Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) User Reviews

You know, I really enjoyed it. Michael Sheen is superb in a film where great performances normally don't happen.

[The_Amazing_Spy_Rises · 8/10 · 23 January 2009]

Very rarely do prequels match up with their predecessors. As I'm not the biggest Underworld fan, I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting much. However, I should've expected more, as the latest, yet earliest installment is easily my favorite in the series. It ain't art, but it's the shining example of why we go to the movies: to escape into a world of mythology, fantasy, and crazy vampire/werewolf action.

For the first time in the series, the filmmakers have decided to leave out the rock that probably was the reason the films have been successful: Kate Beckinsale. I'm guessing this was a production risk/choice, but it seems to have paid off. Selene's absence from the story is necessary to tell the story of how the Lycans rose to power, how Viktor was driven insane (though we pretty much already know how), and, as off topic as it may be, how simply awesome Michael Sheen is.

Very rarely do the actors make an action movie good. Most action movies rely on explosions and (surprise!) action to enhance the quality and generally feature run of the mill copycat characters. Sheen's Lucian and Bill Nighy's Viktor will always stand out in the realm of action/fantasy characters to me, and it's easy to see why. Sheen's turn as Lucian is fierce, determined, and one of my favorite performances in an action movie I've seen in years. Despite playing a (mostly) villainous role in the first film, Lucian is the hero of this film, and it totally gives you a new spin on things. Sheen's brave and dedicated performance really makes the character work, while Bill Nighy is once again effectively creepy as Viktor. Rhona Mitra's presence as Sonja is welcome, though she doesn't carry the same charisma that Beckinsale does, making her an ill advised choice to be Selene's replacement (as she so obviously is).

The action in Underworld, though obviously restrained by a lower budget, is once again great. There's some nice dueling, the obvious gore and blood galore, and a nice Lord of the Rings style battle at the end. What it comes down to is that Underworld does nothing new, but does everything right in maintaining a steady river of entertainment. I was never bored, and I don't think you will be either.

The film does answer a lot of questions and provides some nice insight to the Lycans (which were my favorite parts about the first two films), though it suffers from the same fate as most prequels do...even a casual viewer of this series knows which characters will live, which will die, and how it will end. The film isn't really about the resolution, but rather the journey to the end. In fact, it's made in such a way that you can certainly watch the trilogy in chronological order.

When it comes down to it, I liked 'Lycans' a lot. It's a worthy installment in the series, and certainly not a disappointment to me. It's got good action, a wonderful lead performance from Michael Sheen, and should satisfy fans of the series and fans of mythological stories altogether.

The Lycans are here...

[Thanos_Alfie · 7/10 · 16 February 2014]

"Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" is the third movie of the Underworld series and in this one we are back in time where the race of aristocratic vampires had Lycans as their slaves and we watch how they rise up against the cruel vampire king and what happened next.

I liked this movie because it was something really different from all the other vampire movies and I also liked the thing that it turned us so back to show us how the things were there and how all this things started from the beginning of them. The interpretations of Michael Sheen who plays as Lucian, Rhona Mitra who plays as Sonja and Bill Nighy who plays as Viktor were simply outstanding.

Finally I have to tell you that I strongly recommend this movie such as all of the Underworld movies.

A Surprisingly Good Prequel

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 6 October 2012]

This prequel to "Underworld" is essentially the story of "Lucian" (played by Michael Sheen) and the evolution of lycans (werewolves) from full-time savage beasts to those who change from werewolf to human (and back again). The biggest problem I have with prequels is that the endings are generally already known, so much of the mystery has already been taken away. This film is no exception. For example, anyone who has seen "Underworld" knows that "Sonja" (played by Rhona Mitra) dies. It is also common knowledge that "Viktor" (Bill Nighy) and "Lucian" will live to fight another day. Further, for those who have seen the sequel, "Underworld: Evolution", then they know that "Tannis" (Steve Mackintosh) also survives. So all that's left are perhaps a few minor surprises here and there and the hope of plenty of good action or plot developments in-between. Because of this, prequels are seldom as good as the original movie. Add in the fact that the main star (Kate Beckinsale) of both "Underworld" and "Underworld: Evolution" is absent, along with the fact that another director (Patrick Tatopoulos) is calling the shots, and this movie doesn't seem to have much chance of success. Fortunately, this film beats the odds. Although not quite as good as Kate Beckinsale, Rhona Mitra steps in and gives a very good performance as "Sonja", the daughter of "Viktor". Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy also perform exceptionally well. Likewise, Patrick Tatopoulos manages to stay the course and remains true to the basic theme of the original and sequel alike. In short, this is a surprisingly good prequel and I recommend it to anyone who liked the two previous pictures.

