I was rather excited to finally get to see a new movie directed by Kurt Wimmer. After all his previous effort, "Equilibrium" was one of those sleeper films that no one saw, but we rather enjoyed in our household. In that film, Wimmer proved himself to have a talent for marrying a good story with awesome visuals. Then there was the fact that Milla Jojovich was again starring in a movie as a butt-kicking heroine, how could we go wrong? Granted Jojovich has the acting talent of a turnip, but she pulls off action sequences like a champ. In the world of "Ultraviolet" we learn that a good portion of the human race has been turned into vampires by a virus. This culminates with a war between vampires and humans, only the humans have a new weapon. That's where Jojovich comes in. She stars as Violet, a vampire whose job it becomes to track down the weapon and destroy it. Seems simple enough… right? But when she learns that the 'weapon' is a child, her 'human' instincts come to the surface and she instead sets out to protect him. Unfortunately, this makes her as much a target of her compatriots as it does the humans.

Again, seeming as though this would be a recipe for a good movie, somehow it falls short. The story is merely okay, and Jojovich becomes little more than the eye-candy she is supposed to be. And being that she is more exotic looking than beautiful, she really doesn't offer much in the eye-candy arena. In many ways, "Ultraviolet" becomes a latter day "Aeon Flux", which was anther movie that offered more style over substance. The movie is full of eye-popping special effects and out of this world action sequences, but beyond that you are left with little to think about.

Of course, it's hard to claim this is a bad thing. As we know the average movie-going audience doesn’t want a movie they have to think about. It causes their heads to hurt. So in this respect, "Ultraviolet" does exactly what it sets out to do, and serves its target audience. So in that respect, some may claim that it is a fairly good movie. However where I am disappointed, and I'm sure this would go for other more intelligent viewers, is that I really prefer a smarter plot to go with my special effects. I was also a little let down to see Wimmer directing a movie that is so obviously beneath his talent, or at least only taking advantage of half of it.

Sony / Columbia Tristar is releasing the DVD for "Ultrviolet" this month, and the studio focused on its strengths. Being that the movie is so heavy on the visuals, they made sure that the transfer was stellar. Both the picture and the sound are immaculate, so if all you're looking for is a pretty picture and big loud sound, you'll get it. They also included a bit of a making of featurette, which again plays more to the effect side of things and it was interesting to see how they pulled off some of the visuals. Added to this is a commentary by… get this… Milla Jojovich. Not Wimmer mind you… Jojovich. As you might expect she doesn't have much to say and after a few minutes proves what I always suspected… that after 5 minutes of conversation her company would be as boring as toast.

Being that as it may, there is an audience out there for films like "Ultraviolet", and you know who you are.

Directed by: Kurt Wimmer
Starring: Milla Jojovich, Cameron Bright, Nick Chinlund, William Fichtner
Extras: UV Protection: The Making-of Ultraviolet featurette, Feature Commentary by Milla Jovovich
Specifications: Widescreen (1.85:1), Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Sony / Columbia Tristar
Release Date: 6/27/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Ultraviolet a C.