Underworld Trilogy: The Essential Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Underworld Trilogy: The Essential Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Not nearly as "essential" as it could have been.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 12, 2011

Here's the deal with this "new" Blu-ray release boxed set of the Underworld film collection: all three discs appear to be identical to the previous three standalone Underworld Blu-ray releases, with the exception of Rise of the Lycans, which only scraps the digital copy in favor of the included UV copy (unredeemable at time of publication). The same previews before the movie, the same tech specs, the same special features: it's all here. All that's different is a slight reprint on Lycans' packaging to remove mention of the digital copy; the addition of a nifty, textured box to hold the discs; and a fourth Blu-ray disc that contains the Underworld: Endless War animated shorts. Sadly, this bonus disc seems like an afterthought at best; it arrives in a paper sleeve thrown in amongst the three standard Blu-ray cases and has received a bare-minimum Blu-ray treatment. Please rrefer to the previous Blu-ray.com reviews within the links above for a more detailed look at the individual movies, their technical qualities, and their supplemental content. The scores above reflect averages for the three films across the three reviews, with a bump in the bonus content's score for the included fourth disc and the added UV copies. The body of this review will offer brief synopses of the three shorts (listed as "Part One," "Part Two," and "Part Three" in the main menu) and the audio and video sections will provide a short summary of their technical merits. All screenshots come from the animated shorts. No bonus materials are included on the fourth disc, so none will be listed in the supplements section below.

Selene loves her some doubled-barreled action.

Underworld: Endless War
Score: 3.0/5

Part One (5:35 runtime):

Vampires once ruled over the Lycans, but a Lycan rebellion, spearheaded by Lucian, yielded a rift in interspecies relations and produced a long, drawn-out war between the two factions. The state of war between Vampires and Lycans remains, and the conflict has intensified with Vampire elder Viktor's creation of Lycan assassins, known as "Death Dealers," to help turn the tide in the Vampires' favor. This is the story of Selene, a powerful Death Dealer in search of three Lycan brothers who have assumed human form and taken on the identities of wealthy aristocrats in 1890s Paris.

Part Two (5:58 runtime):

Seventy years later, the state of war between the Lycans and the Vampires remains. The power-hungry Vampire Kraven has seized power from the slumbering Viktor, leaving the Vampires in a state of disarray. Meanwhile, Selene continues her pursuit of the Lycan brothers. It is now the late 1960s, and Selene has returned to Paris in search of her prey that eluded her decades ago. As she hunts the Lycans down, the brothers lay in wait, hoping to avenge the death of one of their own.

Part Three (6:28 runtime):

It's the year 2012, and the world has become a police state. The war between the Lycans and the Vampires is now known to mankind, and dedicated police forces hunt for vampires with brutal force and at the expense of personal liberty. Selene, now teamed with a Werewolf/Vampire hybrid named Michael Corvin -- a creature that wields the powers of both species -- is continuing her hunt that began more than 100 years ago. She's once again in Paris, tracking down her prey through both advanced technology and good old fashioned detective work. Can she and Michael finally put an end to a pursuit that's lasted more than a century?

Underworld Trilogy: The Essential Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For detailed coverage of the video presentations for Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, please click through the links provided at the top of this review.

Presented in 1080p high definition via an MPEG-2 encode and within a 1.78:1 window, Underworld: Endless War's Blu-ray presentation just isn't all that pretty. Severe banding plagues almost every scene. Coors are expectedly drab, favoring the Underworld-standard blue and black scheme. The only hint of brightness comes from Lycan and Vampire eyes. Bland though it may be, the Blu-ray reveals all of the detail available to it, straight off the raw animated elements. A few brick walls in an underground sewer and a few Paris exteriors are the most detailed objects in the film. Faces and the like are unsurprisingly one-dimensional and void of complexity. The image can be a hair soft in places, but lines are generally crisp and satisfying. Overall, this is a somewhat disappointing release that looks rough and rushed. Score: 2.5/5.

Underworld Trilogy: The Essential Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For detailed coverage of the audio presentations for Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, please click through the links provided at the top of this review.

Unfortunately, Underworld: Endless War features only a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack; no lossless option is available. At best, this is a decent track that's a bit crunchy and unkempt. Fortunately, its worst isn't that far removed from its best. It's satisfactorily spacious across the front, but the track's bottom end is rattly. Heavier sound effects lack distinction and sound rather jumbled. Gunshots are halfway potent, though they tend to become lost under the other sounds of battle in an old underground passageway at the end of part one. A few more distinct and discrete effects work well enough, whether reverberating echoes in large spaces or dripping water that does a fair job of creating a specific ambience for one environment in part one. Dialogue is suitably clear and remains in the middle section of the soundstage. This is a fairly generic soundtrack that could have been a lot more were it given a bigger budget and more attention to detail. Score: 2.0/5.

Underworld Trilogy: The Essential Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

For detailed coverage of the supplements for Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, please click through the links provided at the top of this review.

The new animated shorts disc, Underworld: Endless War, contains no supplements. Score: 0.0/5.

Underworld Trilogy: The Essential Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Underworld Trilogy: The Essential Collection adds nothing new to the Underworld Blu-ray experience save for the addition of UV copies of the films and the bonus disc which doesn't even come with its own case. To make matters worse, the films are too few and short and the technical qualities are below par. The slipcover is nice for collectors and the recycled Underworld content presented herein is of a high quality, but fans hoping for a more "essential" or "definitive" collection will be left a bit disappointed. The final verdict? Newcomers to the Blu-ray releases or diehard fans who just have to have the slipcover, the UV copies, and the bonus disc and who can sell off their well-loved trio of Underworld Blu-ray discs purchased long ago might as well buy this set, but most others would be smart to wait for a real "definitive" collection after the release of Underworld: Awakening, or whenever it is that Sony finally puts the final nail in this franchise's coffin.