More than animals

[unbrokenmetal · 7/10 · 3 October 2009]

"Rise of the Lycans", on the surface, makes a perfectly well working prequel. The loss of Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman is compensated by a great Rhona Mitra and especially Michael Sheen's titanic effort. The look and the action are amazing, considering the somewhat lower budget, and the story makes sense to prepare us all for the things to come in the other two movies. All in all, the trilogy is round now and does not disappoint in any department, unless you are taking everything a bit too literally and wonder how werewolves can make babies.

It is interesting, however, to peek below the surface. The makers mentioned in interviews they see similarities to "Romeo & Juliet" insofar as Lucien and Sonja are lovers not allowed to get together. One crucial difference, however, is that Romeo and Juliet came from two noble families, whereas in "Rise of the Lyans", Sonja is a member of the aristocratic pale vampire rulers, who are sipping glasses of blood on the castle, while Lucien is with the ugly, hairy slaves, the werewolves exploited as cheap labor force. We don't really get to see what this work consists of except carrying stones around. Also the love story isn't explained enough in the running time of not much more than 80 minutes PAL until the credits start to roll. But the point is that "Rise of the Lycans" is a hardly disguised class struggle story. Similar to the Italian socialist cinema of the 1960s which would show the rebellion of poor farmers against the rich property owners, the working class has to realise their value (in Lucien's words: "we are more than animals") and claim their human rights. When Lucien says "this is just the beginning", it may seem to the audience that he jokingly refers to other other two movies which have shown us already how the story continues after this prequel. In the subtext, though, he is making a very serious statement that freedom is the foundation of a life worth living, and everything else will be built up now upon this basic condition. It's a pity that the movie doesn't elaborate more on that and doesn't spend some additional time on the character development, either, because it could have been the best of the trilogy. Alas, I voted almost equally 8-7-7 for the three movies.

Genesis of the Gnashers...

[Xstal · 6/10 · 27 August 2022]

A medieval tale of the genesis of the Lycans, and how Lucien was born, into the middle of a frying pan, before jumping into fire, making his life rather dire, setting free his fellow brethren and undoing what had been done.

Alas, without Selene, it is an empty can of beans, just an ordinary kind of tale, blows quite limp with a wet sail.

It's only downhill from now on, as the franchise ruptures, the bloods gone, not quite knowing when to stop, perpetually draining a good plot, leaving a husk, a shallow spectre of what was.

Be nice to know what the point of it all is too, aside from megalomania.

I Am Spartacus!

[mbrooks-8 · 7 May 2009]

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans : In this prequel we get little of Romeo and Juliet and a dash of Spartacus. The vampires have bred themselves a race of Lycan slaves to guard them during the daylight hours, but when Lucian, the favored pet of Viktor the ruling vampire, falls in love with his daughter things go bad rather quickly. The CGI werewolves are leaps and bounds better than their previous incarnations in this series and the only CGI complaint I have is to the occasionally bad CGI blood spray. Rhona Mitra makes for a hot vampire, and Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen return to chew up some nice scenery. After watching the big battle one is forced to ask the question that pops up after watching any of the Underworlds movies, "How did the Lycans lose the war?" Seriously, the vampires in these films are as fragile as a 1978 Ford Pinto.

Good simple story without Kate Beckinsale

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 29 December 2013]

This is a prequel and an origin story of how the Lycans were born. Lucian (Michael Sheen) is the first werewolf born to take human form. Normally, werewolves turn into vicious animals and never turn back. Instead of eliminating the possible future threat, vampire king Viktor (Bill Nighy) decides to use him to create an army to protect the vampires from the nuisance of the werewolves. Viktor's daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra) would fall for Lucian, and help him lead a rebellion against the vampires.

