Underworld: Awakening

Kate Beckinsale reprises her role as Selene, the Vampire who kicks butt, in this fourth installment of the Underworld series.  This one is just as dark as all the others but takes place in the future.  The humans have come to realize that there is a threat out there of both Vampires and Lycans (werewolves) and they pose a threat to humanity so must be destroyed.  Selene is caught and put on ice for study and wakes up in the future not knowing what has happened and realizing that she has a daughter.  The action that ensues afterward is gory and fast paced.

This is not a screen actors dream come true.  There isn't much in the way of great acting.  Even the newcomer India Eisley who plays Selene's teenage daughter is void of many emotions.  There is also no love story in this one.  Its vampire vs. lycan vs. human story that has what most people would think about when they imagine throwing all of these beings into a room and shaking it up to see what would happen.  This isn't Twilight in any sense, the vampires don't sparkle and the werewolves aren't Calvin Klein models.  This is Underworld were the bad guys are bad, and the good guys are bad.

The movie has a very dark tone to it.  Even in 3-D its hard to see from all the black that is flying around but the extreme actions and fast pace of the movie make it a little interesting in 3-D.  As mentioned before there is a lot of killing which in this case leads to a lot of blood and gore.  There are curse words and the gore and blood alone I would say one should keep the little children away from this movie.  The creatures alone could cause nightmares in the younger crowds.  I would recommend keeping this one to the older teens and above.

If you are looking for a love story than this one isn't for you.  If you want to take a date to a movie and they are huge Twi-Hards than this isn't for them.  There are no sparkly vampires and no unrequited love story.  Its an action flick plain and simple.  You go to this one to watch Kate Beckinsale wearing very tight clothes and kicking butt.  Throw in some guns, explosions and chopping off of extremities and you have the action flick you wanted to watch.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Even though the spy thriller movies belongs mainly to one man (James Bond) his American counterpart has stepped up to take a stab at the genre of espionage and sneaking and all the gadgets that one wishes they actually had or are just myths in the making. Mission Impossible is the American Made Spy movie that spans the globe in search of redemption.

Ethan Hunt is at again in this one. But this time he loses the support of the fabled IMF. The black ops group that keeps America and all of its assets safe from the unknown terrors of the world. There is a comedic element in this one with the addition of Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn the Geek extraordinaire that desperately wants to be a field agent but lacks the skills to properly take down the bad guys. There is eye candy in this one in the form of the beautiful Paula Patton as Agent Jane Carter. She lends a beauty and a drama to the supporting cast. Also along for the fun filled ride is Jeremy Renner. His role also adds to the mystique and drama and provides for some interesting internal conflict. The bad guys do a great job of being just that bad guys. There is decent character development and the story telling is interesting

There is a warning though if you go to watch this movie. Read and remember what you are watching. It is Mission impossible. Don't try to over-analyze situations or gadgets or other things like that. Its the government with its seemingly endless amounts of money and ability to come up amazing gadgets that we only wish could be real but at least its fun to watch on the big screen. The action is over the top with lots of high flying stunts and many explosions.I did see a few younger kids in the theater, younger being about 8-10 but I would recommend keeping it around 10 and above if not a little older. There is death and shooting and lots of loud explosions and all that fun stuff, with a few spatters of cussing in there as well.

Without the British accent but with the fancy cars and all the non-stop fast paced sequences this Mission Impossible can seem just that, impossible but almost everything else in Hollywood can be label "Mission Impossible". If you are into action, like James Bond and those type of spy thrillers, than I think one will enjoy this movie and have a good time with it. If you don't like chases and fast paced action stay away from this one, stay far away, don't even go to the theater next to it, the booms through the wall might even bother you.