Ultraviolet
2006
D: Kurt Wimmer
**********
Pros: Distinctive visuals, Great Action Scenes, Some fun
performances, A few good lines
Cons: Ripped-off and poorly drawn-out story, Some bad
implications, Flawed editing
I generally
dislike this subgenre of sci-fi movies featuring super-powered heroines kicking
a lot of ass. Not that I don’t like the
idea, but these films tend to have anemic characterization and the fight scenes
usually aren’t even worth watching. I
would have naturally avoided a movie like Ultraviolet
if not for the fact that it was made by Kurt Wimmer, who had previously
directed one of my favorite movies.
The opening credits sequence features some
fake covers for a fictional Ultraviolet
comic book. It’s interesting to see the
variety of artistic styles used in them, but it’s far too meta for my tastes,
and the opening theme sounds suspiciously similar to practically is the theme to Spider-Man. The movie then
begins with a narration that was admittedly ripped off from Resident Evil: “Hello, my name is
Violet, and I was born into a world you may not understand.”
 |
| A world that looks like a big soft-serve yogurt restaurant. |
Now, you can rip off crappy movies of this kind all you
want for all I care. They aren’t very
good, and, if you can add some substance to the subgenre, more power to you. That being said, Ultraviolet has a very hackneyed premise. It’s about a race of super-powered “vampires”
fighting for freedom against a futuristic dictatorship with an attractive
female lead doing most of the fighting.
Also for some reason, people are using a different alphabet.
The source of
this vampire race is a mutated virus that gives people increased speed and
reflexes while giving them around a decade left to live. The infected people are called “vampires”
because theyhave sharp teeth, are sensitive to light and require frequent blood
transfusions. The movie is a bit
inconsistent when it comes to the effects of this virus. It doesn’t seem to be spread through small
animals or the air, so it doesn’t seem like it would be too much of an
epidemic, so the movie has one of the same problems that zombie movies have. Also, Violet mentions that it also
gives the victim stronger bones while the movie shows an X-Ray with the
patient’s bones much thicker than usual, but this doesn’t make the vampires
appear any bulkier for some reason.
Light sensitivity is used interchangeably to refer to sensitive skin and
ability to see in the dark, the former of which doesn’t seem to have any
bearing on what happens in the movie.
Also, the virus is mentioned to increase vampires’ intelligence, but
absolutely no indication of this is given in the movie.
In response to this outbreak, the medical establishment
took over and began to hunt down the vampires, putting them in concentration
camps and killing them. We’re introduced
to the leader of the regime, Vice Cardinal Ferdinand Daxus (Nick Chinlund),
while a lackey is telling him some stuff he already knows. I actually must say that I think the idea of
a medical-based police state is clever, especially in the light of current events. However, Wimmer attempted to put
some swipes at organized religion that may have been tolerable in Equilibrium, but have no place here
(seriously, “Latter-Day Defense?” what the hell is that?).
The first
portion of the movie’s plot consists of Violet Song jat Shariff (Milla
Jovovich) infiltrating a biological research facility disguised as a courier in
order to recover a secret weapon that could cause the destruction of her kind
and bring it to her superior Nerva (Sebastien Andrieu). The security at this place is a total joke. They run some tests on her metabolism in
order to ensure that she’s human, but it isn’t until the real courier shows up
that she’s found out. When they wonder
how she’s passed the tests, a random security guard exposits that she probably
used blood inhibitor. So why they didn’t
they test for those, and why isn’t this guy in charge? They’re also ignorant about a lot of vampire
technology that everyone else in the movie seems well aware of. Anyway, Violet escapes with the package and, after
a few stylized action scenes, she is about to return it bring it to her boss
when she decides to open it and check inside.
Now, let’s think about this for a second. You’ve just stolen a secret package from a
biological warfare plant that’s probably thinking of a way to kill you and
everyone like you. So it’s very likely
that this thing contains a deadly pathogen, and your impulse it open it up and take a peek? So it seems the whole movie’s plot is
instigated by the main character’s bottomless stupidity.
