The Big Lebowski and American Gangster

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I have decided to analyze the film Underworld: Awakening in terms of the three act structure and then compare it to two other films that we watched in class, namely: The Big Lebowski and American Gangster. This movie was the fourth in the Underworld sequel and was released on January 20th, 2012. It was among the first films to garner more $ 100 million in revenues during that year. It was also the most watched of the four films in the Underworld sequel. It fits well in the horror films genre, but may as well fit as an action and science fiction movie as well.
The film begins with a voice over narration by the main character, Selene. She recounts the events that have occurred in two of the three earlier films in the sequel. The setting at the beginning of the film is in the year 2015. The vampires and Lycans have been discovered to exist among the humans, and the humans are out to exterminate them (Underworld: Awakening, 2012). Selene talks about how so many of the people have been killed by humans using weapons that are fatal to the two supernatural creatures. The weapon against the vampires is ultraviolet light, while the Lycans are annihilated by silver.
Despite being a vampire, Selene is immune to UV light as a result of the gift of immortality received from Corvinus, the father of the immortal creatures. Michael, her lover, is also immune being a hybrid of the two creatures. Selene and Michael are about to escape from the humans that are hunting them only to be captured and getting cryogenically frozen. She remains in that state for twelve years in a laboratory facility named Antigen. The purpose of her retention there is to apparently create an antidote to counter vampires and Lycans viruses. She is freed by ‘subj...

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...gangster takes about double the screen time taken by Awakening. The heroine in Awakening carries the day, but fails to get her lover. This would be comparable to Lucas’ fall from grace and the desperate attempt to have his prison term reduced from 70 year to 15 (American Gangster, 2007). The most appealing aspect of Awakening is the special effects which appear so real and are very entertaining. The ability to intertwine a good story about a mother in search of her daughter and the dramatic fight scenes is simply extraordinary.

Works Cited

American Gangster. (2007). [film] Hollywood: Imagine Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, and Relativity Media.
The Big Lebowski. (1998). [film] Hollywood: Working Title Films, Bitter Creek Productions Inc., Polygram Filmed Entertainment.
Underworld: Awakening. (2012). [film] Hollywood: Lakeshore Entertainment, Sketch Films.

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