Directed by:
Patrick TatopoulosCinematography:
Ross EmeryComposer:
Paul HaslingerCast:
Rhona Mitra, Steven Mackintosh, Bill Nighy, Michael Sheen, Shane Brolly, Tania Nolan, Kevin Grevioux, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Craig Parker, Peter Tait (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans delves into the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires, known as Death Dealers, and the barbaric Lycans (werewolves). A young Lycan, Lucian (Michael Sheen), emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor (Bill Nighy), the cruel vampire king who has persecuted them for hundreds of years. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, the beautiful vampire Sonja (Rhona Mitra), in his battle to free the Lycans from their brutal enslavement. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (8)
Rise of the Lycans is actually a prequel to the previous two installments, so if you had seen the original Underworld you knew how things would turn out. Even without it, the plot was clearly predictable. I get that vampires aren't allowed to go out in the sun, but still, I don't think the darkness needed to be so impenetrable, and it certainly didn't need to rain. If it had at least snowed, it might have brightened it up a bit. I was only going to give it two stars, if it hadn’t been for Bill Nighy and Rhona Mitra.
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The idea of making the whole series as just one big flashback isn't entirely out of place, and I got quite a kick out of the acting. Rhona Mitra has been good since Season 3 of Nip/Tuck, I've been considering The Gates because of her. I'm always happy to see Elizabeth Hawthorne outside of series production, and the biggest hit of Rise of the Lycans was of course the "find all the footage with Craig Parker" game.
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This is bad. It’s lost its mojo. I quite liked the previous two installments (the first more than the second), but I didn't like this one. Boring. And the dubbing?! Why did she call him “darling"? And why was he wearing the same coat he had been wearing several centuries before? And what was the black guy doing there? And why....? Never mind. A weak installment, a bad script, and overall a big disappointment.
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When vampires and werewolves go at each other's throats in a medieval world, the love between two of them is definitely not going to have a nice ending. This prequel to Len Wiseman's action horror film offers very chaotic action, mediocre visual effects and a feeling that it doesn't belong in the cinema.
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Wiseman may be a tragedian who steals from where he can, but against Tatopoulos he is a virtuoso. Or I’ll film lightning, raindrops, sword swings, someone’s face, and a splash of blood on the wall, cram it all into a single second, and repeat it several times in a row... and now I have an action scene! As an added bonus, it will have a demented plot that wouldn't even succeed as a non-committal B-movie, bored actors (Nighy’s demonicness and Rhona's sex appeal nowhere to be found), the absence of a single moment worth remembering, or at least one to help you snap out of stereotypical lethargy. And this is the result. This is the most moronic thing with dudes in leather rags holding swords since Pathfinder, and it puts its two predecessors to shame, though we could actually say that it’s not really even possible anymore.
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