The first Underworld movie was a project stuffed to the teeth with potential. I mean come on… at the time who didn’t want to see a movie about a war between vampires and werewolves with a hot as nuclear fire Kate Beckinsale wearing tight black leather?
The movie didn’t misfire… but at the same time it didn’t really come close to its potential either. I enjoyed Underworld, but I couldn’t help but feel it was something of a missed opportunity as well. Then came Underworld 2. Well… the 4 words giant, sack, of and shit all come to mind. What could have been their opportunity to build on the strengths of the first film, instead built on the weaknesses of the first film leaving us with nothing but a befuddled mess of plot holes, uninteresting characters and bland cliches.
However… even as bad as Underworld 2 was, you could still see the elements of a potential GREAT movie in there. The building blocks are all there. A terrific mythology to work off of, a smooth sense of style and some AMAZING characters (Viktor, played brilliantly by Bill Nighy is probably my all time favorite movie Vampire character). What they need, and what they have been lacking is some solid narrative to shape all these great elements into a memorable film. The narrative to this point has been weak… but the rich individual elements are still there… and so… I’ve always been open to the notion of another Underworld film. And here it comes…
Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans looks (on the surface anyway) like a film that will finally really play to the franchises strengths. Our good friends over at FilmJunk give us this:
Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans is going to be a prequel (couldn’t you tell by the word “Rise” in the title?), and neither director Len Wiseman nor his wife Kate Beckinsale are directly involved (although Wiseman is producing). Instead, creature FX artist/production designer Patrick Tatopoulos will be making his directorial debut, with Michael Sheen (Lucian), Bill Nighy (Viktor) and Rhona Mitra set to star. The story will focus on Lucian’s role in the Lycan uprising over their Death Dealer masters, shifting the perspective of the series to the werewolves instead of the vampires.
Call me naively optimistic, but this all sounds like they’re at least heading in the right direction. Does that mean the movie will be good? Obviously not, but the potential is still there. Even in the absence of Beckinsale, I think an Underworld movie focusing on the mythology of the war and the characters of Lucian and Viktor is a HUGE step in the right direction. I am not only optimistic about it… but excited about it too! Let’s see how it turns out.
