Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be gonna be covering a horror movie from 2009. That movie is "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans".
Now this movie I do know is a prequel to the first "Underworld" movie. And I didn't even have to look it up to find that out because the back of the DVD case for this combo pack advertises this film as a prequel to the "Underworld" franchise. And just based on the surname, I'm going to assume this is suppose show how exactly we get our war between the between the vampires and the lycans. Which could be interesting, however, the past two movies of this series haven't really been all that great. Not terrible, mind you, just kinda itching on being sorta average.
That being said, however, this movie could pull off a "Puppet Master 3" situation in which the prequel of your movie ends up being really solid. Because in case you're new to this series, "Puppet Master 3: Toulon's Revenge" is my favorite "Puppet Master" movie and it was also a prequel to the entire series. And it was a damn awesome prequel, too. And this movie could pull off that same kind of miracle with itself. Though as to whether or not it can actually do that remains to be seen. So I may as well see for myself if this movie will actually surprise me and wind up being really awesome. And the only way I'm gonna find out is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans".
14 minutes later
OK, I have a question here. How long did it take for Lucien and Sonja to fall in love with each other? Because earlier, the last time these two interacted with each other is when Lucien saved Sonja from a pair of wild lycans. Except, the way Sonja talked to him really didn't seem like it was, in a way, where she was grateful to him. It was more sarcastic than anything else. And yet, now when they're meeting alone, they're suddenly making out with each other. Again, it leads me to ask how long did it take for them to fall in love with one another? Better yet, how long have they been having this secret relationship with each other? I'm really starting to get curious now, guys.
8 minutes later
I didn't think this was possible, guys, but somehow, the CG has gotten worse here than it did in "Underworld: Evolution". And it, once more, has to do with the awful blood effects. I didn't think that was actually possible, but somehow, this movie has already pulled that off. Wow...
20 minutes later
By the way, guys, the suitwork on these lycans look just as horrible as the digital blood effects in this movie because they just look like dudes in obvious wolf costumes. Mind you, the story here is actually not too bad so far, it's just I can't quite get over how bad the special effects are in this movie, guys. That's actually kinda surprising.
1 minute later
OK, you know what? This douchebag who lashed at Lucien earlier is finally getting what's coming to him. I'm actually A-OK with this.
12 minutes later
All right, I probably should've picked up on this at least two movies ago, but apparently, whenever a vampire, more specifically Viktor, bites someone, he can apparently see visions into their own past. I will admit, it probably doesn't make much sense, seeing as how I would think that the moment a vampire bites you, then you turn into a vampire yourself. But seeing as how this series has done this kind of thing already, I probably should've picked up on it more sooner than I could've.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, I mentioned before that maybe this movie could pull off what "Puppet Master 3" did with it's series by being the best one in the series, and were both prequels as well. And you know what? It actually worked here. This movie was actually pretty good. Mind you, that's not a very high bar to pass considering the previous two movies were pretty average at best. But still, what is here is still pretty solid. I'm actually kinda surprised by that, actually.
Why don't we go ahead and start this review off as usual by first talking about the writing. Now the story here is pretty much what the subtitle suggests. This is a prequel to the first "Underworld" movie, and it follows Lucien's fall and rise as a lycan slave. He frees other slaves that were also turned into lycans and also falls in love with Viktor's daughter, Sonja, who's also a vampire. Now of course if you have been following these movies up till this point, you pretty much know what's going to happen to Sonja. It's not really a huge spoiler since they pretty much let you know that she's going to die, which would trigger the inner beast in Lucien. And I'm gonna say, again, that the story here is actually very easy to follow, and you're not really boggled down by anything that might be considered pointless filler.
