underworld: evolution [2006]

this pic picks up right after the events of the first movie, underworld [2003], left off.  now we have selene and michael on the run from vampire elder marcus who is none-too-happy for all sorts of reasons.  marcus wants selene dead.  i don't think he gives two shits for the vampire-lycan hybrid michael.  seriously, i couldn't find a story within this story at all.  we do get to see michael and selene deepen their bond by having sex, a long, languid sex scene that is as tasteful as the law allows.  the esteemed sir derek jacobi plays the father of marcus, one of the eldest of elders in the clan of immortals.  jacobi is a good guy and helps make selene a hybrid herself.  don't worry, i didn't give too much away.  the writing, at least the dialogue, is a bit better.  the action sequences directed by len wiseman are good.  but the movie is lacking the pure bad-assery displayed in the earlier film by kate beckinsale.  she can still kick serious booty but now relies upon the help of michael and others.  which i don't get.  for selene is an awesome presence who you don't cross or wrong.  not if you want to stay breathing.  but i do get it.  these are b-movies for our young century.  when nick saw what i was watching on TV he asked me if this is another of those vampire films.  i said, yes.  is it good, nick asked.  no, i said.  then why watch it?  because, i replied, sometimes watching a bad movie can be a pleasurable thing in and of itself.  in this world of uncertainty, pain, humiliations, socio-economic change, and potential climate upheavels, the pleasure of trash culture is reason enough.  i am now a fan of selene.