It's a bit of a shock to not have Kate Beckinsale or Scott Speedman. Kate has some narration at the beginning. After I figured that out pretty quick, the story is watchable on its own. Rhona Mitra is a gorgeous actress. She just doesn't have the same level of loveability of Kate Beckinsale. Michael Sheen strips off his shirt and does a really good job. It's a fairly simple story. It's just maybe not what I was expecting.

Overwhelming prequel that explains the origin of taking on between vampires and Lycans

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 4 July 2010]

Again the eternal fight between vampires and werewolves in this exciting prequel set in the Dark Ages. This original and gore-soaked vampires film begins centuries ago. Unknown to humanity, centuries old blood feud raged between aristocrat vampires and subdued legion of werewolves known as Lycans who work as slaves. For centuries Sonja ( Rhona Mitra ) is a loyal soldier of the vampire clan, but she falls in love with the Lycan Lucian ( Michael Sheen ). The tale traces the origins of the confrontation between a ruling class of bloodsuckers and their onetime slaves, the werewolves . A young Lycan named Lucian emerges as a powerful rebel who rallies the rebellious werewolves to rise up against Viktor, Sonja's father and the brutal vampire king . Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja, in his struggle against the Vampire army and his fight for Lycan freedom . Neverheless , the war was not as it had seemed. In one night, the lies that had united the kind vampire had been exposed. Sonja has formed a secret alliance with Lucian, ruler of the werewolf clan to overthrow Viktor ( Bill Nighy ), vampires leader who has enslaved them . But Viktor's lust for power and domination has failed. As Viktor was not the savior they had been led to believe . Soon the hunt would be on for his killer . As the war between vampires and werewolves get more personal and deadly , they decide to launch a full-scale attack on the hideout in order to extinguish the race.

This amazing movie displays noisy action , thrills ride, stirring fighting , graphic violence , brief nudism with mild sex scene and is pretty amusing . It packs large loads of guts and gore , there's a huge body count, this one actually knocks off an immense amount, several vampires and werewolves are staked bloodily in the chest, even more impaled with large claws. There's really savage decapitation, plenty of bodies ripped in scraps and half, including some of the most tears ever, that spill lots of blood and numerous get shot up with arcs . Most of vampires, Lycans and humans victims are relegated to being bitten in the throat and neck and the breathtaking fighting scenes are realized with magnificent special and visual effects as well as excellent make-up department . The film blends horror, suspense, struggles, rip-roaring action, terror and lots of gore. Set design is of first class , settings are stylized, Gothic scenarios , and spooky and ghoulish atmosphere. Specials effects are breathtaking, part of them are made by means of computer generator and part by make up . Bone-chilling and atmospheric musical score by Paul Haslinger and colorful and dark cinematography by Ross Emery. Spectacular and moving direction by Patrick Tatopoulos. He's author of set design and production design of Underworld I and II and known blockbusters, such as ¨10.000 BC, Indepencence day, I robot, Resident evil, Pith black ¨, among them . The interesting screenplay is written by Len Wiseman, who directed the former entries , along with Danny McBride and Kevin Grevioux . All actors and technicians participated in the previous outings with exception Kate Beckinsale , being well replaced by Rhona Mitra as relentless action woman . Recommended to those who amuse those kind of vampires-werewolves films or those enjoy in general.

Best prequel I've seen and worthy successor

[overcrest2000 · 8/10 · 23 January 2009]

I came back about an hour ago from the 3:45 showing here in Toronto. I've seen the first two movies, and I have to say I'm glad they brought back Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy; the second film just wasn't quite the same without those two. Lucian is the character you love to sympathize for and Viktor is the character you love to hate.

I'm so very glad the story was more focused on Lucian as it's a nice change from Selene and Michael being in the spotlight (not to mention Michael Sheen's arguably superior acting ability). As for Rhona Mitra, I won't say she was better than Kate Beckinsale but I can't say she was any less of an asset. Not only did she look great, but she executed her lines superbly. I will however say that I find Sonja's character much more interesting than Selene's. The chemistry between Lucian and Sonja was much better than that of the chemistry between Michael and Selene.

