Uber Ultraviolet

So tonight I saw the movie Ultraviolet. I was not expecting much. It looked like an AeonFlux knockoff. (Basically, an all action movie set in the future with funky camera angles and no character development.) I didn't even see AeonFlux. But after my friends and I were done eating at Cafe Pierpont that was all that was playing at a decent hour. So I went in expecting very little.

What I got was incredible. There is so much to talk about with this movie. First of all, I take it this movie is based on a comic book. And I can tell you, every frame in this movie could be made into a very well done comic frame. Or... it could be framed and put on your wall. It is a very stylistic film. The colors are vibrant and the action is fluid and intense. A lot of people die in this movie but it is all done very artistically. You see the movement of the sword but you don't see any gore. Very well done. It was like a combination of the good visual elements of The Matrix, Hero, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Very well done.

The not so good parts of the movie: There is very little dialog. What dialog there is, you could very well put in a talk bubble just like in a comic. That isn't a good thing. Because there is not an emphasis on the dialog, we don't get to know the characters very well and we don't form a bond with them. If that had been so, this movie would do very well in the box office.

Now when this movie comes out on DVD I will certainly be buying it. It will add an artistic blending of sci-fi, action and martial arts to my film collection. Sadly, I know this movie will not do well in the box office because it is so stylistic. Many people will scoff at some of the effects or the dialog. Not everyone will see the art in this film. And that's really what it is... very well done art.