Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans (and Michael Sheen Shirtless!)

I needed a break last night, so I went to see Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans by myself. My friend Darling Diva's comment about the HOT sex scene had me intrigued, shall we say, to see more than Michael Sheen shirtless. The scene did not disappoint, and I had to search it out on the internet last night after I came home to watch it again, because I my reaction was"did I just SEE that" at the movie theater! Let's just say there are no cliffs in Chicagoland for my hubby and I to reenact it! LOL! I was also amused that the editing of the scene was so derivative of the sex scene in 300 (but the cliff edge is new, I'll grant ya.)

Underworld 3 is a mashup of Romeo and Juliet and Spartacus. It is a prequel to the other two Underworld films, telling the tale of the origins of the war between the vampires and the lycans (werewolves). Lucian, played by Michael Sheen, is almost Bill Nighy's Viktor's favorite pet, and the lycans are slaves to the vampires for most of the film. What Viktor doesn't know is that Lucian has been having a secret love affair with Sonja, his daughter. We'd seen flashbacks of Sonja's death in the first Underworld, so we know where this tragic story is going, but it was a fun ride to get there. Lucian leads a revolt of the lycan slaves against their vampire masters.

Just look at these two pictures of Michael. The left one is from the premiere, and the right is in costume as Lucian.


Michael is a great actor. We know that. He's been in Oscar nominated films, including this year's Frost/Nixon, and it is just wild to see him transform from his curly mop and sh*t eating grin, to bad ass sexy werewolf! I couldn't find a picture of him shirtless from the film, but ladies let me just tell you that he is for most of it. The marketing is all skewed! I found tons of pictures of Sonja, but not so many of Lucian and it's his bloody story for cripes sake. We fangirls do exist, thank you very much.

So the movie is just sheer fun, lots of bloody sword battles and crossbow hits and so on. Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen spend the movie hissing at each other, and Michael's performance is quite impressive and passionate -- on the battlefield, too. You could definitely believe all the werewolves would obey him as their leader. It was much better than the second film, for me, at least. (Michael wasn't really in the second, so that may have something to do with it.) Two and a half to Three stars, and recommended if you love a good vampire/werewolf battle. Worth a rental at least. Read about my first encounter with Michael as Lucian here.

Watch the trailer below to see Michael shirtless since I couldn't find a pic for you:

Who is this Lucian the Lycan?

I have recently installed Sitemeter for this blog, and I can see the search words that bring people to my blog. Because I wrote about the new photos of Robert Downey Jr. Shirtless as Sherlock Holmes, and also because of this Hurray for Chest Hair post, I have had some interesting search combos bring people to my site, including several "Name of actor" shirtless. Recently, it's been "Michael Sheen Shirtless." Having just seen Michael Sheen in Frost/Nixon, and loving him in that, and also loving him as Tony Blair in The Queen, I admire the actor, but was puzzled. Yeah, he's kind of handsome, I thought, but what is up with this rash of searches for images of Michael shirtless?

You see, I had never seen Underworld. I looked Michael up on Imdb after I saw Michael in Frost/Nixon because it was bugging me that he had been in another movie in the past, and I couldn't think of it. The movie was Timeline, where he plays the villain. But in those IMDB credits were the three Underworld films. So, out of curiosity, I rented the first Underworld from Netflix. The movie disk was infuriatingly skipping on me, but I was arrested by the first shot of Michael Sheen as the Lycan (werewolf) Lucian. Holy crap. THIS was Michael Sheen who played David Frost?! This bad ass?!

I adore English actors because they will take any work, from Shakespeare to Horror. Bill Nighy plays the king of the vampires, so it's a kick ass movie with great actors who it is just a ball to see chew up the scenery. I loved Underworld. Since the movie was skipping and freezing so badly, I had to abandon the DVD, and some kind soul had posted the whole thing on YouTube. Michael's character Lucian at the beginning is the bad guy, but you find out something about him in the movie, which changes your mind about him. His look is just so arresting with the hair extensions, and the gaping open shirt (he's quite fit, as the Brits would say). Wow. One of his first lines is to one of his werewolf minion, "Must I do everything myself?!" Classic!

I got caught up in Underworld's story of vampires and werewolves. It's an interesting world, and the movie was more entertaining than I expected. A nice break from the heavy Oscar fare. The romance between Kate Beckinsale's character and Scott Speedman's Michael is the main story, but I was loving Michael Sheen as king of the lycans and Bill Nighy as king of the vampires.

I have Underworld Evolution as my next movie to be mailed to me on my queue now, and the third movie, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, is a prequel telling the story of the beginning of the war between Lucian's Lycans and Bill Nighy's vampires and is out in theaters now. Michael's character Lucian in the first was an important supporting one, but interest in his back story obviously grew, since they made the third all about his character. It's probably really bad, but at this point, I don't care. I hear there's a Michael Sheen love scene in it. And he's quite fit, and maybe even shirtless. ;)

Valkyrie Trailer

A trailer for Tom Cruise's Valkyrie has hit the internet. The film has had it's release date changed three times, which is never a good sign. The trailer makes it look interesting, and I've always liked the director, Bryan Singer, from back to The Usual Suspects. At least Tom Cruise doesn't even attempt a German accent. Great supporting cast, too, with lots of my favorites: Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, and Eddie Izzard. Unless it changes again, the film is due out in Feb. of 2009.