Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Blu-ray Review

[Wayde]

Starring: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra
Director: Patrick Tatopoulos
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Production Year: 2009
Media Year: 2009
Rating: R
Length: 92 minutes

Movie

One thing is sure about the Underworld films, they’re consistent! If you love a dark fantasy film full of vampires and werewolves gloriously corny Shakespearian dialogue - you need look no further. All three in the series are well shot and well acted (goofiness and all) with top notch special effects. They certainly take its source material seriously which is what makes these films a watchable but guilty pleasure for me. Beneath all its eerie full moons, gothic architecture and tight black leather – the Underworld series never fails to entertain. The film franchise represent a reboot of the movie-vampire mythos for a modern age - torn from the pages of a theatrical role playing game called Masquerade.

Rather than a Bela Lugosi retread, this modern take on the vampire mythology explores various well organized clans. How else would vampires really co-exist with humans? The Masquerade imagines these undead hunters hiding among us, justifying their murderous role as a counterweight to mankind’s tendency to overpopulate. They may harvest our flesh and blood but they have strict rules that maintain human prosperity and the health of our species. Much like a shepherd manages his flock. The most critical rule is that of the Masquerade itself, to keep the true nature of the undead hunters an absolute secret. Hence comes many of the age-old intrigues within the vampiric clans and human societies with which they co-exist. Sadly, the films only give minor lip service to these ideas without exploring them.

Underworld centers on an aristocratic clan of modern-day vampires. But Rise of the Lycans takes us back to its medieval history showing us the origins of the ongoing war between vampires and werewolves.

The original Underworld and it sequel Underworld: Evolution were directed by Len Wiseman, director of action films like Live Free or Die Hard. It shows in the series direction, they’re really not horror films at all but action movies in gothic leather garb and cold lighting. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans carries on this tradition with Patrick Tatopoulos in the director’s chair.

Sadly, you won’t find Kate Beckinsale preening in skin-tight leather as clan heavy; Selene. Instead the vampiric female lead is amply fitted by Rhona Mitra as Sonja, the royal daughter to the clan patriarch. Bill Nighy reprises his role as Viktor the clan patriarch who rules behind his cold, vacant eyes and some of the fiendishly delicious one-liners in the movie. Fresh from his staring role in one of last year’s best movies Frost/Nixon is Michael Sheen as the werewolf insurgent Lucian.

If you were entertained by the previous two Underworld films you’ll find much of the same in Lycans. In fact many elements of the story duplicates the 2003 Underworld, including the Romeo and Juliette-like forbidden romance between a certain vampire and lycan. Instead of tight leather and gunshots we get a lot of chainmail and wicked multi-shot crossbows.

As much as I love the concept of a horror/action film involving clans of vampires, I can’t help but feel the Underworld series failed to reach its full potential. If you’re a classic monster-phile like myself you’ll appreciate Lycans as a fun visit to the Underworld but don’t expect the genre busing breakthrough I felt this could have aspired to.

Video

2.40:1 widescreen
AVC MPEG-4, BD50

Dark, murky, cool-color temperature and blue filters best describe the visual aspect of the movie. The high-def treatment is usually beyond reproach but horribly inconsistent. Several scenes descend into this grainy looking lo-rez transfer for several seconds at a time. I found it distracting.

As for the coolness of the color-pallette...okay, I get it, it’s a vampire/werewolf movie and it’s supposed to look like it’s shot beneath the pale moonlight. It’s an interesting look for awhile. Then it grates on you as the full splendor of colors will never be realized on this film. Much of the castle’s interior is lit by torches that still strangely give off a bluish hue. Needless to say this isn’t the film to pop into the player to show off to your friends the beauty of Blu-ray.

Audio

Dolby TrueHD 5.1

Once you get past stifled dialogue (I had to turn up my center channel slightly to compensate) the soundtrack isn’t bad. The action sequences have plenty of booming bass for your LFE channel as you should expect. There are a few nice directional tricks in sound-field involving echo in the chambers and footsteps through dungeons. Where most action movies give us booming gunplay, this one stands out with catapults, swordplay and blood curdling cries of form-changing lycanthropes. The fierce growls of werewolves on the attack are startling and might just scare the daylights out of any pets you have in the house.

