Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

With its predecessors having lowered the viewer’s expectations to almost absurd levels, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans subsequently can’t help but come off as an obvious high point within this progressively low-rent series – as screenwriters Danny McBride, Dirk Blackman, and Howard McCain effectively eschew the convoluted storytelling of the first two movies in favor of an agreeable emphasis on the soap opera-esque exploits of the central characters. The film, set hundreds of years before the events of Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, primarily details the forbidden relationship between werewolf slave Lucian (Michael Sheen) and aristocratic vampire Sonja (Rhona Mitra), with their love inevitably threatened by Lucian’s decision to lead his fellow lycanthropes in an insurrection against their blood-sucking oppressors. There’s little doubt that Underworld: Rise of the Lycans initially feels as though it’s going to fall perfectly in line with its underwhelming forebears, as director Patrick Tatopoulos has infused the proceedings with a look that’s clearly been designed to echo Len Wiseman’s woefully incompetent visual sensibilities – with Tatopoulos’ use of computer-generated special effects and a myriad of needless camera tricks ultimately ensuring that the film’s opening half hour is as mindlessly violent and hopelessly uninvolving as one might’ve feared. It’s an atmosphere of mediocrity that persists right up until the exciting and impressively-staged werewolf uprising, after which point it becomes increasingly difficult not to embrace the unabashedly melodramatic happenings within the plot – as Sheen’s undeniably strong work effectively forces the viewer to make an emotional connection with his character’s plight. The tragic trajectory of Lucian and Sonja’s coupling undoubtedly plays a significant role in the movie’s mild success, and although the final battle is admittedly a bit of an anti-climax, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans manages to hold the viewer’s interest in a manner not even remotely achieved by either of its antecedent installments.

**1/2 out of ****