What Violet
finds inside the package is a boy named Six (Cameron Bright), and she takes it
upon herself to protect him. When she
finds out that Nerva intends to murder Six, even after finding out that he’s
human, she gets in what must be the most forced, badly written abortion
argument I’ve heard. It literally consists
of Violet’s saying “It’s a child” and Nerva’s saying, “It’s a choice.” It’s pretty rough, but as someone who is
pro-life, I at least find it refreshing that some movie out there seems to take
a stand on this position, unlike some faux pro-life movies like Juno.
Of course, I’m not 100% sure this is what Wimmer intended, but it’s
certainly hard to interpret this any other way.
She flees her former superiors with Six and the rest of the movie
revolves around her protecting the child from both the vampires and the
government. In one scene, she
momentarily abandons Six, and the mooks, displaying equal amounts of evil and
incompetence, murder a random kid, mistaking him for the boy. The scene is poorly done since the reaction
we’re supposed to have is “Thank goodness it’s not Six,” while acknowledging
how bad the bad guys are. In other
words, very bad pandering. Also, none of
the bystanders seem the least bit disturbed by this.
The plot if,
you can call it that, consists of Violet running from place to place with this
kid in tow and getting into various tacked-on fight scenes. Like the ones in Equilibrium, these scenes are quick and self-contained, but in Equilibrium they still had significance
in the plot. John Preston had three
primary fight scenes. The first scene
established him as a brutal government enforcer. The second scene had him backed into a corner
to fight, and he had to deal with the consequences of it: a government
crackdown on the resistance fighters.
The third action scene was simply the third act showdown. While many people criticize Equilibrium for having an “invincible
hero,” the movie works because it found ways to show its protagonist having to
choose his battles and face the consequences of his decisions. In Ultraviolet,
the only vulnerability we really get is when Violet occasionally angsts about
her past. In other words, Wimmer
actually wrote Equilibrium, but here
he was just cramming fight scenes into a formulaic premise. I would have liked to see Wimmer develop his
Gun Kata action style in ways that would pit equally matched multiple opponents
against each other. With a race of
vampires, you think we might have gotten that, but it’s just Violet kicking
everyone’s ass, human and vampire alike.
Even the humans are able to take down most of the other vampires with
little effort. Unlike Preston, who was
established as the highest-ranking Cleric in his movie, Violet’s background
doesn’t suggest she’d be a particularly strong vampire. She was a nurse before she became a vampire. In fact, I would have liked to see some of
her abilities as a nurse play into the story, instead of just showing her
beating people up. Oh well, maybe that’s
why Nurse Redheart was able to overpower Pinkie Pie in “Baby Cakes.” She used her Nurse Powers.
The third act
is where the story’s biggest problems reveal themselves. After finding out that Six has been infected
with a fatal human antigen, she accepts his terminal condition and the two spend
the boy’s last minutes bonding on a playground.
This would have been an effectively poignant scene…if they allowed the
boy to stay dead. Right at the moment of
Six’s death, Violet cries on him and inadvertently infects him with her
disease, rendering him immune to the antigen (Yes, the movie is that bad). You’d think she would have done that as soon
as she found out he had this human antigen, and you’d think it wouldn’t work
when the antigen has already pretty much killed him. She doesn’t realize this until after Daxus
and his men have recovered his body with the intention of dissecting it in
order to procure traces of the antigen, and she decides to go to enemy HQ to
rescue him. The implications of walking
into a facility and killing almost everyone inside because you believe they’re
killing someone they don’t think is alive are a bit disturbing considering the
abortion issue that was brought up earlier.
No, I’m not saying the story really advocates clinic bombings, I’m just
saying it wasn’t well thought out. After
killing most of the mooks, she faces Daxus only to discover, in twist
suspiciously similar to that of Equilibrium,
that he’s a vampire, too. It even reveals
that he’s the guy in the opening montage who cuts himself.
 |
| ...Chad Rocco? |
After she defeats Daxus and rescues an already-frozen Six
(seriously, what does it take to kill this kid?), the movie ends happily, even
though it was strongly implied that Daxus has figured out how to manage
the disease, and he’s dead.
So
this movie is pretty bad. It’s full of
holes, it rips off everything (including Wimmer’s own work) and…I love it.
