Directed by: Patrick Tatopoulos
Written by: Danny McBride, Dirk Blackman, Howard McCain
Starring: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Steven Mackintosh, Kevin Grevioux
Rating: [3/5]
When building out a world filled with lore involving many characters all playing out as part of a larger story, there may be instances where little nuggets present a fertile ground to mine something bigger out of it. An approach that led this franchise to take a break from its current timeline and go back in time for the prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans as it mostly upends the dynamic we know about the relationship between these two mythical creatures.
Centuries ago, when werewolves ran wild, the first of them to have the capability of taking human form, Lucian (Michael Sheen) becomes the first of many Lycans taken in to work as slaves for the vampire population. Growing up with the vampires, Lucian forms a bond with the daughter of the lead vampire, Sonja (Rhona Mitra), and as the two fall in love, they risk breaking the set rules around their species in this tale of forbidden love.
Lightly touched upon as part of the world-building of the first Underworld film, we learn about the story of Lucian and Sonja as they found love and later found an ill-fated end because she dared to mix with a Lycan and get impregnated. We know where the story ends as with most prequels, but what we receive in Rise of the Lycans changes the dynamic we knew about these two creatures in a way that adds further coloring to this centuries-long feud.
While in the other films, we follow Selene, a vampire through the storylines, this franchise has made it quite clear that neither the vampires nor Lycans are the good guys. Considering both of them try to kill Selene on any given day, she found herself in the middle of it. This film, in turn, wants to express exactly why this feud began and it paints the Lycans as a species essentially viewed as cattle to the vampires and therefore turns this movie into a story about liberation for these werewolves under the tyranny of vampires. Working a bit like Spartacus this feature takes a completely different approach to the other films by not focusing as much on the action but rather the central love relationship between Lucian and Sonja.
Lovers who never would make it in the end but carried a bond that would lay the foundation for many battles between these two species. This forbidden love has its sweetness and ultimately explains why they would defy all of the rules around their species to simply be with each other. It carries this power to it and sets off the remaining events seeing as Lucian works to set free his fellow Lycans in an act of liberation and seeking freedom that provides more sympathy towards the plight of the Lycans and specifically Lucian. This occurs especially with his direct opposition to Sonja’s father and the returning character Viktor (Bill Nighy).
Lucian and Viktor made their initial appearance in the first film with both in villainous roles as opposed to Selene but here we see the former get a much more compassionate take. This would never occur with Viktor seeing as the man represents pure evil in a way that would make Satan blush. He fights against the idea of Lycans and vampires living together in harmony as Lucian and Sonja presented towards their love and seeing as he will not win any Father of the Year prizes, he would rather kill his daughter than ever leave any notion these two species could co-exist without a copious amount of bloodshed involved. In this role, Bill Nighy tears up the screen in such a fun way that throws some winks at the screen and pairs as quite the apt heavy when compared to Michael Sheen as Lucian. This man fully operates in this tragic mode as he navigates this story as he battles for love and liberation, which makes looking back at the first film an interesting retrospective. Two good actors doing some great work here all for our entertainment.
While different from the other films in the franchise, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans brings a change of pace and perspective that makes it worth watching. This especially becomes the case if the audience members generally have an interest in this lore and the characters that helped define it. I can raise my hand and say I care and with this story, as we get a tragic love story and a fight for freedom allowing for some returning characters to grace the screen once again and further explain how these vampires and Lycans got to the stage of hatred towards each other.
Films with Josh 
