VIDEO: The trailer for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
This third Underworld installment actually makes some sense. The first two chapters provided a backdrop against which Kate Beckinsale could look sleek and fetching as she hacked at werewolves and double-dealing vampires.
Any explanation as to why the two factions were at war got submerged beneath the din of CGI FX and flash-cut mêlées. More of the same goes on here, but it's a prequel, so we get some answers.
Patrick Tatopoulos, who did the production design for the first two, directs, and he has the good sense to let veteran actors Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon) emote mightily before settling down for some mediæval mayhem. Nighy's vampire lord, Viktor, has enslaved Sheen's Lucian and the rest of the wolfish pack. Lucian has the hots for Viktor's daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra), but their love is taboo, and so it goes. Exposition aside, this Underworld sinks to the same level as the rest.
