Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Patrick Tatopoulos

Writers (WGA):

Danny McBride (screenplay) and
Dirk Blackman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Plot:

An origins story centered on the centuries-old feud between the race of aristocratic vampires and their onetime slaves, the Lycans.

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Slave | Prequel | Collar | Pregnant

Cast

Michael Sheen	...	Lucian
Bill Nighy	...	Viktor
Rhona Mitra	...	Sonja
Steven Mackintosh	...	Tannis
Kevin Grevioux	...	Raze
David Aston	...	Coloman
Geraldine Brophy	...	Nobleman's Wife
Leighton Cardno	...	Fearful Lycan
Alex Carroll	...	Young Lucian (as Alexander Carroll)
Elizabeth Hawthorne	...	Orsova
Jared Turner	...	Xristo
Jason Hood	...	Death Dealer
Mark Mitchinson	...	Nobleman
Tania Nolan	...	Luka
Craig Parker	...	Sabas

Also Known As:

Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans (USA) (working title)
Untitled Underworld Prequel (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for bloody violence and some sexuality.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA | New Zealand

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44577) | Germany:16 | Australia:MA | UK:18 | Ireland:16 | Japan:R-15 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Singapore:M18 | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:13 | Portugal:M/16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Brazil:16 | Mexico:B15 | South Korea:18 | Finland:K-15 | Denmark:11 | Austria:14 | Netherlands:16 | France:U (with warning) | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

Auckland, New Zealand

Company:

Sketch Films

Trivia:

Viktor (Bill Nighy), Lucian (Michael Sheen), and Selene (Kate Beckinsale) are the only characters/actors to appear in all three movies of the Underworld series. Each character has one movie in which they only appear in a flashback: Viktor and Lucian in Underworld: Evolution and Selene in Underworld: Rise of he Lycans.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Sonja's eye color keeps changing back and forth between brown (the actor's natural eye color) and whitish-blue (contact lenses). The vampires' eye-colors change throughout the movies in the first two films as well. They are often brown (natural eye-colors of the actors/actresses), but change to blue when the intensity of a situation increases. For example, Selene's eyes change from brown to blue during her fight/searching sequences in both movies, as well as her sex-scene in the second film. Kraven's eyes exhibit the same behavior in the first two films.

Quotes:

Lucian: Were you not afraid of them?
Raze: Yes, but I wanted to live.
Lucian: Are you afraid of me?
Raze: Yes.
Lucian: Well do not be. I will not bite... much.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: (#8.19)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Steal My Romance

All in all? This ROCKS!

What I wanted...I wanted an epically filmed visceral movie wherein thousands of Lycans are pitted against thousands of Vampires in full armor on horseback. Wow! What a great movie THAT would have been.

What I got...was somehow...better. I honestly can't say that I'm disappointed, although I just KNEW I would be if they left off that bit. What they give us is story-driven rather than effects or action-driven. I know that sounds ridiculous when talking about a movie in which action and effects are completely necessary in order to properly tell the story, but in all too many cases, they end up overshadowing the story and eliminating any sense of storytelling. I am happy to say that such is not the case with Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

I won't spoil the movie as so many have. I will say that the obvious parallels between Sonja and Selene's characters are endearing, and Sonja's love of Lucien is breathtaking. The overall feel of the movie is as dark and Gothic as the original work, beautifully echoing the brilliance of that film which caught us so by surprise in September of 2003.

This still leaves a few small questions, and I would have loved to see Kraven make the deal with Lucien and cut Viktor's mark off of him, but you can't have everything, and all in all, this will run back to front with the original. All that's left now, is an extension of the Story of Underworld: Evolution; one that either gives the viewers a satisfactory ending, or perpetuates the species...of Underworld films, that is.

All in all? This ROCKS!

It rates an 8.4/10 from...

the Fiend :.