While blockbuster franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been slow to give female characters their own films, B-movie fans have been happy to embrace kickass women as the lead. As proof, the sixth film in Milla Jovovich's Resident Evil series debuts early next year, along with Kate Beckinsale reprising her role as vampire Selene for a fifth installment of epic vamp/werewolf battles in Underworld: Blood Wars.
Sony/Screen Gems is hoping for success once again with the low budget and relatively big returns of the Underworld series, this time putting Selene at the very center of the war between her own kind and the Lycans, now led by the formidable Marius (Outlander's Tobias Menzies). As her voiceover in the recent New York Comic Con trailer reveals, Selene is ready for some vengeance after everyone she's ever loved "has been hunted down."
The latest Japanese trailer, which you can watch above, has dubbed that expository voiceover, but the dialogue in the clips remains in English. It's a more streamlined version of the NYCC trailer, giving the basic summary of the fight to come, and some exciting glimpses at the stylish action scenes. The Lycans are after the blood of Selene and her daughter, and whether they succeed or Selene triumphs, it sounds like this war will finally end either way.
Returning to the Underworld series are Selene's remaining allies, David (Theo James), and his father Thomas (Charles Dance). Laura Pulver (True Blood) also stars as ambitious vampire Semira. The latest U.S. trailer, shown above, really loads up on the bloody action, showing the full-scale Lycan attack and the supreme levels of danger the non-worried Selene is really in. It also reveals a bit more of the transformation Selene underogies, which gives her even greater powers (and some cool blonde highlights).
Judging by the trailers, Underworld: Blood Wars looks like another entertaining action flick for longtime fans of the leather-clad Beckinsale and her "Death Dealer" skills. Selene's transformative boost in fighting prowess should be a fun twist as well as a possible major turning point in this centuries-long conflict.
Underworld: Blood Wars sinks its teeth into theaters on January 6, 2017.