Watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) by an author from letterboxd.com
A prequel to the first two Underworld films, this fantasy explains the origins of the feud between the Vampires and the Lycans. Aided by his secret love, Sonja, courageous Lucian leads the Lycans in battle against brutal Vampire king Viktor. Determined to break the king's enslavement of his people, Lucian faces off against the Death Dealer army in a bid for Lycan independence.

This is an exceptionally odd film. I probably let the gap between watching part 2 and this, part 3, get a little large but that wasn’t the end of the world. As I recall, I think this basically fleshed out the big reveals from the end of part 2?

And it’s weird because, in a franchise where previously a big draw was Kate Beckinsale in very tight leather/pvc, this is really a Romeo and Juliet tale of forbidden love. But with vampires and werewolves. The vampires aren’t even all that vampiric.

And it does it competently. I’m not sure there is much more to say than that. It’s a solid three stars across the board. I don’t think it’s fair to say a film is bad because it lacks any real ambition. If you have any investment in the “universe” I think it’s worth the admission fee. It cost $35m and made $91m at the box office, so plenty of others agreed.

★★★

My review

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *