Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

The film tells the story of the origins of  Lucian, who was the first werewolf able to take human form - to be  called Lycans [derived from the word lycanthrope]. Viktor the ruthless  king of the vampires took him home after killing his werewolf mother in a  raid. Viktor decides to create a race of werewolves who would be more  sedate than the original breed, a viciously volatile kind that couldn't  revert back to human form. Viktor envisions a race of slaves for his vampire clan that, conceivably, could  keep guard during the daytime hours and toil for the vampires. As Lucian  grows up at Viktor's home, his young daughter, Sonja, develops an  attraction to the young Lycan, and Lucian becomes fond of Sonja as well.

It  is revealed that Viktor has a tacit relationship with the human  population of the area, whereupon he agreed to protect them from the  wild werewolves that roam the countryside in exchange for a tithe. As a  collection human nobles come to meet with the vampire council for  protection from the werewolves in exchange for this aforementioned  tithe, Sonja goes out to guard them. Lucian hears the Lycans near Sonja  and steals a horse and sword from a nearby Death Dealer. Wild werewolves proceed to attack and  kill the nobles, causing Lucian to engage in a battle with them. When  Lucian takes off his collar and changes into a Lycan in order to protect  himself, the wild werewolves back down to his howl and leave before  Lucian is shot down by Viktor's men. Viktor, despite grudgingly  acknowledging that Lucian saved his daughter, notes that Lucian still  transgressed the laws of the coven by taking off the collar that kept  him in check (by preventing him from changing into a Lycan) and feels  betrayed by what he thinks of as his favorite pet. Subsequently, he  locks Lucian away after having him whipped him thirty times with a three  pronged chain-bladed whip.

Lucian escapes, kills several of the  Vampires and begins to liberate the other Lycans from what he perceives  as their unfair imprisonment. The guards are alerted and start to  slaughter the Lycans. When Viktor discovers that Sonja has an illegal  relationship with Lucian, he imprisons his daughter. Lucian learns about  Sonja's imprisonment and sets out to rescue her. On their way out they  are attacked by the Death Dealers. Viktor is also involved in the chase  and when it comes to the fight, it is Sonja who confronts Viktor. When  Sonja discloses to him that she is pregnant with Lucian's child, Viktor  overpowers her with a knife to the throat and imprisons both her and  Lucian with renewed hatred. Sonja is sentenced to death for her crime  against the coven at a trial presided over by her father and the  Council. After Sonja's death, which Lucian is forced to bare witness to,  Lucian attempts a further escape. Failing, he is able to verbally  summon both the wild werewolves and the freed Lycans, who attack the  coven and overwhelm it after a fierce battle.

Finally Lucian  faces Viktor in a fight and they battle their way to the dungeons. The  fight continues back and forth until Lucian knocks Viktor down a well.  Lucian tears at chains hanging from above, making a hole in the roof and  allowing sunlight in and cornering an enraged Viktor in the darkness.  Viktor's 'final' words attest to his regret at not having killed Lucian  the moment he was born, to which Lucian sarcastically agrees before  forcing his sword through Viktor's mouth and head and letting the body  fall into the water below. Lucian declares this victory as only the  beginning of what will surely be a war between the races, one bred for  slavery and the other born into privilege. In one of the closing scenes  we see Tanis leading a very alive Viktor, who survived due to his status  as an Elder, into a hibernation chamber on a boat.

The film ends  with the opening scene of the first Underworld, with the audio from the  scene where Kraven tells Selene that it was Viktor who murdered her  family, rather than the Lycans. That Viktor spared her because she  reminded him of Sonja, the daughter he condemned to death. The last word  is played over the shot of her eyes: "Lies."

Movie Review: Underworld Rise of the Lycans

Underworld:  Rise of the Lycans succeeds in all the areas is needed to in order to  deliver a fun time at the movies while failing to deliver what it  required to make it really special. I’m disturb out a bit of Viktor,  some bad visual effects and lack of real style are overcome just enough  by the pure amount of Vampires fighting Vampires, the effectiveness of  the continuity with the first Underworld film and the decent  performances by Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy and Rhona Mitra to end up  being the best of the franchise so far and worth a trip to the movie  theater.

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Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Basic Premise:

If you've seen Underworld and Underworld: Evolution (I have many, many times) then you know the premise of this story. It's just as the title says -- the rise of the lycans. This prequel is Lucien's origin story, it's the origin story of the vampire-lycan war, and it's the story of the love between a vampire and a lycan and the chaos that ensues because of that love.


Review:

I'd just like to start this review with one word -- WOW!

If this movie had come out at the same time as Twilight, thenTwilight would have had its butt kicked.

Every time the producers and directors come back to this storyline, they do a better job. This third installment, even though it is a prequel, is magnificent. They did a beautiful job. Before I gush too much, I'd like to note that the special effects were minimal. Plot and acting carried this movie, not flashy gimmicks.

That's not to say there weren't fight scenes. You got to see some awesome sword fighting and hand-to-hand. There was shifting and shifter battles and vampire rough-housing -- all the things you expect from an Underworld installment, but the plot was the main focus. That plot was the plight of the lycans under vampire rule.

As I said above, if you saw Underworld then you know the entire movie (because they glossed over it in a short flashback). Well... sort of. There were slight deviations. Sonya's hair wasn't blonde, for instance. But, those deviations were for the best. I have no complaints... actually, I still think the vampires were kind of weak for vampires. The lycans got badass in this movie, so I forgive the less-than-spectacular vampires.

