Seen on: January 23, 2009

The players: Director: Patrick Tatopoulos, Writers: Howard McCain, Dirk Blackman, Danny McBride, Cast: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Shane Brolly, Kevin Grevioux

Facts of interest: Patrick Tatopoulos did the creature design in all three films.

The plot: The film explores the origins of the battle between the Lycans and Death Dealers.

Our thoughts: It’s about time to close the gates to this underworld for good. Patrick Tatopoulos’s prequel “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” is not exactly a monstrosity, but the third installment in the series that kicked off with “Underworld” in 2003 fails to offer us anything we haven’t already seen in the predecessors.

Okay, we do get a better insight into what started the whole war between the Death Dealers and the Lycans, but other than that, all we get to see for 90 minutes is a bunch of monotonous action sequences that lack suspense and surprises. The film’s plot remains mildly entertaining throughout, but to be honest, there’s just so much more that could have been done with this story.

Bill Nighy returns as Viktor, the fierce ruler of the vampire clan who gets a kick out of enslaving the Lycans, the scary folks who have the ability to transform into ferocious werewolves. Viktor’s worst enemy is a powerful Lycan named Lucian (Michael Sheen), who plans a revolt against the vampires but also happens to be romantically involved with Viktor’s beloved daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra).

As you can see, there’s nothing really new to discover in this prequel. The vampires and werewolves already despise each other at the beginning of the movie, and once again, it’s a forbidden love that causes the whole mess to escalade big time. To me personally, this main intrigue is not exactly intriguing or interesting. After all, we’ve seen it all before already.

That said, I do admit “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” is partly entertaining. The first 30 minutes fall victim to plenty of boring dialogue, but the remaining hour features enough action, even though most of these scenes are fairly repetitive. Vampires beat the Lycans, and the Lycans fight back, and before you know it, they are all engaged in the massive, bloody showdown we kept hearing about in the previous two films.

Tatopoulos is responsible for the design of the creatures in all three films, and his direction certainly shows he’s familiar with the “Underworld” series. Additionally, the film’s dark look and its decent enough special effects help a lot in creating a moderately threatening atmosphere throughout.

The true heroes of this film, however, are Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen, who both approach their characters with plenty of enthusiasm. I’m really glad they returned to reprise their roles, because without them, “Rise of the Lycans” would crash and burn miserably. As for Mitra, she definitely lacks the energy of Kate Beckinsale, although I have to point out her onscreen time is rather limited.

Freaky quote: “I'll kill you! All of you!" – Michael Sheen

The final word: So there you have it. I was mostly disappointed by this prequel, although the simple action moments were fast-paced enough to keep me from dozing off. Die-hard fans of the series will certainly find some pleasure in all this, but as far as I am concerned, this is the weakest installment yet. Rooooooaaaarrrrrrr!

Article by Franck Tabouring