No, seriously, I freakin’ love this
movie. For all its flaws, I can’t bring
myself to dislike it. I think it’s the
most awesome bad movie since Transformers
(1986). For one thing, despite how
derivative Violet was, I actually ended up liking her. The opening narration did a good job actually
establishing sympathy for her and her situation. After losing her humanity, she underwent
inhuman experiments in a research camp and lost her unborn child as a
result. After she gets out (how she did
so the movie doesn’t specify for some reason), she joins the resistance. She acts like she hates humans, but when
she’s finally put on the spot, she has to do the right thing and protect a
human child, even when the world is against her. Another issue with the movie is she seems to
be the only person in it who thinks
that killing a child is wrong for some reason.
She does show some conflict, and even considers leaving Six to fend for
himself. Based on her background, I
understood her motivations and internal struggle. That’s more than I can say for most of these
B-Movie heroines. I never thought of
Milla Jovovich as a particularly good actress, but she’s pretty good in this
movie. Violet’s mannerisms help keep her
interesting throughout the movie, as well.
I do, however, realize that the
heroine-who-loses-a-child-and-dedicates-herself-to-protecting-a-surrogate
cliché has been done before much better.
Daxus isn’t
exactly the best-written villain out there. He’s
derivative and has some stupid lines (he says that without him the world would
“rush toward chaos like it was an Olympic event”) as well as some good ones,
but I just love him because of the actor playing him. While most actors would just ham it up while
playing a B-Movie villain, Nick Chinlund actually gives a genuinely good
performance. He comes off intimidating,
and has a bit of a sense of humor as well.
He also has the coolest voice I have ever heard.
It also doesn’t hurt that he’s a snazzy dresser; I love
how his jacket has matching pinstriped gloves.
I also like his leitmotif.
Cameron Bright
is good as Six, and so is William Fichtner, who plays Garth, Violet’s only ally
in the whole movie. The rest of the cast
is a different story. Because of the
lack of local talent in Shanghai, extras were generally pretty wooden. The worst cast member, however, is Sebastien
Andrieu as Nerva. A supermodel with no actual acting career, he is hilariously bad in this movie. He comes off more like a pothead than a real
threat.
The main
thing I like is the movie’s visual style.
Although I believe Kurt Wimmer to be a questionable writer, I think he’s
a brilliant visual director. He broke
away from the Nazi-Like visuals of Equilibrium,
and Ultraviolet has a distinctively bold and colorful style, even if the CGI
scenery is cheap.
 |
| A Vietnam-Era bomber...OF THE FUTURE! |
Ultraviolet
also has some clever technology that makes it fun to watch. A gravity leveler which causes its user to
fall upwards or sideways. A vending
machine that prints disposable phones imprinted onto paper. “Flat-space technology,” which allows people
to keep weapons and supplies in Hammerspace.
Clothing and hair that changes color.
I’d like to point out one problem I have with Violet’s costume. For the most part it looks great, but it has
this tasteless bare midriff. It not only
looks too revealing, it’s ironically fan disservice. Black catsuits are popular among heroines
because they slim the character while emphasizing curves. Violet’s belly shirt results in this flat,
rectangular expanse of belly that hides her curves. I know that it’s silly to nitpick at the
quality of a movie’s fanservice, but this is the type of movie. Also, even her jacket is short, so when she
closes it, it’s a ridiculous belly jacket.
The movie’s
fight scenes are hit-or-miss. There are
a lot of implied fights that they were apparently too lazy to shoot and some
bad fights, but the good fights more than compensate for them. A problem with these scenes is that
ScreenGems decided to take final editing control from Wimmer and cut the movie
for a PG-13 rating. Considering that it
usually releases R-Rated movies, this was a baffling decision. The fight scenes are poorly edited, but not
too bad. Some laughably failed attempts
to mix out people’s screaming are heard, but mostly it’s like watching
decently-executed shaky-cam, which I seem to be the only person who doesn’t
mind. It wasn’t the only thing they
cut. The movie was supposed to have 30
extra minutes of character development, but Screen Gems thought it was “too
emotional” and did away with it, because they apparently know what people
want. Wimmer was understandably unhappy
with the result and is visibly absent from any of the DVD’s special
features. If you want a good laugh, turn
on the hilariously vapid commentary featuring Milla Jovovich and her Maltese
puppies.
