I was worried about Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. And for good reason. No Kate Beckinsale, except for a brief bookending appearance(which was really just a clip from the first film). No Kevin Grevioux script. He still appears as Raze, the massive black werewolf dude(that's his official title) who by all rights should be able to whoop everyone's ass. And the addition of Rhona Mitra, who while hot to death, is not someone I would center a film around. Fortunately, this one has far more going for it than I expected. Not the least of which is the return of Michael Sheen(The Queen, Frost/Nixon) as Lucian, the first and most formidable werewolf of them all. Also, a slightly more focused plot and an added emphasis on Bill Nighy's Viktor help make this an enjoyable ride.
The plot is simple, which is as it should be for a movie of this sort. Lucian, a willing servant of the vampires, was being used to create more werewolves to serve as slaves and warriors. But unbeknownst to all, he was also in the midst of a forbidden love affair with Viktor's daughter, Sonja. Meanwhile, the vampire stronghold is constantly under attack by wild werewolves from the outside. These wolves are unable to transform and unable to be controlled. When Sonja and Lucian's affair is discovered, he finds out what the price of betraying his own kind all these years truly is, and must fight to ensure the safety of the woman he loves.
Michael Sheen has really come into his own as an actor, and for a second I was surprised to see that he was even in this. I thought that with the successes of Frost/Nixon and The Queen perhaps he had gotten too big for a film like this. The third part of an at best marginal franchise has the potential to derail a career, but Sheen brings it all to the role and really makes Lucian a compelling but flawed character. It's to the story's benefit that they put the focus more on he and Viktor, as it puts most of the acting responsibility in Sheen and Nighy's capable hands. Nighy, for one, chews up every single scene he's in. Nighy is a chameleon, seamlessly able to play a gussied up playboy in Love Actually, to a spineless Nazi in Valkyrie, but in none of his previous films does he take over the way he does here. Viktor is both terrifying in his sudden rage, but also pathetic in that he doesn't realize how much of a captive he really is in his own house. He literally has enemies everywhere he turns, from his family to his slaves to the wolves knocking down his doors. It's clear that Nighy was having a ton of fun with the role, and relished every cheesy line he had a chance to deliver. The same can't be said for Mitra, who looks bored most of the time, and it's not just the blase attitude most vampires exude. Or maybe it's that she can't quite measure up the level of the two men she shares the most screen time with. She's not as charismatic as Sheen or as energetic as Nighy.
I wish a bit more time could've been spent on the origin of Raze, Lucian's right hand man played by Kevin Grevioux, the writer of the first two Underworld movies. Raze is fiercely loyal to Lucian, but his reasons are left pretty much unclear. Ironically, this is Raze's largest role in any of the three movies. I also think they could've spent more time developing this secret relationship with Sonja and Lucian, since it truly is the heart of the entire story. But it gets left aside in favor of an increased emphasis on action, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Werewolves and vampires duking it out is and always will be very very cool. The final battle is largely satisfying and sets up the next two installments of the series nicely while leaving plenty of questions left unanswered. It's all you can hope for out of an origin story. This is still probably my least favorite of the three films, but I hold the first two in very high regard, and while this is definitely a step down it is still a fun, exciting monster-mash up. Here's hoping Beckinsale comes back for the inevitable fourth installment. As long as the quality stays up to this level, I'll be all for it.
7/10
