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Reviews Counted:74
Fresh:24
Rotten:50
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: Despite the best efforts of its competent cast, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is an indistinguishable and unnecessary prequel.
Theatrical Release:Jan 23, 2009 Wide
Box Office: $45,802,315
Synopsis: The third film in the UNDERWORLD saga goes back hundreds of years to explain the origins of the feud between the vampire Death Dealers and the werewolf Lycans. Taking over directing duties from Len... [More]
Starring: Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Steven Mackintosh
Director: Patrick Tatopoulos
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Interview: While Alfred Hitchcock and more recently M. Night Shyamalan have teetered between whether or not to write roles for themselves into their own scripts, there's no tottering for Underworld character writer Kevin Grevioux.
Bad even for a movie about vampires and werewolves, this "Underworld" prequel should, at the very least, be the final nail in this franchise's (ahem) coffin.
Full of superficial drama but empty of emotional substance, Rise of the Lycans explains how everything happened in the first two films but fails to address why, which is why both longtime fans and newcomers will still feel they've been left in the dark.
I wouldn't say that Rise of the Lycans redeems the Underworld franchise, but at least it shows that a solid movie can be made from this material.
The performances are forceful enough to keep things interesting even when no one is sprouting fangs or drinking blood.
Top CriticFor all you guys who were dragged kicking and screaming to Twilight last year, here's your chance to show your woman what a real vampire movie is all about.
The film tends to forget that these are supernatural creatures (it's not scary at all), and it quickly turns into a pretty standard-issue "revolt of the slaves" action picture (with very poor action scenes).
. . .a prequel that discards Beckinsale's character altogether (all the better to keep the budget down) while providing an origin story chock-full of the kind of ponderously uninteresting backstory that practically no one was clamoring for.
Tatopoulos has trimmed the fat for a more-satisfying bloodsucker brawl than we have any right to hope for in a January release.
The characters include Fearful Lycan and another called Big Lycan but, unfortunately, none named Compelling Lycan or Lycan Who Breaks Up the Monotonous Fight Scenes With a Couple Good Wisecracks.
If you've had enough Oscar-nominated oatmeal, and you're in the mood for a big bowl of sugary cereal with no nutritional content, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is ready for you to sink your fake fangs into it.
Every bit as inane and tedious as its predecessors.
Superfluous yet modestly entertaining thanks to Nighy and the franchise's blend of camp and visually diverting mayhem.
Michael Sheen certainly makes the most out of his role as Lucian. He's the center of attention and relishes in it. Fans of the monster-film genre will not be disappointed.
A casting disaster. Michael Sheen played Tony Blair and David Frost. Now he's killed a franchise.
Looking like a low-rent, fraction-of-the-cost cousin to the previous two efforts, the franchise's latest (and hopefully last) entry is muddy-looking, undistinguished, and frustratingly minimal in scope.
derivative and silly, and still inescapably inessential. But on a cold day in late January, it's a lot of fun
Not deep or particularly good, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is the kind of innocuous fluff that will appeal to fans of the earlier entries. Everyone else can safely skip it.
Director Patrick Tatopoulos is in over his head with a movie that should, but probably won't, put a final nail in Underworld's monochromatic coffin.
I'd provide more detail of plot and dialogue, but the visual palette was way too dark for me to take legible notes; and frankly, though I saw it at a midnight screening hours ago, the movie just wasn't that memorable.
Top Critic
May 11, 2009:
RT on DVD: Taken Exclusive; Underworld 3, Trek Blu-ray Set!
This week on DVD, Liam Neeson (you know, the veteran Irish actor who your grandmother thinks looks nice) opens a can of whoop ass on unsuspecting kidnappers, much to our delight... More...
January 23, 2009:
Len Wiseman Talks Underworld's Future 
Now that "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" is in theaters, it seems appropriate to ask about the future of the franchise -- a subject that Len Wiseman was happy to discuss with... More...
January 22, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Inkheart Is Less Than Magical
This week at the movies, we've got living literature (Inkheart, starring Brendan Fraser and Eliza Hope Bennett); political intrigue (Frost/Nixon, starring Michael Sheen and... More...
January 22, 2009:
Box Office Guru Preview: Underworld Battles Oscar All-Stars
Only two new releases hit the North American box office, but in the wake of Academy Award nominations, a handful of contenders take the opportunity to expand nationwide hoping... More...
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