New age films such as “The Matrix” garnished with stunning virtual camera tricks and philosophical allusions have had me on the edge my seat in recent years and always left me wanting for more films like it. But who knew films that strive to live up to its brilliance could be so bad? The new film “UltraViolet,” starring every one’s favorite zombie-killing L’Oreal cover girl Milla Jovovich is so laughably inane, it devastates the science fiction genre altogether.
“Ultra Violet” is ostensibly a case of bad-filmmaking rather than bad writing, for what director Kurt Zimmers has to work with in terms of plot is somewhat compelling. Somewhere in between senseless high tech sword fighting and gunfire he allows a potentially intriguing film to deteriorate rapidly.
The film’s enthralling inception is where most of the story unfolds, but it develops so quickly I found it hard to follow at times. Based on what I’ve managed to grasp, a disease titled “hemophagia” that is evidently engineered by the government of the late 21st century has infected a subpopulation and caused them to mutate into “hemophages.” As hemophages they are endowed with vampiric capabilities, but unlike conventional vampires hemophages have a limited life span.
Aside from being altogether doomed, during the initial outbreak of the disease hemophages are ostracized by human society and eventually subject for extermination by the government.
The film revolves around Violet (Jovovich) who has evaded eradication and has risen as the hemophage crusader. During the eve of “the blood war,” which is more or less where the story begins, Violet manages to trick her way into a heavily guarded facility run by Daxus (Nick Chinlund) and get her hands on the “secret weapon.”
After Violet engages in a heart-stopping chase with Daxus’ men on her sleek BMW motorcycle, she peeks into the white briefcase that allegedly contains the “secret weapon” and discovers a young boy (Cameron Bright). No, it isn’t a typo, the boy was actually in the briefcase.
The plot sounds semi-intriguing so far, but rather than evolve throughout the film it unravels entirely, which might leave anyone anticipating the film, like I was, bitter and confused. As soon as Violet comes across the secret weapon, which she learns later is a dying clone named Six, the film goes to pieces. The remaining footage consists of little else but the modish and deadpan Violet dragging young Six around by the arm and taking out a legion of men in a matter of seconds with weapons that appear out of thin air. The lousy computer graphics and ridiculously contrived stunts are perhaps more forgivable than the holes that turn up in the story, such as the nonexistent identity of the villain Daxus and the undetermined purpose of the character Six. However, the way Zimmer lets some of his scenes, particularly the fighting scenes, meander on so senselessly caused me to eye the exit in the corner of the dark theater a number of times.
Nevertheless, I am aware that some people, namely some loutish fellows with raging hormones, could care less about an underdeveloped plot and visibly pointless scenes. For those of you seeking a PG-13 wet dream, “Ultra Violet” is the movie for you. Although Russian-born super model Jovovich fills the role of Violet as a one-dimensional synthetic heroine, she does look pretty hot kicking everyone’s ass. While the film lacks crucial substance, it is brimming with scenes that capture every flawless angle of the well-toned Jovovich.