Film

Ultraviolet

Name: Ultraviolet
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Thriller
Released: 2006
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Cameron Bright, Nick Chinlund, Sebastien Andrieu, Ida Martin

Other titles called Ultraviolet: the 1998 series (Channel 4).

Ultraviolet is a visual fever dream of a sci-fi action film, all neon geometry and impossible physics. Milla Jovovich plays a superhuman woman in a dystopia collapsing into civil war, protecting a child marked for extinction. It's aggressively stylish, narratively slight, and exists almost entirely in the register of pure spectacle—exhilarating if you surrender to it.

TMDb rating

2.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a stylised, comic-book sci-fi action film where the choreography and neon-soaked production design matter more than a tight plot, and you don't mind being carried by sheer momentum.

Skip it if you need a coherent, grounded story; the plot moves in jerky leaps, the dialogue is often stiff, and the visual gloss can feel like it's covering for thin substance.

What it asks of you: At under ninety minutes it moves briskly and rarely pauses, so it asks you to keep up with its visual energy rather than settle into character or slow-burn mood.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Æon Flux2005

Another sleek, aesthetically ambitious action film built on a paper-thin plot. Charlize Theron moves like liquid mercury through a visually inventive dystopia. If you love style over substance, this is kindred spirit work.

But The story barely holds up and the dialogue is functional at best. It feels like watching a three-minute music video stretched to feature length.

Blade1998

Wesley Snipes hunts vampires in a stylized urban action landscape. It has genuine stakes and character, but shares Ultraviolet's love of slick choreography, latex, and the aesthetics of cool over plausibility.

But It's a product of late-'90s action cinema, which means some elements haven't aged gracefully. Much slower paced than Ultraviolet's kinetic assault.

Resident Evil2002

Also stars Milla Jovovich and also prioritizes visual spectacle and physical performance over narrative coherence. It has the same B-movie earnestness and commitment to rule-of-cool action sequences.

But If you've already exhausted the Resident Evil series, returning to its origins might feel repetitive. The plot is even thinner than Ultraviolet.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Ultraviolet

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Paprika2006

Both films treat coherent narrative as optional and visual invention as mandatory. Both overwhelm you. Ultraviolet does it for adrenaline; Paprika does it for the subconscious. Seeing them back-to-back shows you two approaches to the same aesthetic rebellion.

Released the same year as Ultraviolet, Satoshi Kon's animated fever dream shares its visual maximalism and narrative indifference to coherence. But here the color and geometry and impossible physics are in service of something genuinely dreamlike and unsettling.

But It's animated and Japanese—a different language entirely. The plot spirals deliberately into abstraction rather than holding any line.

Equilibrium2002

Christian Bale in a dystopia where emotions are outlawed and combat is balletic. It's visually striking sci-fi action that doesn't ask much of you narratively but delivers in pure cinematic invention and gunplay.

But The philosophical setup is half-baked and the dialogue clunks. It trades intelligence for spectacle, much like Ultraviolet.

The Fifth Element1997

Luc Besson sci-fi action with Bruce Willis, operating in the same heightened, maximalist register. Garish, operatic, and visually dense in ways that influenced films like Ultraviolet directly.

But It's nearly two and a half hours of this sensibility. The excess can overwhelm if you're not in the exact mood for it.

TRON: Legacy2010

A digital world visualized through geometric abstraction and neon. Jeff Bridges and Garrett Hedlund move through impossible spaces with pulsing electronic music. Ultraviolet's spiritual cousin in pure style.

But The human story is perfunctory and the pacing drags in the middle. You're watching it for the world and the movement, not character arcs.

Resident Evil: Extinction2007

Milla Jovovich again, pushing the aesthetic and action even further into stylization. Wasteland desert, impossible vehicles, increasingly detached from reality. Like Ultraviolet's slightly messier sequel.

But It's bloated and the plot contradicts earlier films in the series. Even by franchise standards it's a slog in places.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 The Movie: -A Wakening of the Trailblazer-2010

Mecha action film with compositional audacity and visual precision that rivals Ultraviolet's geometric obsessions. It moves at breakneck pace and assumes you'll keep up visually.

But It's a Gundam sequel; knowing the series helps enormously. The emotional payoffs are for longtime fans, not newcomers.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 The Movie: -A Wakening of the Trailblazer- poster

Annihilation2018

Both pit a woman alone against an world that wants to destroy what she's guarding. But where Ultraviolet accelerates into pure action, Annihilation decelerates into dread. Watching them shows you how plot tension can be generated two opposite ways.

Science fiction action where a woman moves through an incomprehensible alien landscape trying to protect something precious. Like Ultraviolet, but with genuine mystery and unease beneath the spectacle. Portman does more with less.

But It's deliberately ambiguous and offers no easy answers. The pacing is glacial compared to Ultraviolet's manic energy. Some find it pretentious.

Perfect Blue1998

Both use visual style and editing to make you feel dislocated and uncertain about reality. Ultraviolet does this accidentally; Perfect Blue does it as the entire point. It's Ultraviolet's aesthetic philosophy with actual emotional intent behind it.

Satoshi Kon's live-action-mimicking psychological thriller about identity fracturing. Hypnotic, formally inventive, visually disorienting. Like Ultraviolet, it makes your eyes work constantly—but for unease instead of spectacle.

But It's a slow psychological unraveler. If you want action and propulsion, this is the opposite direction. It can feel pretentious on first viewing.