One of the things that irritated me about the first Underworld was the fact that Lucian didn’t really get a time to shine. He was THE only real interesting Lycan and his back story sounded awesome. Then, [SPOILER] they kill him off in a lame way, right before he was getting ready to fight. Meh [/SPOILER].
Luckily, this movie fixes that issue, basically giving Lucian his own movie and explaining in more detail why he is trying to destroy the vampires, among other things.
The story is actually quite simple. Lucian is the first true Lycan (aka able to take human form and change at will). Victor uses him to create more Lycans so they can defend the vampires during the daylight. Lucian doesn’t like being a slave but what he does like is Victor’s vampire daughter Sonya. And as you would expect, this leads to major problems and eventually leads to the events in the first Underworld. And, while this is all going on, the number of Werewolves (can’t change back to human form) is multiplying rapidly outside the castle walls, reeking havoc.
I actually really enjoy this movie and it is much better than Evolution. It really explains the motivations of Lucian and Victor and why the events of Underworld occur. The action scenes are quite good (and bloody) and the story moves along at a good pace. The movie isn’t one big action fest though, as they must show what Lucian and the other slaves lives are like and they get into the Lucian/Sonya relationship. The relationship part, in my opinion, is actually over shadowed by the slavery issue, even though I believe the aim of the movie was the opposite.
One thing the movie fails at is making you give two shits about Sonya. They try but it didn’t really click for me. It seemed she caused more trouble for Lucian than anything.
In my opinion, they should do another prequel, detailing [SPOILERS] what exactly happened the night Lucian faked his death and went into hiding [/SPOILERS]. Lucian is probably the most interesting character in the Underworld universe, much more interesting than Selena. Instead, they are doing a sequel after Evolution. Better than nothing I suppose.
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Rotten Tomatoe’s Rating: 30% Audience: 68%
Shadow’s Rating: 8/10–The best Underworld movie so far in my opinion.
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Pros, cons, spoilers after the jump.
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– The Lycan’s look awesome but still move a bit clunky in my opinion.
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– They made Victor a little TOO stubborn in my opinion. I am assuming that was there aim but still… Lucian saves your daughter’s ass so you sentence him to be killed? Wut?
– I think they should have showcased a couple more of the vampires, other than Victor, Sonya, and Tavern.
– Sonya was “meh.” I felt more sorry for Lucian when they killed her. She seemed to cause more trouble than she was worth.
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Pros:
– Lucian is a bad ass. Dude can handle a blade with the best of them. I do not really understand why he was trained so well when they defend the castle in Lycan form but I am glad he was lol.
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– The dude that plays Victor plays “stubborn douschebag” quite well. Dude playing Tavern also plays sleaze ball quite well. Both of those characters were good.
– The plot fits in nicely with the first Underworld and holds its own as well. No glaring plot holes or anything like some prequels end up doing.
– Appropriate amount of blood in my opinion. Once again, it is a movie about werewolves and vampires and swords. You need blood or it just seems ridiculous.
The Mind of Shadow 