Review Detail
8.3 12 10
(Updated: August 31, 2012)
Enjoyment
8.0
October 11, 2011 @ 7:50 pm
The Ugly West (\Harmonica\) and Jaws The Sharkploitation version are two of my favourite fanedits – period. So, whenever TMBTM announces his latest venture it goes without saying that I look forward to the day it sees release with the kind of excitement my 4 year old nephew exudes when he gets the latest Power Rangers figure (and there’s me thinking they stopped making Power Rangers years ago!).
Perhaps more than any of his previous edits, Underworld Temptation intrigued me the most. I had not seen his highly praised Conan Manowar edit, so I was a little in the dark as to just what to expect with Temptation. However, I did actually know the band Within Temptation, having purchased their impressive Silent Force album, so in terms of the style of music which would be overlaying all the werewolf/vampire action I more or less knew what to expect. The thing which would be most interesting however is just how well the music would link with the images on screen and most vitally, the story itself. Plus, I have always wanted to do a fanedit which uses rock music in this fashion (most probably using the Finnish band, Nightwish), so I couldn’t wait to see the result.
Combining the prequel Rise of The Lycans with the original Underworld movie actually makes perfect sense. Like many people point out, if you’ve seen the first Underworld then the prequel is very much an anti-climax, as like all prequels you more or less know exactly where they are heading. No such exception here, but by splicing the movies together to form Underworld Temptation, Rise of the Lycans in particular comes out very well indeed. Certainly it’s during this section of the edit where TMBTM is at his best. The use of songs by Within Temptation work far better than I could have dreamed possible, even if they do begin to blend into one another to the extent where anyone who isn’t a fan of the band would be forgiven for having trouble telling where one ends and the other begins.
It doesn’t quite work as well when we go forward in time and are introduced to Kate Beckinsale’s character, with the footage from Underworld seeming quite rushed and you can actually tell that there’s a substantial amount missing here, unlike in the first part of the edit where I was hard pressed to feel like anything was out of kilter. This comes to a head when Selene (Beckinsale) suddenly falls big time for Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman). Such is the amount of material cut from the film, that when we suddenly find out they are in love, it’s like…\ummm, o k a y…\ I can see what TMBTM was trying to do in keeping the running time down, but it’s a part of the edit which stuck out like a sore thumb for me.
On the audio editing front, apart from one drop-out I noticed, this is damn near perfect. For some, perhaps the music overpowers the dialogue in a few scenes, but I believe for an edit so heavily intended to be reliant on the music of a band like Within Temptation, it’s right for it be so prominent in the mix. I was also impressed by the scenes where the \original\ audio track from the film has been filtered so that the background music which was there is basically removed, but the dialogue remains – ok, you can tell the dialogue sounds a little bit different to normal, but it works very well. It’s a technique I so want to learn for future edits ;) Anyway, this gets a 9/10 for me.
Picture quality – again, more or less perfect. Both are dark movies, but scenes are all perfectly visible and blacks pretty solid. 9/10
Editing – overall very impressive, but there are a couple of moments which let this drop from the high standards TMBTM has set on previous edits. Most noticeably, the aforementioned cutting of scenes from the original Underworld film which render the Selene falls for Corvin scene as very unbelievable. Because of this, I would award a 8/10.
Overall then, whilst Underworld Temptation does not reach the giddy heights of Jaws or Harmonica for me, it nevertheless remains a fanedit of high quality and makes for a perfect Friday night movie. Put it this way. If there were such a a thing as a fanedit film festival, this would certainly have to be on the bill and would be a perfect way to kick start proceedings. Congratulations TMBTM. A very solid 8.5/10 for me.
The Ugly West (\Harmonica\) and Jaws The Sharkploitation version are two of my favourite fanedits – period. So, whenever TMBTM announces his latest venture it goes without saying that I look forward to the day it sees release with the kind of excitement my 4 year old nephew exudes when he gets the latest Power Rangers figure (and there’s me thinking they stopped making Power Rangers years ago!).
Perhaps more than any of his previous edits, Underworld Temptation intrigued me the most. I had not seen his highly praised Conan Manowar edit, so I was a little in the dark as to just what to expect with Temptation. However, I did actually know the band Within Temptation, having purchased their impressive Silent Force album, so in terms of the style of music which would be overlaying all the werewolf/vampire action I more or less knew what to expect. The thing which would be most interesting however is just how well the music would link with the images on screen and most vitally, the story itself. Plus, I have always wanted to do a fanedit which uses rock music in this fashion (most probably using the Finnish band, Nightwish), so I couldn’t wait to see the result.
Combining the prequel Rise of The Lycans with the original Underworld movie actually makes perfect sense. Like many people point out, if you’ve seen the first Underworld then the prequel is very much an anti-climax, as like all prequels you more or less know exactly where they are heading. No such exception here, but by splicing the movies together to form Underworld Temptation, Rise of the Lycans in particular comes out very well indeed. Certainly it’s during this section of the edit where TMBTM is at his best. The use of songs by Within Temptation work far better than I could have dreamed possible, even if they do begin to blend into one another to the extent where anyone who isn’t a fan of the band would be forgiven for having trouble telling where one ends and the other begins.
It doesn’t quite work as well when we go forward in time and are introduced to Kate Beckinsale’s character, with the footage from Underworld seeming quite rushed and you can actually tell that there’s a substantial amount missing here, unlike in the first part of the edit where I was hard pressed to feel like anything was out of kilter. This comes to a head when Selene (Beckinsale) suddenly falls big time for Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman). Such is the amount of material cut from the film, that when we suddenly find out they are in love, it’s like…\ummm, o k a y…\ I can see what TMBTM was trying to do in keeping the running time down, but it’s a part of the edit which stuck out like a sore thumb for me.
On the audio editing front, apart from one drop-out I noticed, this is damn near perfect. For some, perhaps the music overpowers the dialogue in a few scenes, but I believe for an edit so heavily intended to be reliant on the music of a band like Within Temptation, it’s right for it be so prominent in the mix. I was also impressed by the scenes where the \original\ audio track from the film has been filtered so that the background music which was there is basically removed, but the dialogue remains – ok, you can tell the dialogue sounds a little bit different to normal, but it works very well. It’s a technique I so want to learn for future edits ;) Anyway, this gets a 9/10 for me.
Picture quality – again, more or less perfect. Both are dark movies, but scenes are all perfectly visible and blacks pretty solid. 9/10
Editing – overall very impressive, but there are a couple of moments which let this drop from the high standards TMBTM has set on previous edits. Most noticeably, the aforementioned cutting of scenes from the original Underworld film which render the Selene falls for Corvin scene as very unbelievable. Because of this, I would award a 8/10.
Overall then, whilst Underworld Temptation does not reach the giddy heights of Jaws or Harmonica for me, it nevertheless remains a fanedit of high quality and makes for a perfect Friday night movie. Put it this way. If there were such a a thing as a fanedit film festival, this would certainly have to be on the bill and would be a perfect way to kick start proceedings. Congratulations TMBTM. A very solid 8.5/10 for me.
L
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