Without giving anything away, I have to say my favorite part of the movie was the charge. How's that for a teaser? :P

This movie could have easily been a summer blockbuster and, while I'm happy they didn't because that would have meant waiting, I'm not sure why they didn't hold off like the Harry Potter folks.

There is violence and it is graphic. I would caution parents, but if your kid saw the first two installments, then this one shouldn't be an issue. For the vampire and lycan fans, for the Underworld fans -- YOU MUST SEE THIS MOVIE!

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Recommendations: Star Trek (2009), Avatar, 300

D. Renee Bagby<br />
Building New Realms of Passion<br />
http://dreneebagby.com

Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans

Aristotle felt stories were best that kept a tight rein on the dramatic unities of place, time and action.

In other words, make your story about a single dominant event. Make it happen more or less in a single place. Make it happen in as short a timeframe as possible.

I can't believe I'm putting these things in the same sentence, but Underworld 3 sticks close to Aristotle's instructions.

Where the first two movies were sprawling affairs with dozens of locations, hundreds of characters and thousands of years of backstory, Underworld 3 keeps it tight. It's about a bad-ass vampire princess who falls in love with her father's loyal werewolf slave. Everything that follows relates directly to this event. Everything takes place in a single forest -- mostly, in a single vampire castle. And it takes place over the course of one or two weeks, tops. (The movie takes advantage of a technique way underused in movies: having the two lovers already deeply involved in a relationship -- in this case, a secretive one -- by the time the story begins.)

The result is what the first two Underworlds should have been. A forgettable but fun action romp in the world of vampires and werewolves.

At times the action sequences veer into kinetic chaos -- which I hate -- but mostly the action is well-staged and easy to follow.

Also there's an extended vampire/werewolf sex scene. Don't pretend that doesn't interest you.

UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS (2009)

BOTTOM LINE: Decent entertainment, and a step up from the unimpressive previous entry “Underworld: Evolution”, this film delivers its genre points well but its prequel nature makes the film feel more like a light background prologue rather than a solid chapter in the franchise.

THE GOOD: “Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans” tells the origin story of the conflict between vampires and werewolves, eluded to in the previous entries in the series. As a genre film it works well, delivering all the stops including much vampire and werewolf carnage, particularly in some well staged action sequences which pits Victor (Bill Nighy), the leader of the vampires, against Lucian (Michael Sheen), the first intelligent werewolf who breaks free of Victor’s captivity in search of a more meaningful and free existence out from under the tyrannical arrogance of the vampires. As befits a story like this, the precursor to the battle is the forbidden love affair between Lucian and Victor’s daughter Sonia (Rhona Mitra). After Lucian breaks free, Victor discovers the truth and barricades his daughter in her room, forbidding her to leave. When Lucian comes to rescue her, they are both caught and sentenced to death, with Sonia paying the ultimate price: death by sunlight – would you have expected anything else from a vampire flick? Lucian, enraged, escapes again, taking on Victor and his henchman and eventually succeeds, but not before Victor escapes. This film is nothing more than what it sets out to be: a good genre flick that delivers lots of monsters and cool looking vampires with steely blue eyes that do nasty things. On this level, there is much to appreciate, particularly in the menacing performance of Bill Nighy as Victor and the spirited performance of Michael Sheen as Lucian.

THE BAD: The “Underworld” films have never been particularly large-scale, but even so, there is a very underwhelming feeling to this entry, giving the impression of a light-weight prologue or flashback as opposed to a solid chapter in the series. This is no more reinforced by the final scene which is the first scene from the first film. Hence, the film does not have the same strength as the previous two films, even though it manages to improve on many aspects over its immediate predecessor. One other unfortunate aspect to the film is the use in certain shots of computer generated werewolves. Even in the dark where lack of detail is more forgiving, they do not look all that real; the prosthetic ones do but they do not, leaving a feeling of unbelievability in some shots in the action sequences.

RATING: 7/10

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Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

I’m a fan of the Underworld franchise, but admittedly, I wasn’t really looking forward to this. The idea id telling the story of the Lycans was a good idea, but I just felt that the series should have stopped with the conclusion of the second film. Despite my reluctance, I went to see this film and was pleased with what I saw.
Bill Nighy reprises his role as the vampire elder Viktor, who we learned was quite cruel and vicious in the original film. In this installment, we get more of a feel about who he is. I have to admit, he creeped me out more times than not, but it may have just been those blue contacts and his not blinking that did it more than anything.
When I saw the previews and would see Rhona Mitra, I thought she was just someone attempting to fill in for Kate Beckinsale, but after I found out that Selene wasn’t in this film, it  just made it easier to accept her. I’m sure it is no coincidence that she does bear a resemblance to Kate, though. Especially since it is said that Viktor chose Selene because of her resemblance to Sonja. Mitra does a good job in this role. She even has a bit more life to her than Selene, which is ironic because she was born a vampire whereas Selene was turned. I enjoyed her performance regardless, though.
Also returning is Michael Sheen as Lucian. His change from obedient slave to leader of the Lycans is amazing, as is the pain you feel as he is forced to watch Sonja die in front of his eyes after being whipped. Sheen really can show pain, that much is for certain.
This film sets out to tell the story of the Lycans, and it accomplishes that goal. However, there is just something about this one that isn’t as good as the other films. I can’t quite put my finger on it, though. Not saying this is a bad film, it’s far from that. The action is fast and furious and you really feel for the many of the characters. If you’re a fan of the franchise, then you’ll love this film. Even if you’re not, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Personally, I think it may make more sense if you watch this one before the others.

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