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Stardate 03.03.2023.C: Happy Birthday - 2006's 'Ultraviolet' Remains A Cinematic Child With No Parents

3/3/2023

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Like any film freak, there was a time in my life wherein I'd see practically anything that looked like it fit the mold of an acceptable Science Fiction and/or Fantasy release ... and, sure, I had a stable of actors and actresses I followed whose films always tweaked my interest.  One of those ladies -- for a time -- was the talented Milla Jovovich.

Now, I couldn't say why her films intrigued me exactly.  Sure, she's attractive in that Maybelline movie face way -- I mean that as no disrespect -- so I can be visually wooed just as much as the next guy.  But I recall thinking that she had kinda/sorta inherited the mantle of 'Genre Queen' from so many other talented actresses in the past; and she was doing a respectable job trying to seek out and explore any and all scripts that put her in like-minded fare.  While I wasn't a fan of the film The Fifth Element (1997), I did love her work in the picture; and -- so far as I'm concerned -- she's really one of the chief reasons to see that flick even now, decades later.  (That, and some very, very, very good production values.  But -- ugh -- it's story is kinda hot garbage.)  And, yes, I think I've sat through all of the Resident Evil franchise; even though I likely couldn't distinguish one or the other of those stories in a police line-up if my life depended on it, I still went back to appreciate what Milla was doing in them.

What can I say?  Some faces -- and forces -- deserve some appreciation, and she's always been dynamic and watchable in my book.

​That said, I've only seen her Ultraviolet (2006) once, and that was during its theatrical run.  I vaguely recall walking out of the theater and turning to my lovely wife to ask, "What the Hell did I just watch?"  It seemed more than a bit contrived, void of any real central intriguing narrative, and a bit of a mess, so far as characters go.  (I've since learned to not be so hard on B-Movies, but back then I remember expecting a bit more from flicks.)  So this one-timer was something that came and went, easily and quickly forgotten mostly because it just didn't resonate in any manageable way.  This can happen, and methinks Ultraviolet deserved a better fate.

From what I've since come to understand, both its top star and writer/director Kurt Wimmer have pretty much disowned the property.  As best as I can explain it, the storyteller delivered a two-hour hard R final cut to Sony, an incarnation of the tale that apparently confused the suits.  They were smitten -- quite obviously -- with the female action star premise and thus expected a bit more frenetic action, something the studio had hoped to release to fans hungry for much of the same.  As executives will do from time-to-time, they locked both Milla and Wimmer out of the project, trimmed it down to something like 90-minutes, and shoved that into theaters ... even without all special effects sequences being fully completed!

As you can imagine, the film mostly crashed and burned at the box office.  I have read that it actually made very good money with a subsequent home video release -- I think I've also noticed that some of the cut footage was re-installed -- but as I've never seen it since I can't speak to whether or not the surviving incarnation is any better than the confusing lot I witnessed with my own two eyes.

Here's the plot summary as provided by IMDB.com:

"A beautiful hæmophage infected with a virus that gives her superhuman powers has to protect a boy in a futuristic world, who is thought to be carrying antigens that would destroy all hæmophages."

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Now, wouldn't it be grand if there were some way to find all of that unseen footage, bring Wimmer back into the fold, and -- years later -- give his original tale a proper airing?  That's exactly the kind of thing that I find so grand about a few home video distributors like Kino Lorber, Arrow Films, and others: these outlets are actually investing some time and money into helping mythmakers go about resolving some issues that tanked a project here and there, giving light to slightly different versions of earlier releases and thereby granting them new life.  Maybe -- someday -- the same could happen for Ultraviolet ... as it would be exciting to see a story that made a bit more sense.

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

​-- EZ
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