Underworld: La rebelión de los licántropos

when I first found out that this was gonna be a prequel,, I didn't quite get how they were gonna do this,, but after watching the film,, I 'm glad that the producers, writers, and director did it the way that they did,, all in all superb acting from the cast.. great direction,, solid camera work,, great special effects,, had lot's of good battle scenes,, especially at the end,,, I like the idea of the story that explains how the Lycans got to rise to their power,, because at first they were the slaves. I'm a big fan of the 1st two movies,, and this one didn't disappoint,, cept save for the abscene of it's star Kate Beckinsale,, but otherwise a pretty decent movie.

"Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" is the third movie of the Underworld series and in this one we are back in time where the race of aristocratic vampires had Lycans as their slaves and we watch how they rise up against the cruel vampire king and what happened next.

I liked this movie because it was something really different from all the other vampire movies and I also liked the thing that it turned us so back to show us how the things were there and how all this things started from the beginning of them. The interpretations of Michael Sheen who plays as Lucian, Rhona Mitra who plays as Sonja and Bill Nighy who plays as Viktor were simply outstanding.

Finally I have to tell you that I strongly recommend this movie such as all of the Underworld movies.

Again the eternal fight between vampires and werewolves in this exciting prequel set in the Dark Ages. This original and gore-soaked vampires film begins centuries ago. Unknown to humanity, centuries old blood feud raged between aristocrat vampires and subdued legion of werewolves known as Lycans who work as slaves. For centuries Sonja ( Rhona Mitra ) is a loyal soldier of the vampire clan, but she falls in love with the Lycan Lucian ( Michael Sheen ). The tale traces the origins of the confrontation between a ruling class of bloodsuckers and their onetime slaves, the werewolves . A young Lycan named Lucian emerges as a powerful rebel who rallies the rebellious werewolves to rise up against Viktor, Sonja's father and the brutal vampire king . Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja, in his struggle against the Vampire army and his fight for Lycan freedom . Neverheless , the war was not as it had seemed. In one night, the lies that had united the kind vampire had been exposed. Sonja has formed a secret alliance with Lucian, ruler of the werewolf clan to overthrow Viktor ( Bill Nighy ), vampires leader who has enslaved them . But Viktor's lust for power and domination has failed. As Viktor was not the savior they had been led to believe . Soon the hunt would be on for his killer . As the war between vampires and werewolves get more personal and deadly , they decide to launch a full-scale attack on the hideout in order to extinguish the race.

This amazing movie displays noisy action , thrills ride, stirring fighting , graphic violence , brief nudism with mild sex scene and is pretty amusing . It packs large loads of guts and gore , there's a huge body count, this one actually knocks off an immense amount, several vampires and werewolves are staked bloodily in the chest, even more impaled with large claws. There's really savage decapitation, plenty of bodies ripped in scraps and half, including some of the most tears ever, that spill lots of blood and numerous get shot up with arcs . Most of vampires, Lycans and humans victims are relegated to being bitten in the throat and neck and the breathtaking fighting scenes are realized with magnificent special and visual effects as well as excellent make-up department . The film blends horror, suspense, struggles, rip-roaring action, terror and lots of gore. Set design is of first class , settings are stylized, Gothic scenarios , and spooky and ghoulish atmosphere. Specials effects are breathtaking, part of them are made by means of computer generator and part by make up . Bone-chilling and atmospheric musical score by Paul Haslinger and colorful and dark cinematography by Ross Emery. Spectacular and moving direction by Patrick Tatopoulos. He's author of set design and production design of Underworld I and II and known blockbusters, such as ¨10.000 BC, Indepencence day, I robot, Resident evil, Pith black ¨, among them . The interesting screenplay is written by Len Wiseman, who directed the former entries , along with Danny McBride and Kevin Grevioux . All actors and technicians participated in the previous outings with exception Kate Beckinsale , being well replaced by Rhona Mitra as relentless action woman . Recommended to those who amuse those kind of vampires-werewolves films or those enjoy in general.

"Rise of the Lycans", on the surface, makes a perfectly well working prequel. The loss of Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman is compensated by a great Rhona Mitra and especially Michael Sheen's titanic effort. The look and the action are amazing, considering the somewhat lower budget, and the story makes sense to prepare us all for the things to come in the other two movies. All in all, the trilogy is round now and does not disappoint in any department, unless you are taking everything a bit too literally and wonder how werewolves can make babies.

It is interesting, however, to peek below the surface. The makers mentioned in interviews they see similarities to "Romeo & Juliet" insofar as Lucien and Sonja are lovers not allowed to get together. One crucial difference, however, is that Romeo and Juliet came from two noble families, whereas in "Rise of the Lyans", Sonja is a member of the aristocratic pale vampire rulers, who are sipping glasses of blood on the castle, while Lucien is with the ugly, hairy slaves, the werewolves exploited as cheap labor force. We don't really get to see what this work consists of except carrying stones around. Also the love story isn't explained enough in the running time of not much more than 80 minutes PAL until the credits start to roll. But the point is that "Rise of the Lycans" is a hardly disguised class struggle story. Similar to the Italian socialist cinema of the 1960s which would show the rebellion of poor farmers against the rich property owners, the working class has to realise their value (in Lucien's words: "we are more than animals") and claim their human rights. When Lucien says "this is just the beginning", it may seem to the audience that he jokingly refers to other other two movies which have shown us already how the story continues after this prequel. In the subtext, though, he is making a very serious statement that freedom is the foundation of a life worth living, and everything else will be built up now upon this basic condition. It's a pity that the movie doesn't elaborate more on that and doesn't spend some additional time on the character development, either, because it could have been the best of the trilogy. Alas, I voted almost equally 8-7-7 for the three movies.

This prequel to "Underworld" is essentially the story of "Lucian" (played by Michael Sheen) and the evolution of lycans (werewolves) from full-time savage beasts to those who change from werewolf to human (and back again). The biggest problem I have with prequels is that the endings are generally already known, so much of the mystery has already been taken away. This film is no exception. For example, anyone who has seen "Underworld" knows that "Sonja" (played by Rhona Mitra) dies. It is also common knowledge that "Viktor" (Bill Nighy) and "Lucian" will live to fight another day. Further, for those who have seen the sequel, "Underworld: Evolution", then they know that "Tannis" (Steve Mackintosh) also survives. So all that's left are perhaps a few minor surprises here and there and the hope of plenty of good action or plot developments in-between. Because of this, prequels are seldom as good as the original movie. Add in the fact that the main star (Kate Beckinsale) of both "Underworld" and "Underworld: Evolution" is absent, along with the fact that another director (Patrick Tatopoulos) is calling the shots, and this movie doesn't seem to have much chance of success. Fortunately, this film beats the odds. Although not quite as good as Kate Beckinsale, Rhona Mitra steps in and gives a very good performance as "Sonja", the daughter of "Viktor". Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy also perform exceptionally well. Likewise, Patrick Tatopoulos manages to stay the course and remains true to the basic theme of the original and sequel alike. In short, this is a surprisingly good prequel and I recommend it to anyone who liked the two previous pictures.