaus Badelt's score was uneven. It had more sentimental tracks than it did pertaining to the action scenes. It's not to say it didn't carry any emotion but the action scenes lacked thrills because the music wasn't effective.

Kurt Wimmer's adaptation of this comic book vampire isn't the strongest in its genre but its action pieces are well set up. And although it does not have an all star cast, the actors play their roles the best they can.

Points Earned --> 6:10