Buy it... if you delight in the dark atmospheric textures and rhythms of Marco Beltrami's trademark thriller/horror sound.

Avoid it... if you expect to hear some of the best score music from the film on this score album, despite its tediously long running-time.

Beltrami

Underworld Evolution: (Marco Beltrami) In the tale of the battle between vampires and werewolves, one thing is certain: it's long enough for a sequel or two. Fans of Underworld were the direct targets of the sequel, extending the story to include new villains and new battles while maintaining the same bleak atmosphere of the first film. For the mass majority of mainstream audiences, most of whom will only catch a glimpse of this film on midnight cable runs someday, the only notable aspect of the film is lead vampire Kate Beckinsale and her evil leather costume. Fans of such "cuteness gone bad" will be pleased to know that there's more nudity and sex in this film than the first, though be aware that there are so many special effects in Underworld Evolution that you can't assume that anything in the picture is actually real. The plotline in Underworld Evolution isn't as intriguing as the one in the first film, reducing the sequel to a series of chases intermingled with lengthy conversational explanations of background information that only devoted fans will bother paying attention to. For a number of reasons, mostly related to the concept of redundancy, the film was torn apart by critics, and for most people, the story ends there. But for film score collectors, the insertion of horror score veteran Marco Beltrami into the crew showed a glimpse of hope. The original film's score was a hardcore, no-nonsense industrial affair by Paul Haslinger, harshly dissonant and equaling the film's visuals in bleak tone. Ironically, there was something about the ballsy metallic sound of Haslinger's score that worked well with the urban environment of the film, and some of that overbearing personality has been lost in the sequel. Beltrami's approach to Underworld Evolution is far more conventional in an orchestral sense, following the lines of his plethora of previous efforts requiring a similarly dark atmosphere of brooding and chasing. There are stylistic traits from Hans Zimmer's recent rhythmic constructs that you'll recognize in several places. He did not overtly incorporate the themes or sound of Haslinger, though more will be said on matter later.

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The original themes in Underworld Evolution are sparse and often underdeveloped. It's is a usual trait of Beltrami's more anonymous thriller or fantasy scores, and this one relies as much on rhythm and texture as any other. The themes that are hinted at are not transparent enough to be satisfying, even on album (with the exception of the fine, Brian Tyler-like finale in "The Future"), causing the highlights of the score to be some rip-roaring rhythmic cues later in the film. After a slow start, Beltrami provides a less dramatic industrial sound for Underworld Evolution, with harmonic rhythmic chase cues featuring the normal array of synthetic thumping and other electronic and traditional percussion. There is a deep resonance of the bass region in the score, sometimes serving to drown out whatever intelligence is trying to play higher up. There are no truly awful sequences in the score, but it does fall victim to the length of its album when heard apart from the film. Three things are working against Beltrami in Underworld Evolution, and it's possible that he had nothing to do with any of them. All three problems plague the album, and one of them also affecting the film is nearly fatal. First, the album is 45 minutes too long and is presented in film order. Usually, neither of these things is a negative, but in the case of the score for Underworld Evolution, the excess material exposes the least interesting parts of the score that add nothing but tedium to the listening experience, and the good cues are too spread apart to easily appreciate without burning your own compilation of highlights. Finally, the music everyone best remembers from Underworld Evolution is actually based on Haslinger's material from the first film. The softer theme developed by Haslinger in the cue "Eternity and a Day" from Underworld is used during the love scene and the revelation scene in the sequel, and this variation is not available on either score album. The original inspiration for the theme on the first score album is your best bet if you want the highlight cue from Underworld Evolution. It's not known if Beltrami was involved with this extended performance (or simply a new mix) of Haslinger's material, but its omission from this album is strange given that the same studio and label own both scores. Casual moviegoers should approach with this troubled album with caution, and even devoted Beltrami collectors will be doing some fast-forwarding. **   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Marco Beltrami reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.75 (in 20 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.87 (in 14,767 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.