The Alphabet Project: U is for...

Ultraviolet (2006)

In a world where a subculture of humans have emerged who have been modified genetically by a vampire-like disease (hemophagia), giving them enhanced speed, incredible stamina and acute intelligence. Hilarity ensues as they are set apart from "normal, healthy" humans, the world is pushed to the brink of worldwide civil war (a war between humans and hemophages) aimed at the destruction of the diseased population. In the middle of this crossfire is an infected woman, Violet (played by Milla Jovovich), who finds herself protecting a nine-year-old boy who has been marked for death by the human government as he is believed to be a threat to humans. Watch The Trailer

Trivia: While on the set, Kurt Wimmer asked Milla Jovovich to punch him, in order to get a feel for the intensity she was putting in her action sequences. For the next several days, Wimmer directed the film with a black eye. The film was taken out of director Kurt Wimmer's hands and completely reedited by the studio after they saw the original version which they apparently did not like; they saw it as 'too emotional' for the action film they were expecting and reedited it so there would be more of an emphasis on the action and to cut it down to a PG-13 rating. According to many reports, the studio cut over 30 minutes from Wimmer's original director's cut of the film. Milla Jovovich's character uses a more authentic variant of "Gun Kata", a unique blend of gunfighting and martial arts developed by director Kurt Wimmer for his previous film Equilibrium (2002).

This movie has a really major identity crisis. It starts out telling you about a disease that gives the victim vampire like qualities including the need to have blood transfusions and that the victim grows fangs...and then pretty much never mentions it again, it then turns into a distopian me against the government type story with Violet being chased by government goons...and then turns into a evil mastermind trying to destroy the world unless Violet can kill him type of story. none of them worked well because there was no real commitment to it. If they had gone with only the me against the government story it would have been a lot better film. First off, why would you mention that you could tell the hemophages by their vampire teeth, and never show the teeth again? Next, it talks about the fact the a hemophage's life span is really short, like the extra enhancement to the body burn it out at an incredible rate (I think it says they have ten years) and that Violet is at the end of her ten year window. And she dies in the middle of the film...only to be brought back by a blood transfusion as if that is the cure and she goes about her business the rest of the way not worrying about any impending death and seems to live happily ever after at the end of the movie. What I wonder is what the movie would have been like with the full director's cut. What a mess. But, on the other hand I know not to mess with future women wearing leather or carrying guns, swords, or other stuff (Aeon Flux, Ultraviolet, Tomb Raider, Kill Bill) As a side note, the special effect were pretty good with the leather (it changed colors) and Weapons (you could download them into a wrist unit and make them appear when you needed them, very computer game-ish). By the way, Mick guess correctly so I owe him a movie (And I also owe Anonymous Ken a movie if he will every pick one...)

Next Up: "V", This Week's Clue: The story of five girls as told by the boys from across the street. And now for this week's guesses.

Underworld - Selene, a beautiful vampire warrior, is entrenched in a war between the vampire and werewolf races. Although she is aligned with the vampires, she falls in love with Michael, a werewolf who longs for the war to end

Underworld: Evolution - This movie continues the saga of war between the Death Dealers (vampires) and the Lycans (werewolves)...

Unbreakable - A suspense thriller with supernatural overtones that revolves around a man who learns something extraordinary about himself after a devastating accident.