And since they’re actually the most important part of the
movie, let’s take a look at some of the fight scenes:
1. THE NINJA BALL SCENE
The first scene in the movie. There’s a beautifully framed one-shot
following a group of black balls that are dropped from a helicopter and into a
research building. After crashing
through the tower, the balls open up to reveal vampires in ninja gear who
promptly execute some scientists in a perfectly timed sequence that reveals
Wimmer’s near-autistic penchant for symmetry.
They then enter a room that looks far too large to be inside the
building, and are promptly surrounded by humans and shot
anticlimactically. Has some nice
visuals, but drops the ball on a potential fight scene. I know surrounding a person on all sides and
shooting him is a bad idea, but at least Equilibrium
never showed the fools trying this coming out on top.
2. THE BLUE ROOM FIGHT
After Violet is found out, she begins to fight her way
out of the research facility in one of the more poorly edited fight
scenes. She somehow knocks a guy out by
kicking him in the arm, then disassembles his rifle to use as a melee weapon
against the others, who move like they’re wearing socks on a waxed floor. She shatters their armor like glass, which is
pretty cool. It’s a clever fight scene
that’s fun to watch, but it’s got some bad editing
3. THE HELICOPTER CHASE
Violet continues to flee the humans on a motorcycle and
resorts to using a gravity leveler to drive alongside the sides of buildings as
helicopters fire upon her, no doubt murdering countless bystanders inside those
buildings. The chase is fun, and the
shot placement is good, but good night that’s some bad CGI. I’m talking N64 level graphics here.
4. THE BLOOD CHINOIR FIGHT
As Violet flees Nerva and her former allies, she goes
upstairs in the building they occupy.
For some reason, they vampires share the building with a rival gang
called the Blood Chinoir. She reaches
the helipad (somehow not encountering anyone on the way), and is (guess what?)
surrounded by people pointing guns at her.
I should call this a “Wimmer Ring.”
When they refuse to let her pass, she dodges their bullets, and they all
accidentally shoot each other. It’s
actually a really fun, well-executed action scene with a good build-up and
scoring. The way some of it is shot
continuously through multiple peoples’ shades is clever. It’s still the most pointless, tacked-on
scene in the movie. It would be a
textbook Big-Lipped Alligator Moment, except it’s not much more absurd than
anything else that happens. Then she…goes
down to the bottom of the building after…going to the top of it?
5. VIOLET FUCKS SOME PEOPLE UP WITH A BUICK
And it’s a beautiful thing when she does.
6. THE CEMETERY FIGHT
A rather crappy fight.
Two vampires confront Violet and tell her that they’re just as strong
and fast as she is. Violet promptly
kills them by pulling on their hair.
7. THE CHURCH FIGHT
An interesting and clever set-up in which Nerva threatens
to drop Six down a well (which all Churches have), while Violet
fights through his men. Fun to watch,
and has a clever touch in which Six drops his sandal into the well so that
Violet knows how much time she has before he hits the bottom. Nerva’s takedown is pretty cool. When Violet disarms him, he attempts to hawk
a loogie at her, which she blocks with her hand. Then she slaps him and sticks her sword up
his head from behind his jaw.
8. THE SNOW NAZI FIGHT
I like the set design, lighting and costumes in this
scene, but the fight’s pretty underwhelming.
Everybody moves too slowly and it looks like it’s been edited. The colorless look would have complemented
bloodspray well. My Unrated DVD has a
picture of blood on these guys, but unfortunately it’s the same bloodless fight
as in the theatrical cut.
9. SOME OFFSCREEN BULLSHIT
Violet enters the Archministry and is subjected to a
weapons scan which reveals that she is carrying countless weapons via
flat-space technology. The scene is
funny, and some might say that it rips off The
Matrix, but the trope has been done before.
Then she kills a lot of people offscreen in a way I would have liked to
watch.
10. THE LIBRARY FIGHT
This is actually one of my favorite gunfights in movie
history. Violet kills a bunch of guards
with two submachine guns that have katanas coming out the bottom of their grips while bits of paper rain down like
snow. In the uncut version Nick Chinlund
has a funny line delivery while watching this, and then Violet does something
that is really uncalled for, but undeniably awesome, to the last guard. Unsurprisingly, Violet cuts two of her fingers
off with her katanaguns, and cauterizes her wounds with the gun barrel. We get to see a little bit of a more fluit
version of Gun Kata that Wimmer wanted to use in Equilibrium.
