“Underworld” takes some pretty obvious inspiration from the other vampire films of the era, riffing on both the leather trenchcoats and cool-toned color-correction of “Blade,” immediately making its genre leanings clear. Despite having some well-choreographed fight scenes and some big action moments, however, “Underworld” is at its core a love story that’s comparable to romantic comedies or coming-of-age stories in its simplicity. Girl meets boy. Boy and girl fall for one another. The girl’s father (in this case, Selene’s maker Viktor) doesn’t like the boy, and forbids her from seeing him. Sure, the boy is turning into a werewolf and descended from the father of all supernatural creatures and the girl is a werewolf-hunting vampire, but at their core, they’re still just two people bound by a forbidden love who decide to pursue it against all odds.

The film kicked off an entire franchise, following the war between the vampires and the werewolves (called Lycans because of their lycanthropy). The rest of the franchise is somewhat of a mixed bag, though Beckinsale stars in almost all of them and is continually excellent at being beautiful, badass, and carrying the franchise on her shoulders. (The one film she doesn’t star in, “Rise of the Lycans,” is a prequel starring Beckinsale look-alike and fellow action and genre great Rhona Mitra, and it’s better than you might expect.)