Rise, You Lycans...Whatever You Are!

Oh, this one's gonna get a critical beatdown, I imagine. The acting is just unbearable (lots of screaming, Rhona Mitra ruining her chances of being a next big thing, Bill Nighy following in Samuel L. Jackson's footsteps), the TV spots are lifeless, prequels rarely work (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) and, yes, it just screams direct-to-video. Why couldn't Lionsgate pick this up; this looks like it came from their workhouse factory.

By the way, HeadRAZZ, when are you putting up the releases of 2009?

The bad thing about it is that it will prob see blu ray before other worthy titles... taking space and time for a lousy prequel of an already garbage movie nobody asked for!

To answer the question in the forum header, no, "Underworld" doesn't sound like a shop to buy push-up bras in. It sounds more like a night club where one would find lots of drugs hidden under the bar stools.

Originally posted by wetbandit82 Technically, this could also be classified as Worst Knock-Off if it becomes eligible for any awards, since this and the rest of the series are essentially stealing from The Real Ghostbusters' episode No One Comes to Lupusville, which presented the vampire-werewolf battle storyline in a far more entertaining and genuinely scary way ("I'm picking up PKE readings in front of us...and to the right...and to the left...and behind us...Gentlemen, we're surrounded...")("Turnip?"  "Yes, it is.").

I guess that means it is true what they say, there aren't any new stories left, just ways to retell the ones that we already have. It's just that some retellings are worse than others.

And if a third movie wasn't bad enough, word has it a TV series is in the works.

Underworld director Len Wiseman is set to downsize his werewolf versus vampire movie franchise by turning it into a TV drama.

The director has just released Underworld: Rise of The Lycans in America, and he admits he has small-screen plans for the future.

Wiseman, who met and fell for his wife Kate Beckinsale on the first Underworld film, tells BloodyDisgusting.com, "There's a lot of talk about a television series and I'm looking into that. If I could be very involved... I'd be very interested in that.

"We had always hoped to do a trilogy, and now that we've completed that, it's kind of open."

The first two movies were okay, but a TV series? I know a TV series based on "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" was in the works, but I don't think it ever got off the ground. Successful movie spin-off series like "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and "M*A*S*H" only come once in a lifetime.

I will admit, with some reluctance, that I saw all three of the Underworlds, in the theater, on opening day. I will also admit, with equal reluctance, that I actually enjoyed the first two. They were kinda fun, in a stupid lose yourself in the action sort of way, the type of movie that one can watch with a stupid grin on their face, and just sort of let the mind roam. That, and they had Kate Beckinsale, and if that isn't enough to get a straight guy interested, perhaps you should check to make sure you're not blind.

The problem with this third one is, it retreads material that was covered sufficiently in a very brief flash back in one of the previous films. The movie was entirely unnecessary, and took out one of the best parts of the originals (once again, I'm talking about Kate... or Scott Speedman, for the ladies out there.) Where are the fun guns, and flashy action? Gone. Where is the small bit of heart that was injected into the first movies? Gone.

All that is left is an empty husk of a movie, tossed out to the remaining fans of this series, like festering meat to a rabid dog. It was a slap on the face. It was a tired retread of the Romeo and Juliet story (or Pyramus and Thisbe, for those that want to point out that Romeo and Juliet was a retread of old territory as well...) Sure, this is what the series was in a nutshell, anyway, but much like the ill-fated Halloween III: Season of the Witch, once you take away the main characters, the series can not sustain itself. One can only hope that Hollywood has learned its lesson with this one, and will let the Lycans die finally.

(First post here by the way, be gentle :-P )

Honestly, if this is the crap that they had planned, perhaps it is a good thing that Kate bailed on it. I'd hate to have her lend her body...er... I mean talents to this schlock.

I don't know if I would say that Rhona is just as hot as Kate, but she is close. Either way, movies like this are why she may never get the recognition she might deserve...