Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – Review

In my honest opinion, I wasn’t too thrilled to watch Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. I thought, “Really? A prequel? And no Selene!” I felt like a prequel wasn’t very necessary and the gunplay and technology of the first two are part of what makes the movies so cool. But, I had to watch this one, and I have to say, I’m really surprised.

It’s the Dark Ages and vampire elder Viktor (Bill Nighy) has the new race of lycans enslaved. Lucien (Michael Sheen), the first lycan, is in a secret romantic relationship with Viktor’s daughter, Sonja (Rhona Mitra), which serves as the catalyst for Lucien to rise up against the vampires and rally the other lycans to make their stand for freedom. This is the beginning of the war between the vampires and the lycans that has raged on for hundreds of years.

My favorite part of this film was being able to see, in full, what has been talked about or briefly shown in flashback over the course of the first two films. As I’ve said before, the Underworld films have a great mythology that was created, and now being able to see some of the mythology explained is a real treat. For example, it’s cool to see the origins of the lycans and how that changed the world of the vampires and werewolves.

Unlike the other films, I have absolutely no qualms about the acting. Bill Nighy kills it once again. He is cold, meticulous, and brutal which make him an excellent villain. He was only in the first one at the end and in the sequel in the beginning, but here he gets a full length movie to be evil. It was good to see Michael Sheen again. His performance is really powerful and heartfelt. I could tell that he was really into his role and not just there for a paycheck. Rhona Mitra was the weakest link here, but not bad by any means. She gave a solid performance without ever going beyond what was asked.

The look of this movie is stunning. Filming was done in New Zealand, but make no mistake, this film looks nothing like Lord of the Rings. There’s no green to be found here, rather what looks like a winter from hell. The castle of the vampires radiates gothic from every corner, chandelier, and bedroom. It looks absolutely fantastic, but that’s what I’ve come to expect from the Underworld movies.

Something that was a little disappointing was that some things didn’t happen exactly like what was explained or slightly revealed. I feel like I’m either nitpicking or completely wrong, but one scene in particular was different than a flashback that was shown in the first film. The basic event of this scene was correct, but the location and timing were wrong. The span of time that this whole event took place was longer than it was in the first and the blocking of characters was different. This is a very small complaint, but it really bugged me for some reason.

I will still say that, so far, the second film is my favorite, but Rise of the Lycans is a close second. It had great atmosphere, character development, revelations, and a surprising amount of emotion. As I said with the second film, this isn’t going to change any minds for the people who didn’t like the first two films. For those who are fans of the first two, this movie is just for you.

Side Note: I really don’t understand why these films aren’t more popular. I’d love to sit down and have a conversation about these films, but it seems like no one is really willing to. Where are all of you?

Underworld – Review

I remember long ago going to a fantastic store called PrePlayed almost every Saturday to pick up a cheap movie. One of these movies that I got was Underworld. I remember being a kid and wanting to show this movie to everyone because I though it was just the absolute coolest movie. I haven’t watched it, until yesterday, for about four years, maybe even longer. I was worried that it wouldn’t be as good now that it was then.

There is a war raging between the Vampires and the Lycans (werewolves) for centuries. Selene (Kate Beckinsale) is a Vampire death dealer whose main task is to find and kill surviving Lycans, who are now almost extinct to the Vampires’ knowledge. The Lycans are actually thriving and Lucian (Michael Sheen), their leader has a plan to create a Lycan/Vampire hybrid using the human Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman). Against orders from Kraven (Shane Brolly), the acting head of the Vampires, Selene rescues Michael and brings him back to their mansion and awakens Viktor (Bill Nighy), a Vampire elder. This only ignites further the violence between the two species, and consequent betrayal for both Vampires and Lycans.

Richard Roeper called this film a “Shakespearean werewolf/vampire movie.” That is a very accurate description of Underworld because of it’s language, attention to aesthetic details, and the conflict and violence that erupt between the two clans and even amongst members of the same clan. The movie has unfortunately lost a bit of its luster since the days of my youth, but it’s still a cool action/horror film that is guaranteed to entertain.

The look of Underworld is absolutely phenomenal with its gothic architecture, costume and creature design, and use of underexposed color. Everything in the film seems to be a in the color range of black, white, or a shade of light blue. Along with the color comes an a city that would make the citizens of Gotham comfortable. As a viewer, the city was almost the strange part, whereas, I felt more comfortable in the Vampire mansion or underground with the Lycans. The costumes look equally gothic with the Vampires dressed elegantly and the Lycans in old ragged clothes. Finally, the creatures. Vampires look appropriately deathly, but the real standouts are the Lycans. The only CGI used was for their transformation, everything else was a costume and animatronic mask. This limited use of CGI gives the film a bit more magic because they had to physically create these werewolves instead of just designing them on a computer.

Unfortunately, the acting is where the movie shines the least. Kate Beckinsale, Michael Sheen, and Bill Nighy all perform well, but a certain Shane Brolly gives a cringeworthy performance. Everything he did either felt flat or way too overacted. He had an interesting and developed character, but he was awfully played. Scott Speedman falls into a kind of weird category in the middle. Most of his acting was ok, but there were a few times where he lost his footing and fell into the cheese.

I was more into the lore of the film than I was the action that took place. The backstories and histories of all of the characters and how the war began is incredibly interesting and above average for this genre. The action is still pretty cool. In the opening scene, there is a subway firefight that I could rank in my favorite intros of all time.This action is greatly aided by the sound design which does an incredible job at making the gun fire explode and even go so far as to accentuate running foot steps to heighten the mood.

Underworld is a strange breed a movie. It has great lore, mood, and action to make it cool. But the acting and development of some characters is sort of weak. A lot may disagree, but I still recommend this movie because, hell, I have a great time watching it. So if all the intellectuals can forget for two hours that a movie can purely just entertain you, then I guarantee that Underworld will deliver.