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Milla Jovovich needs a new agent. I don’t expect horror
and science fiction films to always be intelligent, gripping
filmmaking but I do expect to see a story that doesn’t rehash
every cliché that’s become prevalent over the last twenty
years. “Ultraviolet” is the child of “The Matrix” and “Underworld”
and, frankly, this baby is really ugly. Playing almost like
a variation of the same basic plot seen in “Aeon Flux”,
“Ultraviolet” is visually stunning but has even less going
on in it than that film. ***
In an attempt to create super soldiers a genetically
engineered virus infects the general population. The result
is a society divided into two classes—normal humans and
Hemophages a vampire-like sub-species with enhanced fighting
abilities. Violet a nurse infected with the virus decides
to become a warrior for the Hemophages as they wage war
against normal society which seeks to wipe them out. Violet
is sent on a mission to steal a new virus that will wipe
out their kind. Instead she finds a boy that is producing
antigens that could kill her entire sub-species. When she
kidnaps a boy named Six (Cameron Bright “Thank You For Smoking
and “X-Men: The Last Stand”) she and the boy become the
focus of an intense manhunt by a totalitarian dictator (Nick
Chinlind “The X-Files”, “The 4400”) that will stop at nothing
to kill Violet and repossess the boy. The only person she
can turn to when she is shunned by her community and with
humanit y hunting her is her friend Garth (William Fichtner
“Invasion”) a chemist. Certainly the metaphor for AIDS,
the use of Nazi Germany visual motifs and segregation of
the infected vs. the “pure” makes a statement of sorts but
any grand statement gets completely lost in all the visual
noise of the film. Unfortunately the film loses track of
whatever themes the director wanted to state in the hokey
“Power Rangers” look and feel of the film.
Image & Sound:
“Ultraviolet” looks extremely good in this transfer
featuring bold, bright cartoon like colors. Images may appear
a bit soft but that’s intentional as this film like “Sky
Captain and The World of Tomorrow” has a digital post processing
wash designed to blur the image and soften it somewhat.
The purpose and intension of beyind doing this isn’t exactly
clear but I’m sure it’s just to give the film a glossy look.
The audio 5.1 mix is extremely active and sounds quite good
with use of the surround speakers. ---
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