11. SOME MORE OFFSCREEN BULLSHIT
More fights that would have been cool if we were allowed
to see them.
12. THE DAXUS FIGHT
Despite a cool setup, the fight is disappointing. Violet walks in on Daxus doing doing a great
facepalm, and Daxus attempts to kill Violet with a handheld flamethrower. Violet throws some of her own blood at him, which
drowns out the flamethrower’s igniter flame.
It harmlessly spews some flammable liquid, which she deflects with her
sword. Daxus then says, “You got Hemo
blood on me. It is on.” Lame line, but Nick Chinlund makes it cool
with one badass delivery. He then
produces his own sword and turns off the lights. He reveals to Violet that he is a vampire
too, and that it’s too bad she only converted with mild light sensitivity (and
yet he’s seen running around in broad daylight). Violet cleverly scrapes her sword against the
floor, igniting the wet sword so she can see.
Clever buildup, but too bad the audience has no light sensitivity, and we cannot see a damn thing in the fight.
Despite all of
its badness, I recommend Ultraviolet for a viewing. The Unrated DVD has a more coherent intro and an extended fight scene. When it’s unintentionally funny, it’s
actually very entertaining. I know a lot
of people dislike this movie for good reason, but what baffles me is a lot of
this hate comes from people who normally like movies like this. If your idea of a good movie is Underworld, then you’re in no position
to criticize.
What makes me upset is that after directing two movies that were both
commercial and critical flops, I highly doubt that Wimmer will do another. This is a shame because I feel that he is
actually a far more talented director than he is a writer, especially considering
that directors like Paul W.S. Anderson, Len Wiseman, Michael Bay and Zack
Snyder are still allowed to make movies.
While his writing may be tenuous, I find him to be a very distinctive
and fun filmmaker. I would love to see
him direct a movie written by a better writer.
Unfortunately, what we will probably continue to see from him are
lackluster scripts to be made by lackluster directors.
QUOTES
[Six is balancing
on top of a railing on a tall building]
VIOLET: Hey! What
are you doing up there, huh? Hey! It’s a nice view, huh? Why don’t you, uh, help me up…so I can see it
too? Here. Give me your hand. Give me your hand. Help me up.
C’mon. It’s okay. [she
grabs his hand and pulls him down] Come here! What do you think you’re doing, huh? You’re trying to get yourself killed?
DAXUS: Easy, Violet.
Do you know who I am?
VIOLET: How could I not?
Tyrant. Egomaniac. Narcissist.
That about sums it up, doesn’t it?
DAXUS: Yes, it may be true. I may have my…quirks, but it doesn’t mean I’m
stupid and it certainly doesn’t mean you make a single move without me knowing
about it.
DAXUS: He’s not what you think.
VIOLET: No? What
is he, then?
DAXUS: …He’s my son.
VIOLET: [wearily]
Hey, Daxus…
DAXUS: What?
VIOLET: You’re full of shit.
GARTH: Unbelievable, V.
You jeopardize everything by coming here.
VIOLET: The Humans want me. Nerva wants me. I don’t have anywhere else to go, Garth. Besides, you have all my guns.
[Six shows Violet a
picture of children playing in a playground in a magazine]
SIX: Where is this?
VIOLET: When I was a kid, when I was just a little girl,
I used to dream about this old dusty road, and this road would go on as far as
the eye could see. And there was [sic] all these little white flowers
growing along the edges, and it was such a peaceful place. It was a happy place. But then you realize, when life settles in
around you, places like this don’t exist.
DAXUS: Monster? Ha!
And what are you? And more
importantly, what does that make him to you?
Some sort of bizarre maternal surrogate?
A vampire and a dying human child.
What a pathetic picture. I’ll
make you another, Violet. One that’s not
broken. You won’t even be able to tell
the difference. I promise.
GARTH: Why won’t you let anyone in, Violet?
VIOLET: Because these moments, beautiful as they are,
they’re evil when they’re gone.
COMPUTER: Searching for concealed weapons.
COMPUTER: Number of weapons found…many!
[from the Unrated Cut]
DAXUS: How much weaponry does she have in there?
LACKEY: According to the scans taken at the security
portal…plenty.
DAXUS: ….Oh-kee…
