Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. To prepare myself for "Underworld: Blood Wars" I thought I’d watch/rewatch all of the previous films, starting with the prequel. That’s the order they’re meant to be seen in, right? Viewing this one for the first time… I struggle to rationalize why it was made. Is there a point to this story, really?

When a new breed of werewolf, one capable of returning to their human form emerges in the dungeons of the vampire clan, Viktor (Bill Nighy) sees an opportunity. Using Lucian (Michael Sheen), the first Lycan, he creates an army of slave-laborers. When Viktor’s daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra) falls in love with Lucian, the two mastermind a full-on Lycan revolt.

No Kate Beckinsale here so the weight of this prequel rests on the shoulders of Rhona Mitra, Michael Sheen, and Bill Nighy. I’ll give the picture this much: I like the casting of Mitra. She looks a lot like Beckinsale and it helps add credibility to the actions in the "later" films. Otherwise, the picture is never boring, but I'd never call it good. There’s a lot of vampire vs. Lycan action with many creatures of the night getting skewered and diced. The special effects are pretty good too. Unfortunately, they’re used to hold together a derivative story. Not a whole lot happens here. There are an awful lot of escape attempts that fail, only for another attempt to follow a few minutes later. The character arcs are non-existent and the developments are easy to telegraph way ahead of time.

I like Bill Nighy overacting like crazy and I have to admit that I did find the film enjoyable overall. It’s also completely unnecessary. This whole tale could, and was (to my recollection) summarized in just a few sentences in the other “Underworld” films. It’s not even really pulling any new tricks since the vampires still have their silver shuriken, the werewolves are animalistic as always, and the few new characters introduced are not really all that new. In an effort to inject some novelty in the story, some developments don’t even make sense. The conclusion in particular, where Viktor and Lucian have their big fight… it kind of left me confused. If these characters show up in later films why pretend to kill one of them off?

“Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” kept reminding me of better movies, except with werewolves and vampires tossed in. Even for hardcore fans, there’s not a whole lot for you here. The characters you really care about aren’t present, not even as little kids. Again, it’s not awful and since it moves quickly I was able to look past the repetitious plot and unnecessarily stylish portions, but I can’t really recommend it unless you just happen to have purchased the film in a box set. Certainly not compared to the "sequels", which I remember enjoying a lot... (On Blu-ray, December 27, 2016)