Underworld: Rise of the Lycans - Film Review

Okay, okay, so before I go too far and get bashed for having non-artistic taste in films, yes, I’m a huge fan of the Underworld series. I think they’re amazingly fun stories, enriched with gorgeous cinematography that allows any viewer to want to bring out their black clothing and nail polish. Well, okay, so maybe not that far, but I will say that my love for this franchise much helped my love this most recent edition to the Underworld series. Will it win an Oscar? No. Will it entertain? Yes. While gothic themes have long been a favorite of mine portrayed on film (Tim Burton is definitely one of my all time favorite directors - his Sleepy Hollow is like magic to me), this does not mean that it doesn’t have something for everyone. It has amazing battle scenes, a great love story, and enough of a main story to keep everyone interested.

For those of you not familiar with this most recent film, it takes the viewer back to the age of Lucian and Viktor. It shows how the great war was started (although, I’m still waiting for the amazingly bloody war to be shown on screen). It gives a great background to the Lycans and shows us just how evil Viktor can really be. Although he does have his reasons, for better or worse, he believes he’s doing the right thing.

Michael Sheen is a bloody brilliant actor (no pun intended). I have admired his work for quite sometime now. He never ceases to disappoint me (really, go see him in Frost/Nixon). He again doesn’t disappoint me here. He has this brilliant ability where he can tell the entire story with his eyes - I love that. Bill Nighy never disappoints either. He had me laughing quite a bit in this one - not that he’s bad by any means, but he’s just so freaking brilliant! His sparkle studded ’Vegas style’ coat was awesome as well. A great actor. I felt all the roles were played quite well, considering that this is a film for entertainment, I was more then entertained.

Now, anyone who decides to pop in the first Underworld film before or after the viewing may wonder why Sonja is blond in one, and brunette in the other, but then again, these are easy things to look over when being entertained. And I for one, just decided to say that because Michael is seeing these memories, and people do not always remember things correctly, that maybe he just got the hair color wrong. Things dealing with memories always take me back to the great little film entitled Memento, where he makes the comment about memory not being perfect, memory can change the color of the room, location, etc. But, that’s another film.

So do I recommend Underworld: Rise of the Lycans? Yes. For a great escape to another world it will give you just that. And it has enough violence and action to let you remember that fantasy films are for adults just as much as they are for children. But leave the kids at home for this one, fyi. ;) So grab your favorite black coat and head on down to witness vampires and lycans true beginning unfold before your eyes in brilliant tones of blues and blacks.

7/10.

Happy viewing everyone!