Hollywood seems dead-set on turning vampires, once the dreaded creatures of the night, into beings so tormented by their diet that they’re too busy writing dark poetry to bother frightening anyone.
Werewolves have also begun their metamorphosis into something far from scary. Pretty soon, the entire occult-horror genre is going to be completely overrun by angsty teens wearing eyeliner and tight leather pants. You laugh, but look at what happened to alternative rock.
Regardless, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” does its best to present the scary side of these monsters again, and it is somewhat successful. As a prequel to the marginally successful “Underworld” and “Underworld: Evolution,” the film follows the story of Lucian (Michael Sheen), the first werewolf, or “lycan,” capable of transforming into his man-wolf hybrid form without the presence of a full moon. This unique ability causes the leader of the aristocratic vampires, Viktor (Bill Nighy), to spare his life and use him to breed a race of werewolf slaves.
While this works for a few decades, the status quo crumbles when Viktor’s daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra) and Lucian begin a torrid and forbidden love affair. This leads to an eventual rift between Lucian and Viktor that must inevitably come to violence.
The plot is certainly nothing new, having been used in hundreds of movies, books and songs, and probably on the back of a box of breakfast cereal at some point. It’s not even new to the “Underworld” series, as it’s basically the same premise of the first movie. But riveting plots have never been the strength of this series.
Rather, the movie focuses on what it’s really good at, which is vampires and werewolves being generally disagreeable toward one another.
The violence is prevalent and, while restricted by a smaller budget than some recent action flicks, quite well done. The fighting is intense and the special effects well integrated. Director Patrick Tatopoulos, being a special effects man himself, favors the use of prosthetics over the more popular CG effects, which gives the monsters a grittier look and gives the whole movie the feel of a 1980′ era horror flick in all the right ways.
Neither of these things is surprising. “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” knows what it is and doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. What might throw some viewers off is the quality of the performances by the lead actors. Sheen’s turn as Lucian, the charismatic leader of the werewolves, is energetic and emotional. Nighy’s portrayal of Viktor is spine-chillingly villainous. Mitra, while not quite on par with either of these two, does a fine job in her supporting role as the rebellious Death Dealer, though one familiar with the other two films will find her somewhat lacking in charisma when compared to Kate Beckinsale’s performance.
The film’s only real weakness is that some of the plot twists rely on the viewer’s familiarity with the other two movies. The film stands all right on its own, but those who haven’t seen either “Underworld” or “Underworld: Evolutions” will get lost at certain points.
That said, those in the mood for a decent occult-horror flick that features vampires and werewolves doing their best to portray the monsters they are instead of angsty teenagers could certainly do worse. Those who prefer the sparkly type of vampire had best steer clear though.
