When the original Underworld hit theaters in 2003 it took the world of vampires and werewolves aka lycans to new levels of action. The film spawned three sequels with Underworld: Evolution continuing the story of the original film, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans being a prequel and Underworld: Awakening essentially rebooting the franchise while continuing the story of Kate Beckinsale’s Selene. Now they are finally taking fans back into the war of vampires and lycans with Underworld: Blood Wars, but does it bring more of the same fans love or will it not be able to transform into a hit?

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Underworld: Blood Wars follows vampire death dealer Selene as she fends off brutal attacks from both the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her.  With her only allies, David  and his father Thomas, she must stop the eternal war between Lycans and Vampires, even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice. This latest chapter also stars Theo James, Lara Pulver, Tobias Menzies, Bradley James, James Faulkner and Charles Dance with Anna Foerster taking on directing duties. These are tricky films to review as they are geared towards a specific audience. At this point in the franchise you either are still all in or have likely moved on. The story does a good job at continuing the story that kicked off in Awakening and still wrapping up the ongoing story since the beginning. There are some slow moments early on and it tends to bounce around a lot for the first half with moments seemingly missing, but finds its footing just enough to entertain.

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Kate Beckinsale steps right back into the role like she never left and seems to be having a great time. A lot of times when franchises like this go on this long the actors look way to old to be an ageless vampire, but somehow Beckinsale has stopped aging and looks better in the role than ever. The rest of the cast do a good job with the film bringing the usual over the top villains and Shaksperean like vibe all wrapped in a silly monster flick. I was a bit irritated with the over use of CGI for the Lycans in the last entry, but while they are here as well there were a lot more practical effects harking back to the original film that made it work way better. There is one specific direction to a Lycan’s design I was not a big fan of, but get what they were trying to do it just looked a bit cheesy and out of place.

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If this is the final film in the vampire / lycan saga then it does a decent job at wrapping up all the loose ends despite being a bit of a lazy approach on some levels. At the same time they set things up to head down a new path should they want to make more films and as a fan of the series I would be glad and interested to see where they take the characters after their evolutions in this film. This is far from a perfect film and only for those who are still fully invested in the Underworld franchise. If you hated any of the films or don’t care either way then this will be one you will want to avoid, but for those that dig them then check it out.

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This release not only includes the film, but also four featurettes that take you further behind the epic war between the vampire and lycan as well as the official movie graphic novel exclusive to iTunes. Join the fight and grab your copy of Underworld: Blood Wars available now on Digital HD, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD from Sony Home Entertainment.