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Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)

January. 23,2009
|
6.5
|
R
| Fantasy Action Thriller

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.

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Reviews

Curapedi
2009/01/23

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

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Invaderbank
2009/01/24

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

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Bea Swanson
2009/01/25

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

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Kien Navarro
2009/01/26

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

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swilliky
2009/01/27

The prequel in the franchise fills in the background of how the war between the vampires and lycans grew to what it was in the original. The characters that are pulled over are primarily from the original film not focusing much on the background that was filled in with Evolution. The film takes place after the events of the before credit scene in the Evolution but long before any modern day vampire and werewolf batting in the modern city.The actual time is not clear if it was told somewhere in the film but the costumes and behavior hint at medieval. The lycans are slaves to the vampires though some of them cannot change back into human form and are monstrous beasts that prowl the woods killing nobles and other weak humans that come to the vampires for protection. Viktor (Bill Nighy) is the leader of the vampires as the other two elders sleep. He discovers Lucian (Michael Sheen) who is the only werewolf that can change back to human form. They use his blood to convert other slaves into werewolves that they chain up and use for protection of the castle walls. Viktor does not know that his daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra) has fallen for Lucian. Sonja is a skilled warrior who fights the wolves in the woods. Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com

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Thomas Drufke
2009/01/28

Why I chose to sit through this series? I'm still not sure. But I do know one thing, this series provides nothing more than some blood, guts, and an occasional cringe worthy romance.'Rise of the Lycans' is the first and only in the franchise to not star Kate Beckinsale, though they tried their hardest to make it seem like she's in by putting a lookalike actress, Rhona Mitra, front and center. Their characters wear similar clothes and have similar makeup and characteristics. Only Mitra's character, Sonja, is poorly written and adds nothing new to the lore of this series. Really, this entire film can be described this way. It was the shortest film, until 'Awakening', and by far the thinnest in depth.Rotten Tomatoes sums it up as being indistinguishable and unnecessary. That just about defines this film to a pulp. We already had flashbacks and a brief history lesson in the previous film to the war between Werewolves & Vampires, and already exposed to how Viktor fits into the grand scheme of things. So, was there any need to make this film instead of a continuation with Selene and Michael? Absolutely not. To be fair, I think Michael Sheen's performance makes the film worth watching. The writing takes his character in a Romeo & Juliet direction with Sonja, Viktor's daughter, but Sheen easily outperforms everyone. And yes, that includes Bill Nighy's once again over-the-top turn as Viktor.The reality is, this series has perhaps never tried to be anything more than a guilty pleasure for the blockbuster genre. There's some solid action, a well-realized performance from Michael Sheen, and a short running time. Okay, perhaps the latter shouldn't be a compliment for a movie, but I guess that's what Underworld gives us.+Sheen-Adds virtually nothing to the series-Rehash of material-Nighy is once again over-the-top-Another pointless romance4.2/10

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Fluke_Skywalker
2009/01/29

I've only seen one film in the 'Underworld' saga; that being the original. Nothing about it compelled me to want to see its sequels (or prequels, in this case). But I'm on this kick where I watch entire franchises in as close proximity to one another as my work schedule and my patience will allow. So after seeing Rhona Mitra in 'Doomsday' and enjoying her performance (if not quite the movie), I checked out her filmography, saw an Underworld flick and... well, here I am.Figured I'd do these chronologically, hoping that might help it all to make more sense as I go (yeah, right). What's here may be a prequel, but the set up of the characters and premise are so thin that it almost presupposes that you already know most of this stuff. Bad move. Anyway, this is all pretty dull stuff. It's sort of a Romeo and Juliet story, and that all works well enough, thanks mostly to a really strong performance by Michael Sheen. However, the "Rise" of said Lycans lacks the epic scope and scale to really sell it, and the action scenes are dull and poorly shot.I'm not sure advancing this tale to the age of automatic weapons is going to make it any better, but I've committed to this, so next stop, 21st century.

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Thanos Karagioras
2009/01/30

"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.

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