The story was much more intriguing, emotional and tragic than that of either of the previous two expeditions (this being of course subjective), as many who recall the flashbacks presented within will agree. It was also faithful to the material, and it's good that they didn't compromise for the sake of "improving" the story.

Overall, I can't think of another prequel that brought such raw emotion to the table, and regardless of the fact that Len Wiseman was not directing this one (though he was at the helm in other ways), you wouldn't know by watching it as it did a good job maintaining the same feel as the first two. The score also added to a lot of the emotion.

In regards to the possibility of a 4th movie: if they choose to continue on from this prequel as I think they should, they should bring in Amelia as she is one of the few characters that has yet to be explored fully.

prequel

[kairingler · 7/10 · 2 January 2014]

when I first found out that this was gonna be a prequel,, I didn't quite get how they were gonna do this,, but after watching the film,, I 'm glad that the producers, writers, and director did it the way that they did,, all in all superb acting from the cast.. great direction,, solid camera work,, great special effects,, had lot's of good battle scenes,, especially at the end,,, I like the idea of the story that explains how the Lycans got to rise to their power,, because at first they were the slaves. I'm a big fan of the 1st two movies,, and this one didn't disappoint,, cept save for the abscene of it's star Kate Beckinsale,, but otherwise a pretty decent movie.

A Very Good Prequel

[bdc141 · 8/10 · 23 January 2009]

If you are a fan of either of the first two Underworld movies you are going to like this one as well. This movie seems to take place a short time after the creation of both races but some time before the events that open Underworld Evolution. The entire story of the feud between the vampires and lycans is told in 90 minutes with plenty of action interspersed throughout. My only complaint is that the movie could have been longer with more character development. An hour and a half is hardly enough time to tell a love story, which is what is at the heart of this movie. Also, a little more depth could have been given to Raze's character as his origins are shown but not in much detail. These plot points are sacrificed to keep the action scenes rolling but the action is great. There are several clashes between vamps and lycans that put those of the first two movies to shame. The special effects are amazing as usual. My hope is that Rise of the Lycans will do well at the box offices and we will all be treated to an extended directors cut on DVD. The plot themes of slavery, forbidden love, and revolution could use a little more screen time in my opinion. Oh and lets all hope for another sequel.

Underworld

[0U · 22 February 2020]

Even though I knew what was gonna happen because the story was told in the first one but that didn't make it repetitive or not entertaining for me. Again these films aren't masterpiece but they are pure entertainment.

Sit down

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 7/10 · 30 January 2010]

The series continues to entertain, but also not quite succeeding in winning me over. To be honest, if it hadn't been for the return of Raze, I might not have given this a chance at all; Kevin Grevioux is just plain a bad-ass. That's his *real voice*! Seriously, listen to interviews with him. While I would have liked more of him in this, I'm honest enough to admit that the entire 80 minute running time could have had him in every shot, and I'd still be saying that it's not enough. For Tatopoulos having relatively little experience at directing(I guess he got tired of being consultant for when giant mutated lizards attack), he does rather well. And this definitely has a *gorgeous* Gothic look, and the dark tone of the first two. The cinematography and editing are great, and the use of hand-held is effective, although several bits go by so fast that you can't tell what is going on. Nearly every(and certainly every lead) performance is impressive; Sheen continues the stellar work, Nighy(apart from being over the top at points) is marvelous, of course, and I wouldn't mind seeing Mitra be the lead in something else. I hadn't seen her in this large a part before, and she does well. The action is cool, intense and fun; of course, given that this is a prequel, you may miss the shoot-outs and car-chases of the prior 2 entries. With that said, the sword-fighting is great. The FX are excellent, and smoothly integrated. To its credit, at its core, this is a story about slaves rising up against their masters, and it does engage pretty well. There is plenty of brutal, bloody violence, a little sexuality(hot, though not graphic; and this has eye candy for both genders) and brief male, infant nudity in this. The DVD comes with an informative and amusing commentary track, three well-done featurettes of 9, 20 and 13 minutes length, respectively, a music video and a handful of trailers. I recommend this to any fan of the franchise(and this is best watched after the others). 7/10

The Prequel to Underworld. "Rise of the Lycans"

[aegiswiz-accede · 7/10 · 28 October 2013]

"Rise of the Lycans". That's a pretty good thumbnail view.

