Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
Milla Jovovich stars as Violet in the action flick, 'Ultraviolet'. - CONTRIBUTED
ULTRAVIOLET IS the perfect example of what happens when one allows the ideas of style to supersede ideas of content (plot and characterisation). It's pretty, but it is also pretty empty and, with the exception of a few cool fighting moves, does not provide significant entertainment.
Ultraviolet begins with the line "I live in a world which you may not understand," and that line is repeated twice in the movie. It should be taken as a cautionary statement, because writer/director Kurt Wimmer does not bother to explain much.
The film is made along the lines of the tight pants theory which, as displayed in films like Cat Woman and Aeon Flux, declares that a good-looking woman in skin-tight leather pants is enough for an action film. So Ultraviolet stars Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element, Resident Evil) and her enviably flat belly, which spends sufficient time on the screen to deserve a separate listing in the credits.
NOT MUCH OF A POINT
Jovovich and her belly are joined by Cameron Bright as Six, the boy who seems to have taken over the scary child star mantle from Haley Joel Osmet (The Sixth Sense), while Nick Chilund takes on the villain mantle as Vicecardinum Ferdinand Daxus.
The problems with Ultraviolet are many. First among them is that the film seems to have been made without much of a point. As such, though we understand that there is a war between humans and phages, we are not given a clue as to why. True, we are told that the phages are 'diseased', but other than having seriously strange teeth, there are no indications as to the nature of their disease. As such, unless it is a dentist-led war, it doesn't make sense.
The phages are supposedly a 'vampiric' set, but the only vampire tendencies they show is a penchant for being well dressed. Indeed, the 'Vampires Against Defamation' group may well consider protesting their inclusion under the name vampires.
VISUAL PLEASURES
However, weak plotlines could be forgiven in the face of unadulterated visual pleasure, but Ultraviolet does not offer that either. Though much effort was spent attempting to generate pleasures of the visual kind, with great attention paid to colourful costumes and set design, the titillation was not successful. Ultraviolet highlights the danger toward which action movies are hurtling with the increased capabilities of digital technology. Far too much of this movie was made in the belly of a computer and this significantly dampens any cathartic impact.
Even when they are science fiction-based, movies need to reflect some hint at realism, or even plausibility, as breaking with reality does not mean breaking with realism. Additionally, video games are interesting, but they are not action movies and Ultraviolet was constructed more along the lines of a video game than an action flick.
As a result, this flick is too much for Milla Jovovich to bear upwards. She was great in The Fifth Element and Resident Evil might not have made too much sense, but was at least fun. Unfortunately, despite the bright costuming, Ultraviolet is a dim, empty flick with only a few cool moves in its arsenal.
