What would you do for the one you love?

Would you go against the established order?

Would you risk death?

“”Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”” aims to answer these questions and after all nothing says love like vampires, lycans, and gore.

“”Rise of the Lycans”” is a prequel to the first “”Underworld”” movie starring Kate Beckinsale. For those who have seen the first “”Underworld,”” the latest installment is the story of Lucian (Michael Sheen) and Sonja (Rhona Mitra). Lucian was the first of his kind: a Lycan. Werewolves and Lycans are not the same thing; werewolves change because they have no choice but to whereas Lycans can change at will.

Viktor (Bill Nighy), leader of the vampires, recognizes that Lucian is the first to have the ability to change at will and decides to create an army of these Lycans to be the “”daylight guardians”” of the vampires. He uses the newly created Lycans as slaves. The Lycans are kept in check from changing and turning on the vampires by a neck collar with sharp points aimed at their throat.

Over the years, Lucian, now a blacksmith, watches as more and more Lycans, like himself, are forced into slavery. Outside the castle walls another force is growing. The growing number of werewolves have now become a threat to Viktor whose own daughter, Sonja, narrowly escapes with her life when she tries to escort a group of Noble humans back to Viktor’s castle. She is saved by Lucian, who manages to make a skeleton key, remove his collar, and change into his werewolf state. With a loud roar, he commands fifty werewolves to turn tail and run.

“”Rise of the Lycans”” mirrors Shakespeare’s “”Romeo and Juliet”” in the sense that two very different people fall in love which is seen as an abomination to others. The film is also a story of how powerful love is and sends the message that there is no greater rage than that of a broken heart.

However, the movie isn’t all just lovey-dovey. There are spectacular battle scenes and gore galore. The acting in this movie is spectacular and even though the beautiful Kate Beckinsale is missed, Rhona Mitra did a great job at filling in the position. The only negative is the occasional quick camera movement that made it hard to tell what was happening. Overall, “”Rise of the Lycans”” is a brilliant prequel.

Rating: 4 1/2 stars out of 5