I liked this third outing of the Underworld series of movies. 7 of 10. No Kate Beckinsale as Selene, as this is actually a prequel to the Underworld series of movies. Enter the beautiful Rhona Mitra as Sonja. Folks may know Rhona Mitra was Claire Radcliff in the wonderful TV series, The Gates: A vampire and werewolf TV series that was sadly canceled after the first season. Off topic a second…, I can never understand that when one of the "networks" has a hit series they are compelled to dump it in such a way as to frustrate as many people as possible. The cables, like TNT, A&E, etc., seem infinitely better at making the "cancel series" decision… but I digress.

The point I slipped off of is that if you're inclined to beautiful goth women in vampire type movies, Rhona Mitra is not a step down from Kate Beckinsale.

Rise of the Lycans is another double down of the Romeo and Juliet plot… which made Underworld as touching as it was exciting. Because of this plot, the movies, except perhaps "Evolution", should have at least some appeal to those who crave some romance in their movies.

It is entertaining to see what they've done with this movie in relation to the other Underworld movies. They've taken some of the back-story that is hinted at in Underworld and filled in many of the blanks. I watched this third, as it came out third, but if I had better knowledge I would have watched this one first in the series of movies.

If you're looking for a review that critiques acting, cinematography, CGI, how realistic stunts were, etc., this is the wrong review for you. I watch movies to be entertained, to relate to the characters, and essentially enjoy myself. Unless it is just bad, like SyFy seems they must fill that nook, I don't notice much of that because I'm into the story. And this movie has one. If some technicality made it difficult to watch I'd say something but this movie doesn't get in the way of the story.

"This movie is dark!" What does that even mean? Vampires, underground, no sunlight… dark. Or is it because the characters aren't politically correct… does that make it "dark". This movie does move quickly. A twist in the plot, a surprise, an unexpected turn… I call that fun. Only better way to get that kind of fun is to read a book or do exciting things, like skydive or something.

Finally, a confession: I actually had no interest what-so-ever in the Underworld series until I checked up on an old favorite screenwriter of mine, J. Michael Straczynski. Turns out he is the writer of Underworld: Awakening. So, I wanted to get the earlier movies in my head before watching Awakening. That JMS associated with the franchise and even wrote a script for it was enough to spark my interest. I'm glad I took the time to watch this movie and the two earlier movies. Now on to the JMS screenplay, Underworld: Awakening.

All in all? This ROCKS!

[FiendishDramaturgy · 8/10 · 24 January 2009]

What I wanted...I wanted an epically filmed visceral movie wherein thousands of Lycans are pitted against thousands of Vampires in full armor on horseback. Wow! What a great movie THAT would have been.

What I got...was somehow...better. I honestly can't say that I'm disappointed, although I just KNEW I would be if they left off that bit. What they give us is story-driven rather than effects or action-driven. I know that sounds ridiculous when talking about a movie in which action and effects are completely necessary in order to properly tell the story, but in all too many cases, they end up overshadowing the story and eliminating any sense of storytelling. I am happy to say that such is not the case with Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

I won't spoil the movie as so many have. I will say that the obvious parallels between Sonja and Selene's characters are endearing, and Sonja's love of Lucien is breathtaking. The overall feel of the movie is as dark and Gothic as the original work, beautifully echoing the brilliance of that film which caught us so by surprise in September of 2003.

This still leaves a few small questions, and I would have loved to see Kraven make the deal with Lucien and cut Viktor's mark off of him, but you can't have everything, and all in all, this will run back to front with the original. All that's left now, is an extension of the Story of Underworld: Evolution; one that either gives the viewers a satisfactory ending, or perpetuates the species...of Underworld films, that is.

All in all? This ROCKS!

It rates an 8.4/10 from...

the Fiend :.

Cheap without thrills

[Jay_Exiomo · 5/10 · 23 January 2009]

The whole Vampires-versus-Lycans tale leaps back centuries earlier in "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans", a Kate Beckinsale-less prequel to the first two "Underworld" installments, which aside from providing viewers an extended look at the franchise's oh-so detailed mythology, has virtually no innovations to offer to keep it from being derivative. That the narrative is also predictably headed to a foregone conclusion proves to be the film's greatest undoing in whatever mild interest the script presents in bringing back its implicit societal classes allegories.

