Kurt Wimmer is now the guy everyone thinks Paul W.S. Anderson is.
"Ultraviolet" Review
Milla Jovovich- Violet
Nick Chinlund- Daxus
Cameron Bright- Six
William Fichtner- Garth
Sebastien Andrieu- Nerva
Directed by Kurt Wimmer
Screenplay by Kurt Wimmer
Distributed by Sony Pictures/ Screen Gems
Rated PG-13 for sequences of violent action throughout, partial nudity and language
Runtime- 88 minutes
Website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/ultraviolet/
"Ultraviolet" is the latest super hot chick kung fu futuristic thriller flick, starring consummate super hot chick kung fu meister Milla Jovovich as Violet, a woman with a deadly disease and a mean streak on the run from evil totalitarian government scumbags and a rag tag bunch of pseudo Eurotrash vampires (well, pseudo vampires) who are, at the beginning, kind of the good guys. As the "story" progresses the flick gets more and more confusing, more and more incomprehensible, as Violet has to protect "the ultimate weapon," a young boy named Six (Cameron Bright) from Daxus (Nick Chinlund) and the "hemophages," the vampires, and in the process begins to feel her "humanity" again (or motherly instinct, whichever you believe is happening). Now, this could be a spot on regurgitation of the actual back story/plot or it could be only half of what actually happened. This reviewer isn't quite sure. The back story, told in flashback, is dealt with so quickly it's, well, a blur. The American government, in league with some evil corporate entity, discovered an unknown virus that could be manipulated to help create super soldiers. They did experiments, some stuff happened, and the world was besieged by the HGV (hemophageglobin virus or something) that changed everything. In the ensuing chaos, Violet's unborn fetus became infected, and the new world order decided that the fetus and Violet's family had to be killed (along with everyone else "infected.") Enter the hemophages, the infected hordes who create a resistance, declare their hatred of regular humans, and go to war. Or something.
The various action sequences are simply amazing. Gunplay, swordplay, and an updated version of the "gunkata" style of screen fighting we all saw in director Kurt Wimmer's first and much more competent movie "Equilibrium" abound. Along with the super kinetic fights are a slew of gravity defying running and jumping sequences and a very cool motorcycle chase up the side of a skyscraper. In a way some of the sequences to get tedious (how many times are the bad black armor clad jackboots going to surround Violet and then get sliced and diced without changing tactics? And what the heck was that whole Asian Armani suit mafia thing on the roof, the amazing yet dumbfounding part where Violet dodges all of the bullets the mafia guys let loose from their handguns? What plot point did this reviewer miss?) but they're far more interesting than the crapola the characters are yammering on about. The other plus is Milla Jovovich trying very, very hard to put up her best effort to keep the whatever moving. She looks great no matter what and she is quite believable in the butt kicking department (she's done this exact character now, what, five times?). She's got the legs, thighs, hips, stomach, face, voice, and enthusiasm to keep the movie watchable (Milla does quite a bit of posing, and there are lots of low shots of her hips. This reviewer isn't complaining, mind you, just observing). The third and final high point of the flick is Nick Chinlund's Daxus. A total vicious scumbag that just oozes vile douchebaggery. He's never without metal nose plugs (gotta watch out for those rampant diseases everyone is afraid of) or a new pair of rubber gloves, he constantly drinks tea, keeps his rapid fire handgun in a sealed plastic bag, and uses a four foot sword that looks like a giant Rambo survival knife. He's not seen enough, but what we do see is pure gold. And that's where the good stuff ends.
So the hemophages are vampires. They've got the teeth but they don't bite humans for their blood need. It's a terrible, boring plot element that seems to be in place so we can get some lazy slacker "Blade" rejects to run around and look "cool." The head of this group is Nerva (Sebastien Andrieu), a completely disposable character that acts like a cross between Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost and the bad guy from "Transporter 2." The other hemophages are awful. Just awful. For a group of people held down by the government they don't exactly elicit much sympathy. In fact this reviewer couldn't wait until they were dispatched. He didn't care who did it, just that they were killed. The young boy Six, Cameron Bright, is boring. The usually decent William Fichtner hangs around as a renegade hemophage researcher trying to help Violet out, like Kris Kristofferson in "Blade" except he isn't the least bit interesting. Everything else is very hit or miss, mostly miss. Why is it so hard to tell a simple story of good and evil, or to just start at the beginning (or even just scrap the background flashback altogether and just get on with it)? Look at John Carpenter's much maligned "Ghosts of Mars." Within twenty seconds, through a voiceover and quick bits of info onscreen, we're given all of the information we need to understand why stuff is the way it is. Why is that technique so hard to execute? It's obvious from both "Equilibrium" and "Ultraviolet" that Kurt Wimmer knows how to stage a fight scene. It's also obvious that Wimmer really wants to inject "ideas" into his stories, perhaps a little commentary on the events of the day (that whole line about how in previous ages the world was worried about terrorism and now it's worried about disease). What isn't obvious is whether or not he cares about the rest of the movie. Wimmer wrote the script. Was he able to follow his own story? This reviewer highly doubts it. Just what exactly is going on? And what's the deal with the comic book cover opening? Is Wimmer's favorite flick the classic "The Return of Swamp Thing" by Jim Wynorski? As far as this reviewer knows "Ultraviolet" isn't based on an actual comic, so why do it? Is it meant to be some kind of director's message to the audience what we're about to see is a "comic book" movie? Who exactly is going to be impressed by that? The black turtleneck audience that isn't going to see the movie anyway? It just doesn't seem to fit.
"Ultraviolet" is a tremendous misstep, a movie that both doesn't deserve to be the travesty that it is but dang sure does deserve whatever bad stuff it ends up with. It's a movie that should be seen on the big screen so you can see the big fights as big as they can be, just don't go expecting anything all that entertaining. It's an entertainment curiosity. Go for Milla, Nick, and the insane fights. Avoid the rest. The rest is terrible. Just terrible.
The 411: Kurt Wimmer’s “Ultraviolet” is a terribly confusing, muddled sci-fi kung fu movie that never really works long enough for you to care about it. Milla Jovovich and Nick Chinlund try very, very hard and do their best to keep things interesting, but in the end even they can’t overcome the pure awful that the movie is. Without question you should see it on the big screen for the fight scenes and the curvaceous Milla walking around, walking around, and walking around (oh baby) but that just doesn’t work forever and, in the end, we don’t get what we need. This reviewer has said it before and he’ll keep saying it until someone does something about it, simplify, people. Simplify. But we're all going to own the DVD when it comes out, right? Milla, Milla, Milla.
