This is the latest in the Underworld franchise and is a prequel to the original, explaining how the bad blood between vampires and lycans arose. The bloodsuckers are an aristocratic group that keep the lycans as slaves and protectors. Viktor, king of the vampires, is incensed when he discovers his daughter, played by Rhona Mitra, is having a clandestine romance with the lycanthropic Lucien. The father takes some rather ill-advised disciplinary action leading to a revolt led by Lucien.A lazy reviewer (me for example) would label this film as a cross between Spartacus and Romeo and Juliet. Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen reprise their roles as Viktor and Lucien. Both are fine actors (Sheen having faced a monster of an altogether different kind in the recent Frost/Nixon) but here they're lumbered with ponderous dialogue and a plot that never really moves out of first gear. Mitra plays an appealing heroine with a little more 'oomph' than Kate Beckinsale but is largely wasted. The original Underworld wasn't exactly a cinema classic but it looks quite classy next to this effort.
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