Lucian (Michael Sheen) plots to rally his fellow Lycans into freedom from slavery by the aristocratic vampires ruled by Viktor (a barbarous Bill Nighy) but such goal is complicated by Lucian's clandestine romance with the latter's daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra), a mere subscript to Lucian's expanded role. While Mitra adequately steps up as the story's central enchantress, her character's reduction to a deliberate plot device makes one wish for Beckinsale's cheesy-yet-sexy fight scenes, which are the predecessors' selling point.

Long-time creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos steps behind the camera and his film (written by Danny McBride, Dirk Blackman, and Howard McCain) still captures the viciously frigid environment co-creator and erstwhile "Underworld" director Len Wiseman have brought. But the chintzy amusement, while still there, is scant, no thanks to a rote product that recalls its predecessors' B-movie goodness with not much success, and its confusing action scenes and perpetually dark cinematography that can't mask the absence of the genuine excitement in this third-rounder that's showing signs of debilitation. It's just the beginning, says Lucian. Yet somehow, it feels as if it's way past its zenith.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (6/10)

[skybrick736 · 6/10 · 25 August 2016]

Unique to Rise of the Lycans compared to the other two Underworld movies is the emotion and testament the writing, characters and atmosphere portrayed. Giving Kate Beckinsale a break and taking the prequel route was a very smart plan, leading to a movie that was better than expected. With Bill Nighly taking a central role it really strengthens the core characters of the movie around him. Rhona Mitra was impressive as well as Michael Sheen, who would be hard pressed for being a lead role in other movies. It is also nice to see on film the backstory that the viewers kept hearing about in the first two films. Although we all know what happens to everybody at the end, the film still managed to hold interest. In no way is Rise of the Lycans an original or memorable film but it is surprisingly entertaining and a better watch than Evolution.

there was no need for this prequel, i would rather a new story

[isjohan79 · 7/10 · 12 February 2009]

well i just watched this movie, i'm a fan of the series, if you saw the first movie with attention, you will find that the whole thing of this prequel is there, the purpose of this movie was only, (i guess), to make some time to find a good script for the 4th part and to revive Victor and Lucian again because they found those characters were too strong and charismatic to let them die that easy ,

i dint like the vampires role here, they are so weak that they need to wear armors, the action is not impressive and you will only find lots of cut throats zooms, the story goes nowhere, all the movie happens at a pity castle , there are only one or two dramatic moments of Lucian and Sonya, and Victor is a great vampire, you will find he is the only vampire in this movie!

despite all , i liked, i hope this franchise continues, and i enjoy when the studios at at least "tries" to make serious fantasy movies!

More of a fill in the blank then a true movie.

[yora217 · 7/10 · 9 October 2010]

I watched Rise of the Lycans the first day it came out since i am an Underworld fan. I luved the first one, hated the second one, and wanted to see this one just to see if they would improve from the second ones disappointment. I will admit, they did indeed improve, but they did not surpass the first one. I understand though that this was really an entry to answer some long awaited questions about the rise of the lycans to become what they are in the first one. Sonja's character in my opinion was not well developed, i would have loved to have seen her more better developed and her actress was pretty good. My fav actor and character in this movie though was Michael Sheens Werewolf, he of course is the star of the movie, and is fantastic in his role. My only disappointment of the movie if anything is, i felt like this entry in the series was more of a fill in the blank then anything else, Hollywood trying to milk an awesome series. Well overall, its a great movie, but not awesome or fantastic like the first one. Worth watching, maybe a rental, but all in all, until they go back to the ways of the first one, will it truly be a return to the glory days for underworld.

A good backstory movie

[timothygartin · 7/10 · 11 February 2019]

I enjoyed Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. I felt that the romantic leads had a good chemistry and Viktor is a great villian. I liked the music and the gothic sets used to set the mood of the movie. The story was not really convincing as to how easy the Lycans were able to rise against the vampires. This was the biggest let down. The vampires appear really inept throughout the movie.

If you are a fan of the other Underworld movies, this is a must see.

