Tuesday 22 May 2012

Review: Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Patrick Tatopoulos, 2009)



Stylishly entertaining medieval fantasy yarn, the best film of the trilogy by far

I wouldn't say i'm a big fan of Underworld but I admired the story more than the directing and generic execution. However, this 3rd movie surpasses both original ones in pretty much everything that now i'm a huge fan- from effects, to direction to even performances this film was brilliant and far superior to the previous films.

Set as a prequel before the previous two films, this tragic love story story tells the tale of how the feud between the Lycans and the Vampires first began, and introduces us to the principle characters and how their fates would to unfold in the future films (Underworld and Underworld Evolution).

Bill Nighy and Micheal Sheen are mesmerising as always, the visuals are outstanding for a small movie like this (really good CG, better than the first 2, made the movie really epic in scope could easily be mistaken for a Lord of the Rings film, especially TTT) with amazing art design (pseudo-medieval epic LOTR-style fantasy vibe and costumes was totally kick-ass, and the lycans look so much better here than before), gripping and captivating drama that really strengthens the past history and story as a prequel (finally we get to see a proper much-desired battle between Lucian and Viktor as well understand why they conflict), wicked music, superb, style and excellent choreography, badass action scenes and direction.

I believe director Patrick Tatopoulos pulled off a better movie than Len Wiseman did with his 2 attempts, easily. This is the best film out of the trilogy by far in my opinion. The only thing i was sad to see go was Kate Beckinsale, but Rhona Mitra did more than nicely.

It's so good to see a creature designer and artist whom i've admired for so long direct a film that is exactly what I want in a kick-ass creature feature/fantasy action adventure film. The best thing about him being an SFX guy is that he knows how to film effects properly, especially if the effects are bad, he knows how to mask them and utilise their strengths more, exactly like James Cameron, Stan Winston and Guillermo Del Toro. Wiseman didn't have a clue how to do this properly.

I feel the film achieves everything it sets out to do. Given the film's budget, resources, and the talent behind it i believe it hit the mark and ticked the boxes in the best way it could given what it is, and thus it gets full marks as a piece of work presented to us. They all tried their hardest and not only succeeded but surpasses expectations (look at other films in the same predicament, which sucked), ergo for me this film gets top marks.

Well done Patrick! I hope he directs the 4th one, as this movie was a total surprise and a fantastic prequel, just a great film overall. The ending actually gave me goosebumps, I love how the final scene links in to the rest of the films.

1 comment:

joe_h said...

"I believe director Patrick Tatopoulos pulled off a better movie than Len Wiseman did with his 2 attempts, easily. This is the best film out of the trilogy by far in my opinion."

You are out of your mind. Underworld 3 was a complete turd. The original and it's sequel are far superior films, and it's not even that close.