Another thing this movie excels at is pacing. In the previous two films, both movies suffered from really rough pacing issues. More so the first movie than the second, but that isn't to say that the second didn't have it's own pacing problems either. This film, however, is able to handle it's own pace pretty well. Now despite this movie being about an hour and a half long, it's really only about 82 minutes long if you don't count the 10 minutes or so of credits that appear afterwards. Still though, the pacing here is really tight and it does keep the story going without it slowing down very much. There is a couple of moments where the movie might slow down, but it's not to a point where it kills the momentum of the movie's pacing. It still keeps going, enough to where it doesn't rush itself either. This is one of the better paced movies I have seen in this series in quite a while.
Our characters here are fleshed out, and seeing as it focuses on Lucien's past, you do get to see more of his character here, where in the first movie, his character motivation was really confusing and you have no idea if you're suppose to care for him or not. I mean, the same could be said for the vampires as well, but that's besides the point. In this movie, they make it clear that the vampires are more antagonistic while the lycans are more the underdog heroes. And Lucien is someone that you can definitely care for, as he tries to free all the slaves while trying to make it out with Sonja. Obviously, the latter is not going to happen. But again, if you have seen the other two movies, then it's bound to happen naturally. And even though I could ask how long she and Lucien have been secretly seeing each other without Viktor or anyone else noticing, she is still at least likable and can hold her own as a fighter herself. At least, for the most part, anyway.
So yeah, guys, despite some minor quirks here and there, the writing here is pretty solid. Like I said, the story is very easy to follow and it has very tight pacing, so it'll be an easy breeze to get through. And to add onto that, the acting here is mostly really solid. The one actor who I have an issue with is the black actor who's voice sounds very...odd. See, I'm not sure if it's the range of his voice, or if he's just putting on some kind of accent, but for whatever reason, he sounds very quiet whenever he talks. And a lot of times, you can barely make out what he's trying to say. On rare occasions, you can *kinda* make out some of his dialogue, but his voice just sounds so weirdly quiet that I can barely make out what he's trying to say. Now yes, I could also put part of the blame on this for the sound-mixing, but it's kind of hard to do so when just about every other actor's dialogue is easy to pick up on. So on this occasion, I'm gonna put the blame on this for the direction for his character here. But like I was saying, every actor here turns in a great showing. So, despite one mishap, the acting here is very solid.
Special effects, however, are pretty terrible. In fact, I would still say that they're worse here than how they were implemented in the previous movie. In the previous film, it was mainly just the usage of digital blood. Well, this film has the exact same problem, but I feel like it's worse here because a lot of it looks really fucking cheap. And I want to emphasize again that it's really only for CG blood. The practical blood that's used here is decent, but the CG blood here, especially when there's blood splatter, looks terrible. Another issue is the costuming on the lycans. Because when you see a lot of them up close in some scenes, they look like guys in obvious wolf masks. And the body costuming looks just as awful as well. Now when the lycans are in CG, it's not as big of an issue, because most of them are seen from further away and they don't look that obvious. Granted, the CG on them isn't that great either, but it still looks better when you don't have to view them up close because they look really shitty.
That aside, I will say that the costuming on our other actors look really good. And the sets look great as well, as the castle looks like something that you would see from a dark fantasy story come to life. Which is great to see. Camerawork here is really solid. The lighting here is very good. The sound-mixing here is competent. And the score is also very good, too. Again, it helps bring the dark mood of the movie, which was obviously the intention. So yeah, technical work here is top notch.
Ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans"? You know what, I'm actually going to say yes here. Because, like I've already said, we have a pretty good story that is easy to follow and you have characters who you can actually care about. And also, the acting is mostly really solid as well. So on that end, I would say it's worth a watch. If you were a fan of the previous "Underworld" movies, then I would say that it's worth checking out, especially if you are curious to find out how this whole thing started. As for myself, I quite enjoyed this movie. I'm not sure if it's something that I would rewatch again, but I can say at least that I have some interest going into the 4th movie. So I'll be ready for that one when I get to it very soon. For now, though, I'm gonna go and attempt to watch "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge" again. Because I was still pissed about it not playing beforehand. But I'm curious now to see if it has changed at all. I'm hoping so, anyway.
But anyways, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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