John’s Movie Musings

I can’t really call the Underworld movies great cinema.  But unlike some other vampire movies, the Underworlds have a healthy respect for the blood-suckers and a surprisingly deep backstory that remains consistent across the series.  I wonder if someone is working on a book series in the universe.  There’s enough material for some really great stories.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans takes place within that backstory and explores one of the major twists of the first movie.  I had forgotten the plot of Underworld but there were enough characters that looked familiar, I stopped partway through and Wiki’d what I had forgotten.  I’m not sure that was a good idea since I went from not knowing what was gonna happen, to watching to see how events played out.  Then again, isn’t that how you’re supposed to watch a prequel?

The story isn’t any worse than the other Underworlds.  You just have an innocent girl looking for love while vampires and werewolves wage war around her.  Yeah, sounds like Twilight, but this story was written for men, so you get lots of women in tight leather (No Kate Beckinsale this time, but Hollywood found her twin) and absolutely no sparkling.  That’s a win in my book.

If you have seen the others, there’s absolutely no reason to skip this one.  If not, there’s plenty of worse crap out there.  Besides, with that much care put into the lore, it deserves a little of your interest.

Grade: B-