Director: Patrick Tatopoulos
Writer: Danny McBride, Dirk Blackman, Howard McCain (Screenplay) Len Wiseman, Robert Orr, Danny McBride (Story)
Starring: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Steven Mackintosh, Kevin Grevioux, David Aston
Plot: An origins story centered on the centuries-old feud between the race of aristocratic vampires and their onetime slaves, the Lycans.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Poor Cash Grab
Story: Underworld: Rise of the Lycans starts by going full prequel on us where we see Viktor (Nighy) has bred Lucian (Sheen) to be the first lycan and to guard the vampires during the daylight hours. With an ever increasing threat the vampires need to find a new way to protect themselves with the idea being Lucian the loyal lycan lead the defence from outside the walls, but his secret relationship with Sonja (Mitra) the daughter of Viktor which drives Lucian to be free.
When Lucian defines his orders, it becomes clear that he has a power over all the wild lycans as well as having the respect from the other slave lycans. With Lucian leading the lycans the war between the vampires and lycans is set to begin.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans brings the story back to the origin behind the original film with Viktor against Lucian, the problem is we learn most of the reasons within the first film and this ends up feeling like an over long flashback sequence that we didn’t need to really see. The film also feels a lot slower than the previous outing with a lot more sneaking rather than fighting.
Sheen and Nighy are brilliant actors but in this one they both look like they enjoyed the pay check to be involved while Mitra just isn’t on the same level as Beckinsale who is sadly missing this time around. I personally feel this film missed a huge chance to make itself unique to the other but in the end just feels like a rinse repeat of the first twos plot, a high-ranking vampire ruins the order of things taking away the peace that was once created. You also don’t see the threat in Lucian or Viktor because we know they are in a later instalment of the timeline.
Overall: This really is a disappointing addition to the franchise which takes away all the fun the first two had leaving us with a story we know the outcome of.
Rating
