The third film in the Underworld franchise 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.

Going into the third installment of the Underworld franchise and having seen the other two I really wasn’t expecting a lot and I got exactly what I was expecting. The Underworld movies are pure fantasy and escapism films that aren’t trying to be much more than a good werewolf and vampire movie mixed in with lots of action, tons of special effects and the bare minimum of story. They aren’t try to be grand sweeping epics, or serious dramas or even blockbuster popcorn summer fair so its hard to fault them when they achieve exactly what they set out to be and that’s pure mindless entertainment. Sure Underworld: Rise of the Lycans isn’t a masterpiece by any definition of the word but it is a fun movie that allows you tp shut your brain off for ninety minutes and escape into a world of fantasy.

I have to admit that I also have a weakness for werewolf movies as the werewolf is my favorite of the mythological creatures and it doesn’t get as much love as its vampire brother. Vampires are so cold and have been done so many times I just can’t really care about another movie that dwells into their lore but werewolves on the other hand rarely get to be front and center and sadly the Underworld series does a disfavor for the werewolf lore tying them so closely to that of the vampires. The movie might have been better if we had got to see the werewolves born and then captured and enslaved by the vampires rather than the vampires basically breeding and creating them. The vampires in this latest installment of the Underworld franchise are such clichés that it is hard to be drawn into their world nor care anything about their story, What I wanted was a tale of the Werewolf the Lycan not a clichéd vampire breeding them and then getting rebelled against.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans tries to tie the first two Underworld movies together and give a backstory to the entire franchise. Gone is Kate Beckinsale’s Selene instead she is replaced by Sonja who falls in love with Lucian who changes the master/slave relationship of the Lycan’s and Vampires forever. The problem with a prequel is a lot of times it tries to tie everything together in a tight neat bundle and honestly every loose end doesn’t need to be accounted for in a great series. The prequel tries to rob a story of all its mystery and past and just make everything into a nice neat package which is a shame as I for one don’t mind a few loose ends and a little mystery.

Replacing Kate Beckinsale as the vampire who falls in love with a lycan is Rhona Mitra and honestly its quite a step down from the first two movies. Rhona Mitra really doesn’t sell her part as she comes off as flat and monotone for most of the movie. Michael Sheen on the other hand gives a masterful performance and saves the movie as he truly is Lucian in the movie and makes every scene he is in about him. I for one was already tired of the clichéd vampire played by Bill Nighy even before the movie began and he does nothing to change my mind in the film. Underworld; Rise of the Lycans was fun and entertaining but at the same time lacking and did feel a little bit like a cash grab for the studios.

Grade: C