Excellent 3rd Installment

[Rainey-Dawn · 9/10 · 15 October 2014]

I love this third film just as much as the first two: it's basically the back-story that leads up to the first film. "The Rise of the Lycans" explains in great detail how the great war between lycans and vampires began as well the stories behind the main characters of the Underworld films.

Just like the first two Underworld films, the third part is full of action, a good story and super acting. The dark Gothic sets, props and costumes are gorgeous! Fans of the first two films are sure to enjoy this third installment.

9/10

Underworld:How it all begin

[Terryfan · 7/10 · 16 October 2015]

For the record this is a prequel while 2003 Underworld is the first film of the entire series Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the prequel explaining the history of the werewolves and vampires.

The main protagonist is Lucian (Michael Sheen) the film main antagonist is Viktor (Bill Nighy) who is the father of Sonja (Rhona Mitra) who plays a part in the story once you see the film you will understand.

Again this is a prequel so if you're new to the series you will find it to be full of useful information learning about the characters that appear in the first Underworld movie which helps out for many fans of the series and again new comers.

Anyhow onto the movie itself. The story in this one is pretty well thought out and help us understand the characters, they did put in emotion where you can just be surprised by how much it gave to the characters.

Michael and Bill who reprise their roles as Lucian and Viktor respected both gave a strong performance it made you want to see what happens next with their characters both men just brought their A game to the film.

The music is very well done. Also the action scenes in this film just make you want more along with twist and turns you won't see coming.

The main problem I have with the movie is that some of the plot could be a disappointment and moments you feel could have been done better.

But with a strong story well balance talented acting and for fans of Underworld this is a movie to consider if you're a werewolf and vampire film fan

I give Underworld: Rise of the Lycans an 7 out of 10

No Beckinsale, no sale!

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 10 October 2022]

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is a prequel to the first two films, which means that it doesn't feature sexy vampire Selene, as played by Kate Beckinsale; without Beckinsale, the film is bound to disappoint many a fan of the franchise, for whom the sight of the actress in tight rubber trousers is a major draw. Instead, we get Rhona Mitra as Sonja, another badass female vampire - but a poor substitute in my opinion, both in terms of sex appeal and in acting ability.

Sonja is in love with Lucien (Michael Sheen), first of the lycans, werewolves who are able to assume human form. Unable to reveal his feelings for Sonja, and treated as a slave by the vampires, Lucien makes a daring escape and leads an uprising against the bloodsuckers.

There are some reasonably well-handled action scenes towards the end of this film, when the lycans (assisted by werewolves) do battle with the vampires, with some surprisingly juicy gore effects (and a few not-so-great CGI effects); unfortunately, with the bulk of the plot comprising of the doomed romance between Sonja and Lucien, I can't help but feel that I am just one step away from watching a Twilight movie. And that will never do.

WoW...Better then expected in all areas

[FilmFan777 · 8/10 · 27 January 2009]

I was hoping it would be good yet I didn't expect it to be 'this' good.

Honestly, this was 'so' well paced. Actually got me anxious, and thats a bit of a rarity. And in a good way.

First off the story was very interesting from start to finish and the script very well crafted. All of the elements... Love, machismo, heroic, underdog, special abilities, honor, suspense, scandal, comradeship, good vs bad just so many elements. However the difference with this film is they were all intertwined so well. Not the usual 'chemistry cocktail' roll of the dice.

The cinematic hat trick... acting, directing and the written story itself all melted like cheese on a hot Philly steak.

I understand the "Category" this film falls near however, over all very well crafted. Some other "Film Makers" should take a few lessons.

I hope there's another.

Kate Beckinsale is not even in this film

[jordondave-28085 · 4/10 · 12 October 2023]

(2009) Underworld: Rise of the Lycans ACTION/ HORROR/ SCIENCE-FICTION

Prequel brings familiarity to what viewers had already seen possibly from the first few "Underworld" movies! Great looking mystical setting, but very poor and predictable mystical storytelling about the resentment between the people turning into wolves and the vampires. Stars some of the players from some of the "Underworld" movies Lucien (Michael Sheen), Victor (Bill Nighy), and Tannis (Steven Mackintosh) to name a few. What is bizarre about this film is that Kate Beckinsale is not even in this film but more like a look-a-like to take her place named Sonja played by Rhona Mitra. It is still better than the first two "Twilight" films, though.