The third film in the Underworld Saga Underworld: Rise of the Lycans goes back hundreds of years to explore the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. Rise of the Lycans finally gets to the root of why the vampires and werewolves really can’t stand each other.
Viktor (Bill Nighy) the aristocratic vampire is the ruler. When a Lycan woman has a human baby boy, Viktor resists the urge to kill him. Instead Viktor names him Lucian (played by Michael Sheen) and keeps him as his pet. When Lucian grows up he begins a forbidden romance with Viktors daughter Sonia (Rhona Mitra). When Viktor discovers the truth, he takes drastic steps to ensure that Sonia will never be able to see Lucian again. Lucian retaliates with the Lycan slaves by attacking full force on Viktors kingdom.
Micheal Sheen gives a blazing solid performance as the enslaved hero of Rise of the Lycans. Lucian, you’ll recall from Undeworld the ancient leader of the Lycans. Rise of the Lycans is his origins story.
Without Len Wiseman or Kate Beckinsale attached, I was expecting a straight-to-DVD type knockoff. And, indeed, Rise of the Lycans, from director Patrick Tatopoulos (he did the special effects for the first two flicks) is considerably less stylized that Wiseman’s entries, but that actually works to its advantage. It’s not a particularly memorable film, but for fans of the first two installments of the Underworld trilogy, Rise of the Lycans embodies the same guilty pleasure.
I still enjoyed the first two installments a little more then Rise of the Lycans. Not because it wasn’t entertaining, probably only because I’m a Kate Beckinsale fan and she is not in the third film. Which makes sence, because it goes way back to before the first film.
No comments:
Post a Comment