Thoughts on the Comic-Con trailer
Sony passed along three hi-res stills from its upcoming theatrical threequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, a title I think couldn’t be any more appropriate based on the footage director Patrick Tatopoulos brought to Comic-Con this year. The trailer presented to the audience was an all-out Lycan-filled romp and fans of the series will be happy to know this film promises to explore the violent race war between the werewolves and vampire species.
The footage seen was a bit rough around the edges with unfinished FX. It begins with Michael Sheen (co-star of the first Underworld), haggard and chained, speaking to his fellow Lycans about having “Lived by their rules my entire life!” Decent way to start a slave uprising. We witness his love affair with the vampire Rhona Mitra; Kevin Grevioux returning as the hulking Lycan known as Raze; and Bill Nighy looking regal and heavily armored on horseback. All set up before the rest the trailer explodes into a montage of battle footage: A pack of Lycans, fully transformed, charging across an open field; a Lycan picking two vamps up by their faces and slamming them into the ground; a Lycan getting its head cut off; Mitra involved in some swordplace…
If you dig the Underworld universe and can get over the fact that hot pants Beckinsale is not returning, this will definitely be for you. Tatopoulos maintains a similar visual style to what previous director Len Wiseman laid out for the films and the action scenes were, admittedly, impressive. I was going to write this off as a shameless attempt to carry on the series, but Sony put some money into it. As for the story, we’ll have to see what the final product brings us when Screen Gems opens the film on January 23, 2009.
Sony recently launched a teaser site here.
Click below for the full gallery!
Source: Sony, Ryan Rotten
