Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Starring Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Steven Mackintosh

Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos

The Story:
Taking place a millennia before the previous two installments, "Rise of the Lycans" is the origin story as to how Selene was born, and how the battle between the aristocratic vampires and beastly lycans began.  Lucian (Michael Sheen) was the first half man, half werewolf born, but he wasn't killed by the vampire leader Viktor (Bill Nighy), but rather raised as his son - with a chain around his neck so he could never turn into a werewolf.

Lucian falls in love with Viktor's daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra), and the two begin a torrid affair that they know would end in their deaths if they were ever caught.  After being caught, Lucian begins to unite the werewolf and lycan worlds against the vampires and rescue Sonja from her father.

The Synopsis:
The "Underworld" series hasn't been one of the best in modern movie history, but it did grace us with the presence of the amazing Kate Beckinsale, who was launched to super stardom after the first movie.  With the sequel, she once again proved her action dominance and produced a film that's still passable for the series.  However, with "Rise of the Lycans," the franchise started to take a nosedive that continued with the subsequent sequels that followed it.

"Lycans" is nothing more than Romeo and Juliet set in the world of vampires and werewolves.  Instead of the warring aristocratic Capulets and downtrodden Montagues, here it's vampires - which are weaker than other classic vampires, and werewolves/lycans - which are stronger than the vampires, but kept under subjugation so as to not exert their dominance. 

It's through this background that lycan Lucian and vampire Sonja fall in love.  It would be a sweet, romantic story if we cared at all about the two characters, but they're so poorly written we could care less about their romance, only in the fact that it led to the birth of Selene.  Other than that, their love story is as cold as ice, and their chemistry is laughably invisible. 

Michael Sheen tries to be the Romeo of the movie by giving passioned speeches and impoverished cries, but falls flat every time.  Rhona Mitra does well as a typical vampire, since they're supposed to be unemotional, and shows her unemotional nature when she's with Lucian, as it looks like neither she - nor us - really care about it.  The ever wonderful Bill Nighy tries his best to look domineering and threatening, but he plays his part a bit above the traditional villain in a Romeo and Juliet style film.

There's not a whole lot to say about the film.  It's only 90 minutes, feels like two hours, with about ten minutes of actual film going on.  The action saves the film, but it's very few and far between.  As far as the effects, it slightly passes above a Syfy Original, and seems like the film was made in 1999, not 2009.  It doesn't hold up well at all in the test of time.  Finally the production values look like something from a high school production, with the setting having a very claustrophobic feel and the drained colors make it difficult to see events happening.

The Summary:
"Rise of the Lycans" serves as one of those prequel movies no one asked for, and no one cares enough to see.  It's a lesser Romeo and Juliet story with two characters we don't care the least about.

The Score: D+