Ultraviolet

It's arguable that there should be more female action heroes in Hollywood then there currently are, but over stereotyped sexually fed gimmicks and stale plot points usually are the selling bits for all films with an ass kicking heroine. That's not to say that every film that stars a well qualified woman who can throw down as much as any man can is always plagued with problems and the like, as Ripley from the Alien series, Sarah Connor from the Terminator franchise, and even - more recently - Imperator Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road have proven. I am going to transport nine years back to 2006 to provide and example of a film that had a lot of promise but failed to live up to any of it. 

Ultraviolet. The name of the movie itself sticks out on its own. There have been countless films that I have encountered and I can recall a but a few titles when it is time to throw something on the screen. It is striking, odd, and fierce. The name of the film sold me at first glance, so I decided to give it a go. I should have given into my gut nature when I saw Milla Jovovich's name on the cover, but alas I went with it anyway. Yes, I'll agree that she has some decent film credits when it comes to The Fifth Element as well as Dazed and Confused, but her career has been rocky ever since and the ongoing Resident Evil film franchise needs to die. But, hell, it looked stylish and fun, so why not give it a shot. 

And that shot went straight through my cranium as soon as I played out the first five minutes of the film. The backstory of any major character in a film is important. It should not be played out in quick flashback like intervals with lifeless voice over dialogue. But in Ultraviolet it did. That was the first error in a series of continued errors. Rather than using atmosphere and productive story telling to inform the audience of the dystopian world, the film boiled it down to nothing more than a five minute shoddily cut intro. Shit on that. 

But, it was alright, I could forgive that moment since it was so brief. But, heading into the rest of the feature length film was pretty much pointless. This is pretty much a poor man's Kill Bill centered in a sci-fi universe. The chick is badass, has a quasi-vengeful scheme up her sleeve, is able to take on dozens of mindless enemies, and has a mothering problem going on. I would explain more of the plot as well as the role of the hemophages but - quite simply -  I just don't want to engage the time to do so. 

Also, on a quick side note, the audio was terrible. And I never have a problem with audio in a film. The bullets and shots didn't sound off well enough and when a man's arm broke there was never a satisfying crunch. And before someone launches off on the, "Oh, this is what it would sound like in the real world" shebang, this is a stylized comic book like film. I want my fucking crunchy broken arms. 

However, where I will praise the film where many other have panned it is in the area of special effects. I quite enjoyed the cheesy CGI as it really did feel like a living, breathing comic. Perhaps not on the level of Sin City, but the look of the film was very well done. 

So, yes, bad acting, poor plot structure, and action scenes that just did not have a satisfying appeal to them all made Ultraviolet a drudge to get through back in 2006 and even now as I have revisited it. There are better films with action movie heroines in them, so I would rather spend my time watching those than this. Ever again.