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Movie Review - Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
You can keep your Twilights, this is a vampire movie.
The third, and presumably final installment in the Underworld trilogy has no real surpsises because it's the beginning of the story. The narrative structure of the trilogy is unusual. The first Underworld movie was set in present-day Budapest and showed what seemed to be the end (or at least the beginning of the end) of the vampire/lycan war. The war had a complex backstory, parts of it revealed in short flashbacks. The second film, Underworld: Evolution continued that story, but devoted much more time to the flashbacks showing the origins of the conflict and the origin story of Selene. This third film shows none of the present-day story but fills in the blanks of the past, with a brief reference to the first movie at the end to tie up the three stories.
The timeline of events is confusing, but since most of the actual plot of Rise of the Lycans is told in the first two films, the trilogy can survive quite well without this one. On the other hand, when the DVD is out I think it'll be interesting to treat this as episode one. There are no flashbacks or flash-forwards in this one, and unhampered by the modern world this is like an old-fashioned sword-and-sorcery film. With vampires.
The central story is the love affair between vampire "princess" Sonja - the daughter of Victor - and Lucian, the first of the new breed of Lycans (werewolves). The original Lycans (seen in Underworld: Evolution) were feral monsters, unable to return to human form once turned. Lucian is different. He's part human, able to change form at will, and he's intelligent. He is enslaved by the vampires from childhood and they used him to make more of his kind - more slaves. He seems okay with this. The other kind of Lycans are still out there, though, and causing no end of trouble for the other local aristos - the human ones.
Sonja is a typically kick-ass fantasy warrior woman - and I say that with no derision intended. She makes her first appearance in action, riding into the castle with werewolves literally snapping at her heels. There are shades of Eowyn in her reluctance to take on her responsibilities on Victor's vampire council, but where Eowyn always strikes me as an immature brat, Sonja is a mature woman. Her priorities are just not what Viktor thinks they should be. I'm a little disappointed we didn't get to see the beginning of her relationship with Lucian: it would have been interesting to see the social pressures on them both in the beginning. She's the equivalent of a princess (that word is never used, but she's the daughter of the vampire "king") and he's a lowly slave, literally an animal by vampire standards. But instead the film shows us an established relationship. The pressures are stil there, of course, and their relationship is secret.
Lucian is beginning to tire of the whole slave thing, and tells Sonja he's planning to escape. He wants her to go with him. She's not quite in love enough to abandon her life of luxury and I really love her for that. She's practical: it's not that she doesn't want to be with him, she just recognises that staying put is a better option. Well, it is for her, anyway.
Things take a nasty turn when a battle with the feral werewolves ends with Lucian removing his slave collar (in order to change form) and proving - or perhaps discovering - that he can control the Lycans. Viktor finally sees how dangerous Lucian can be and Lucian has found his way out of enslavement. Sonja, meanwhile has badly underestimated Viktor's hatred of the Lycans.
How it all turns out...well, if you've seen the earlier movies you already know and if you haven't I won't spoil it. There's lots of gory action, and the movie does a good job of ratchetting up the tension considering most of the audience will already know the end. The climactic scenes are not as emotional as they could have been, but then, it's not really that kind of film. The battle scenes are well done - not LOTR style set pieces but close up bursts of violence. The CGI werewolves are a little ropey (especially in the first chase scene - they look more like bears with wolf-heads stuck on) but this doesn't detract from the overall experience.
There are a couple of disappointments. Kraven doesn't make an appearance and I really thought he should have been part of this story, if only on the sidelines. Amelia, too, is absent: this is the one thing that really contradicts the past canon as both she and Marcus are apparently in hibernation. (I guess they had trouble getting the actors on board?) The more prominent role given to Raze makes up for it, though: he's a real character in this film, as rounded as any of them are.
The performances are good. Michael Sheen reprises his Lucian with a genuinely layered performance; Rhona Mitra kicks ass as Sonja; and Bill Nighy convincingly chews the scenery as Viktor.
All in all: possibly the best of the trilogy by a thin edge as it's not hampered by the dodgy science of the first film. Good stuff.
