Vampires! Did I get your attention? Yeah, I thought so. I don't see the vampire craze dying down any time soon, and I'm sure Sony's banking on that.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans released today with a Rotten Tomatoes rating that dove quickly: It was at 55% this morning, dropped to 35% this afternoon, and has crawled up to 41% as of this evening.
Before I get into the movie, let me get this out of way: THIS is how vampires should look. Cold-blooded, pale-skinned, eerily attractive creatures of the night that survive highlighted by the icy blue hyper-contrasted glare of the moon. NOT pale, sparkling, baseball-playing creatures washed out by the excessively flat, low-contrast white light of a cloudy day. Please. Totally not sexy.
Despite that, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans still isn't going to be an easy sell for me. While the first one was one of my guilty pleasures, I was sorely disappointed in the second one. The third one has me even less hopeful, especially considering how little buildup there was. They saved all of the push for this weekend (you can't escape it on any movie sites). The movie also has a big problem:
The movie is a prequel, detailing--what else?--the rise of the Lycans. It still has Michael Sheen as Lucian and Bill Nighy as Viktor, but there's no Kate Beckinsale! How can you have Underworld without Kate Beckinsale?! Un
derworld IS Kate Beckinsale.
They're trying to get around the lack of Beckinsale by casting Rhona Mitra as Lucien's love, Sonja. Yeah, she looks like Beckinsale, and Underworld has never been known for great acting, but I'm just not feeling the love toward this movie. We'll see. Perhaps if this movie does well they'll do a fourth movie, and maybe, just maybe, Kate Beckinsale will be back for that one.
Check out the trailer and judge for yourself.
Trivia: Michael Sheen, who plays Lucian, is also Frost in Frost/Nixon, which receives a wide release today. At least you know the man has range.
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