Underworld: Rise of the Lycans [UMD for PSP]
by Patrick Tatopoulos
![Underworld: Rise of the Lycans [UMD for PSP]](/images/Underworld-Rise-of-the-Lycans-UMD-for-PSP-B001UJE97K-L.jpg)
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DVD details
Actor: Bill Nighy, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Michael Sheen, Peter Tait, Steven MackintoshDirector: Patrick Tatopoulos
Brand: Sony
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: Color, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.78:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-05-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans [UMD for PSP]
DVD Review: Gothic gloom
Summary: 1 Stars
Vampires vs. werewolves seems to be the popular supernatural conflict in movies right now, but I'll give credit where credit is due -- "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" actually provides some backstory for that war. This prequel to the other two "Underworld" movies is a grimy, gloomy affair that has some good acting, but is drained dry by choppy direction, a flimsy plot and a love story that never quite convinces.
Lucian (Michael Sheen) was the first of the Lycans -- rational lycanthropes capable of taking human form. Born from a savage werewolf, he was made into the personal slave/protege of the vampire lord Viktor (Bill Nighy). But things began to go wrong when two things happened: Viktor began breeding a new race of Lycans by infecting humans with Lucian's curse, and Lucian fell in love with Viktor's lovely daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra). The Lycans are treated like beasts of burden by the vampires, and rebellion is starting to stir among them -- and especially in Lucian, who sees them as his people now.
But when Lucian is savagely punished for removing his slave collar (so he could save Sonja from werewolves), he decides enough is enough -- he and a small band of Lycans break out of the fortress and escape into neighboring lands. But he's determined to return for Sonja, whose affair with Lucian has been discovered by a horrified, grief-stricken Viktor -- and as the armed, organized Lycans clash with their former masters, someone will lose everything.
"Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" is sort of a werewolf "Ten Commandments" crossed with a bit of goth "Romeo and Juliet" -- basically it's about a rather straightforward slave uprising, and a forbidden love that obviously isn't gonna end well. The entire movie is bathed in gloomy shadows, rain and lots of pale anemic light; everybody wears weird pseudomedieval armor and lives in grimy stone fortresses that would drive most people to suicide.
The plot also isn't terribly complex -- there are no twists or unexpected moments in either the slave uprising or the forbidden love affair. Both subplots go from A to Z with brain-melting predictability. What's more, the romantic angle is painfully unconvincing-- Lucian and Sonja start boinking out of the blue about five minutes after meeting each other, and they do it in a sewer. Apparently this is supposed to convey eternal true love... but it just left me thinking how gross it was.
It also helps to ignore the choppy direction, frequently pompous dialogue ("Do you not realize that what I am giving you is a gift?" "It's a curse!") and dense melodrama ("We can be slaves, or we can be LYYYYCAAAAAAANS!"). Fortunately it isn't half bad at action scenes -- we've got big brutal werewolves, anemic noble vampires, lots of leather and metal armor, and plenty of necks being torn out with big bloody teeth.
Sheen and Mitra both do good jobs as Sonja and Lucian, although Sheen yells a lot and Mitra looks terminally ill (would it have killed them to give the poor woman some lipstick?). While they do solid jobs throughout the movie, they are genuinely moving during their last scene together. Bill Nighy manages to bring some extra dimensions to a flat villain, by conveying his grief over his daughter's betrayal of her vampire kind, and Kevin Grevioux brings a lot of life to the smallish role of Lucius' second-in-command.
"Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" is a simplistic movie riddled with gothic gloom, goofy melodrama and a very flat love story. Sheen, Mitra and Nighy are its main saving graces... but they're nowhere near enough.
Description of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans [UMD for PSP]
UNDERWORLD:RISE OF THE LYCANS - 3? Mini DVD for PHThis prequel to Len Wiseman?s Underworld and Underworld: Evolution is distinctively different, especially minus the nimble vampire warrior star, Selene (Kate Beckinsale). Underworld: Rise of the Lycans takes its cues from the vampire/werewolf battles that occur in the other films, but director Patrick Tatopoulos focuses here on the young werewolf Lucian's (Michael Sheen) rise to leadership. Rise of the Lycans is set mostly within the walls of vampire lord Viktor?s (Bill Nighy) castle, so the film?s silver, black, and blue palette reflects a world happening under moonlight. From the outset, when Viktor brings Lucian, the first werewolf, into the world, this villainous bloodsucker?s daughter, Sonja (Rhona Mitra), is smitten with Lucian?s hairy appearance and instinctual intelligence. As years pass, Lucian grows tired of watching his race suffer slavery and imprisonment, and recruits a human named Raze (Kevin Grevioux) to assist rebellion. This archetypal plot is not so riveting, and what carries Underworld: Rise of the Lycans are the battle scenes between vampires and werewolves, which are excitingly fast-paced and brutal. The whole film adopts a medieval battlefield aesthetic that carries an otherwise clichéd story about illicit love and freedom fighting. Some characters, like the traitor vampire Tannis (Steven Mackintosh), also intrigues throughout, as one guesses who he will ally with. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans may not be the finest film in the werewolf and vampire archives independently, but its mixed monstrosity makes it unique and entertaining, especially on a big screen. --Trinie Dalton
Stills from Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (click for larger image)
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