Extras:

Audio Commentary: Director Patrick Tatopoulos, writer/producer Len Wiseman, executive producer James McQuaide, and producers Richard Wright and Gary Lucchesi join you for the commentary track. Fans of the franchise will find a lot to enjoy in this free-for-all format of this commentary. Everybody recorded the single shot walk-through of the film at once. It adds a lot of insight in comparison to conventional commentary tracks that simply record over certain shots with one commentator at a time that might not have even seen each other since the movie was originally made.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – From Script to Screen (HD 9:18): Standard pitch to see the movie with a few behind-the-scenes stories.

Origin of the Feud (HD, 19:58): Familiarize yourself with the main characters and their motives in the film – that is if you really needed any insight.

Recreating the Dark Ages – The Look of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (HD 13:01): Insights into the production design and how many of the effects were produced.

William Controll’s Deathclub Music Video (HD 4:00): Music videos included with the film is only as good as the music itself.

Cinechat: This feature is popping up on a few Sony releases. It allows you to send on-screen instant messages to your friends while watching this movie. It’s probably a complete waste of time to anyone over the age of 17. Hopefully we get to a point in life where we love movies enough that we’re either watching a movie or we’re communicating with our friends but not both.

Behind the Castle Walls – Picture in picture: This is possibly one of the most enjoyable features on the disc. The inset picture lets you see the person talking about the scene you’re watching in the movie as they describe many behind-the-scene elements to the film. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Lycanthropes Around the World –Interactive Map: A map of the world with different countries that had werewolves in its mythology. Providing some historic insight into the legends behind the film’s story is a great use of disc-space allotted for special features. It’s so much more interesting than the standard video press-releases where everyone talks about how great everyone else is.

Overall: If you really liked the Underworld series this installment won’t disappoint. It’s special effects are well done and this film contains the most intricate sets of the three. Even though the video quality was disappointing it’s still a visual film with very good special effects and well-choreographed fight scenes. If you’re an interested newcomer to the franchise this is a good film to start your Underworld viewing. As a prequel it’ll provide back-story on the Lycan/Vampire war and won’t spoil anything from the previous two films.

[Andysu]

Nice run down on the film wayde which I haven’t seen yet, I know how it turns out as this is the beginning of how the war started between Vampires and (Lycans/werewolves).

Well I’ve kinder enjoyed the franchise these past few years. Just brilliant plenty of raw biting low end too satisfy the bass-heads. Plenty of black supporting leather as well.

I’ll keep a look out for this when I have the dosh for the DVD.

The film is mostly made of the best of the best which British. Isn’t it grand being British.

Like the way Bill Nighy ... Viktor with a slight twitch of the head then starts speaking. LOL “Your incompetence is becoming most taxing.”

[Wayde]

I enjoyed them, I think they're a love 'em or hate 'em series of films. I can't blame anyone for going either way. But if you love 'em, aren't they great - Nighy's dialogue is great! As are his facial expressions throughout this one.

[Sonnie]

I am a fan of Underworld and have this one in the pile to watch this weekend. One of the first to be watched in the new HT.

[Sonnie]

I really enjoyed this movie... although it did seem quite different than the first two in the sense that it was not filmed in a human populated area, but rather their own little world... and the action was different with no guns, as you mentioned. This one is obviously chronologically before the others, bringing us up to the time where the first Underworld picks up.

I did not read your review the first visit to the thread, so I was not even aware that this one had a different director. While I knew it was not Kate, since Rhonda's character was named Sonja, these two girls were difficult for me to tell apart until you place them next to each other. Selene did have an encore appearance at the end, an obvious clip from the beginning of Underworld... and they left the door open for yet another movie in the series.

[wheatenterrier]

I liked this movie, it was entertaining. It didn't live up to my expecations though. I have enjoyed the underworld series and just expected more from this one. The audio was not that special.