‘Rise of the Lycans’ good for a prequel (3.5/5)

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Starring: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra.
Directed by: Patrick Tatopoulos.
Rating: R for bloody violence and some sexuality.
Running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes.

Next to pirates, vampires are my favorite Halloween costume stand-by. I feel inclined every October to watch a few films featuring the undead, mostly because they’re not overly scary but still put me in that “Halloween” mood rivaled only by “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

What I like most about vampire movies is the dark mythology of it all. While still classified as “action” films, they often tend to have a better backstory and more structure and depth than the “Diehards” or anything with Vin Diesel.

So enjoying the “Underworld” series hasn’t been a stretch for me. And the latest installment, “Rise of the Lycans,” was as good as the other two (if not much better than “Evolution”).

Prequels can be tricky to pull off. The advantage that director Patrick Tatopoulos had is that most of the characters within the series are immortal, and so having the original two movies set in present day and the prequel in the Medieval Ages was easier than it could have been.

If you’ve seen the first two movies, you’re already familiar with the plot of “Lycans” (another tricky aspect of choosing to film a prequel). Essentially, it tells the backstory and origin of the war between the vampires and lycans.

For those who aren’t familiar, here’s a quick rundown:

The first vampire, Markus, and the first werewolf, William, were brothers. Unlike the common idea of a werewolf, in which a human becomes a savage animal at the full moon, William is constantly in the savage wolf state and cannot become human again.

William went on to infect many others, creating a large number of fellow werewolves. In an effort to stop him, Markus approached a Hungarian general and warlord, Viktor, and offered him immortality in return for Viktor’s aid in eradicating all werewolves except William.

Viktor captured William and the vampires made an agreement to have only one “elder” awake and ruling at a time.

At the start of “Lycans,” Viktor is the ruler of the vampires. He and his clan live in a castle and discover a human baby born to a werewolf. Viktor finds that the child is able to transform between human- and wolf-shape, so he saves the child and names him Lucian.

Soon after, Viktor has a daughter named Sonja, who is raised along with Lucian, whom she eventually falls in love with.

As Lucian grew up, he was forced to create others like him by Viktor. This new breed, called Lycans, is used by Viktor as “guard dogs.” Eventually, despite his love for Sonja, Lucian tires of his life as a slave and plans a revolution.

Although this film is nothing new, both in terms of the plot being explained in the other two and in the Romeo-and-Juliet-esque romance, the movie thrives on the characterization and historical aspect rather than the “surprise ending.”

Most of the actors did a great job. Bill Nighy as the cruel Viktor steals the stage in every scene, of course, but is given a good run for his money by Michael Sheen as the impassioned Lucian. As for Rhona Mitra as Sonja, I have to admit I actually thought it was Kate Beckinsale. Perhaps she was chosen for her resemblance rather than her skills.

The movie itself is dark in the sense that it is at times difficult to see what is going on, and the werewolf costumes are simply laughable. But if you can get beyond that, it’s a fairly good film, and its short running time shouldn’t leave you too fidgety. Overall, it’s been done before, but it’s still a fun adventure.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween, and a very happy birthday to my boyfriend, Chase, who is turning 25 on Sunday.

3 1/2 of 5 stars