Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Thus, Underworld protagonist
Selena (previously played by Kate Beckinsale) is mostly MIA in this
installment, ditto director Len Wiseman (although he takes a
co-producer credit), along with the other flicks’ noir-cool trappings. Rise of the Lycans,
with its unspecified, way-back-when setting, instead takes its visual
cues from period-piece 1960s-era Hammer horror yarns, as dank,
forbidding forests filled with wolfish whatzits surround the murky
vampire castle, all bathed by cinematographer Ross Emery in steely blue
hues. 

As the title hints, this prequel
concerns the birth lines of those hairy beasties, as vampire king
Viktor (Bill Nighy) takes a strange sense of pity toward one full-moon
carnivorous baby named Lucian, then has later plans to use those lupine
loins to initiate a race of the hirsute creatures to help Viktor
perform his evil bidding. With the passage of time, however, Lucian
morphs into a scraggly haired studly blacksmith (played by Michael
Sheen in his third Underworld feature) who captures the heart of Viktor’s vampire daughter Sonja (Doomsday’s
Rhona Mitra). And such a romance between creature-feature opposites
will surely rile dear old undead dad, who has enough problems
navigating the troublesome members of his council, which Viktor likens
to “the dance of politics.” 

Call of the wild: Michael Sheen in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

Lycans’ script, banged out by Underworld
screenwriter veteran Danny McBride with Dirk Blackman and Howard
McCain, furthers the elements of miscegenation that turn up in this
movie series. Indeed, it’s not much of a stretch to link Viktor’s
castle of enslaved wolf critters with a Deep South plantation owner
prior to the Civil War, especially when Viktor compliments Lucian with,
“You are a credit to your race.” And when Viktor puts the bite on Sonja
to learn the down-and-dirty truth about her covert canoodling (a trick
revealed in Underworld: Evolution), the interracial revelation nearly turns the movie into a gothic Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Or given all the human victims who are sacrificed along the way (a wolfguy’s gotta eat, you know), maybe Guess Who’s Coming As Dinner.

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Since Rise of the Lycans is the
third dip into the thematic well, one would half-expect a Geritol
infusion for potentially tired blood. Yet first-time director Patrick
Tatopoulos—promoted from his production designer chores on the other Underworld
epics—maintains a speedy pace that accentuates the thunderous
computer-graphics mayhem. Blessed with an R rating that ensures
eviscerations aplenty amid buckets o’ blood, Lycans should be manna from heaven for the gorehounds who couldn’t hack those namby-pamby vamps of the tween-geared, toothless Twilight. 

The prequel’s backstory also gives Bill
Nighy’s Viktor something he can sink his fangs into, as his regal,
blue-peepered sawtooth momentarily becomes an unexpectedly tragic
figure, attaining a poignancy that only another paternal vampire could
understand. Michael Sheen again gets his hunk on as the frequently
shirtless Lucian, who sandwiches in some over-the-ledge humping
histrionics with Sonja between his on-screen transformations as his
wolfish id. It’s hard to believe that this is the same chameleonic
Sheen who plays opposite Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon. And
Rhona Mitra provides alluring slinkiness to her rebel daughter Sonja,
even when she’s outfitted with prosthetic dental work that may have
added a lisp to the actress’ speaking voice; listen closely and you
just might hear some wind whistling through her chompers.