BOTTOM LINE: Decent entertainment, and a step up from the unimpressive previous entry “Underworld: Evolution”, this film delivers its genre points well but its prequel nature makes the film feel more like a light background prologue rather than a solid chapter in the franchise.

THE GOOD: “Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans” tells the origin story of the conflict between vampires and werewolves, eluded to in the previous entries in the series. As a genre film it works well, delivering all the stops including much vampire and werewolf carnage, particularly in some well staged action sequences which pits Victor (Bill Nighy), the leader of the vampires, against Lucian (Michael Sheen), the first intelligent werewolf who breaks free of Victor’s captivity in search of a more meaningful and free existence out from under the tyrannical arrogance of the vampires. As befits a story like this, the precursor to the battle is the forbidden love affair between Lucian and Victor’s daughter Sonia (Rhona Mitra). After Lucian breaks free, Victor discovers the truth and barricades his daughter in her room, forbidding her to leave. When Lucian comes to rescue her, they are both caught and sentenced to death, with Sonia paying the ultimate price: death by sunlight – would you have expected anything else from a vampire flick? Lucian, enraged, escapes again, taking on Victor and his henchman and eventually succeeds, but not before Victor escapes. This film is nothing more than what it sets out to be: a good genre flick that delivers lots of monsters and cool looking vampires with steely blue eyes that do nasty things. On this level, there is much to appreciate, particularly in the menacing performance of Bill Nighy as Victor and the spirited performance of Michael Sheen as Lucian.

THE BAD: The “Underworld” films have never been particularly large-scale, but even so, there is a very underwhelming feeling to this entry, giving the impression of a light-weight prologue or flashback as opposed to a solid chapter in the series. This is no more reinforced by the final scene which is the first scene from the first film. Hence, the film does not have the same strength as the previous two films, even though it manages to improve on many aspects over its immediate predecessor. One other unfortunate aspect to the film is the use in certain shots of computer generated werewolves. Even in the dark where lack of detail is more forgiving, they do not look all that real; the prosthetic ones do but they do not, leaving a feeling of unbelievability in some shots in the action sequences.