Underworld's Kate Beckinsale isn't the only actress making a box office success out of imitating The Matrix. Now Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element) has a frenetic, futuristic action-adventure full of familiar digital tricks and ludicrous science fiction twists. Ultraviolet looks like this month's flash-in-the-pan for sci-fi fans.
Christian film critics are shaking their heads over the film's excess and emptiness.
Tom Neven (Plugged In) calls it "ultrasilly and ultraderivative … ultraviolent, [and] ultraavoidable."
David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) says, "Though slickly executed with admitted comic-book visual flair, the high-octane chase sequences and Matrix-style martial-arts set pieces are as tedious as they are over-the-top. It's one long, violent video game, which though light on actual gore, is far too intense for its PG-13 rating."
More than one critic notes that the filmmakers seem obsessed with telling audiences that Christianity is the ultimate evil in the world, and the shape of the cross is employed like a swastika throughout.
Michael Karounos (Christian Spotlight) writes, "Ultraviolet is the worst movie I have ever seen. One of my students, whose eclectic tastes include films by political hatchet men Quentin Tarantino and Lars Von Trier, also said it was the worst movie that he had ever seen. To complete the inter-generational critique, an anonymous 15-year-old posted a comment on the IMDb website swearing that it's the worst movie that he had ever seen, too."
Mainstream critics agree, giving it some of the year's worst reviews.