You can keep your Twilights, this is a vampire movie.
The third, and presumably final installment in the Underworld trilogy has no real surpsises because it's the beginning of the story. The narrative structure of the trilogy is unusual. The first Underworld movie was set in present-day Budapest and showed what seemed to be the end (or at least the beginning of the end) of the vampire/lycan war. The war had a complex backstory, parts of it revealed in short flashbacks. The second film, Underworld: Evolution continued that story, but devoted much more time to the flashbacks showing the origins of the conflict and the origin story of Selene. This third film shows none of the present-day story but fills in the blanks of the past, with a brief reference to the first movie at the end to tie up the three stories.
The timeline of events is confusing, but since most of the actual plot of Rise of the Lycans is told in the first two films, the trilogy can survive quite well without this one. On the other hand, when the DVD is out I think it'll be interesting to treat this as episode one. There are no flashbacks or flash-forwards in this one, and unhampered by the modern world this is like an old-fashioned sword-and-sorcery film. With vampires.
The central story is the love affair between vampire "princess" Sonja - the daughter of Victor - and Lucian, the first of the new breed of Lycans (werewolves). The original Lycans (seen in Underworld: Evolution) were feral monsters, unable to return to human form once turned. Lucian is different. He's part human, able to change form at will, and he's intelligent. He is enslaved by the vampires from childhood and they used him to make more of his kind - more slaves. He seems okay with this. The other kind of Lycans are still out there, though, and causing no end of trouble for the other local aristos - the human ones.
Sonja is a typically kick-ass fantasy warrior woman - and I say that with no derision intended. She makes her first appearance in action, riding into the castle with werewolves literally snapping at her heels. There are shades of Eowyn in her reluctance to take on her responsibilities on Victor's vampire council, but where Eowyn always strikes me as an immature brat, Sonja is a mature woman. Her priorities are just not what Viktor thinks they should be. I'm a little disappointed we didn't get to see the beginning of her relationship with Lucian: it would have been interesting to see the social pressures on them both in the beginning. She's the equivalent of a princess (that word is never used, but she's the daughter of the vampire "king") and he's a lowly slave, literally an animal by vampire standards. But instead the film shows us an established relationship. The pressures are stil there, of course, and their relationship is secret.
Lucian is beginning to tire of the whole slave thing, and tells Sonja he's planning to escape. He wants her to go with him. She's not quite in love enough to abandon her life of luxury and I really love her for that. She's practical: it's not that she doesn't want to be with him, she just recognises that staying put is a better option. Well, it is for her, anyway.
Things take a nasty turn when a battle with the feral werewolves ends with Lucian removing his slave collar (in order to change form) and proving - or perhaps discovering - that he can control the Lycans. Viktor finally sees how dangerous Lucian can be and Lucian has found his way out of enslavement. Sonja, meanwhile has badly underestimated Viktor's hatred of the Lycans.
How it all turns out...well, if you've seen the earlier movies you already know and if you haven't I won't spoil it. There's lots of gory action, and the movie does a good job of ratchetting up the tension considering most of the audience will already know the end. The climactic scenes are not as emotional as they could have been, but then, it's not really that kind of film. The battle scenes are well done - not LOTR style set pieces but close up bursts of violence. The CGI werewolves are a little ropey (especially in the first chase scene - they look more like bears with wolf-heads stuck on) but this doesn't detract from the overall experience.
There are a couple of disappointments. Kraven doesn't make an appearance and I really thought he should have been part of this story, if only on the sidelines. Amelia, too, is absent: this is the one thing that really contradicts the past canon as both she and Marcus are apparently in hibernation. (I guess they had trouble getting the actors on board?) The more prominent role given to Raze makes up for it, though: he's a real character in this film, as rounded as any of them are.
The performances are good. Michael Sheen reprises his Lucian with a genuinely layered performance; Rhona Mitra kicks ass as Sonja; and Bill Nighy convincingly chews the scenery as Viktor.
All in all: possibly the best of the trilogy by a thin edge as it's not hampered by the dodgy science of the first film. Good stuff.