Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Review

Messages: No particularly positive/deep messages here. The vampire aristocrats keep the werewolves in their midst chained as slaves, and there's extensive discussion of their feudal-like system of protection and patronage. A forbidden, wrong-side-of-the-supernatural-tracks romance is discussed at great length. Discussions of infanticide. A vampire calls a servant werewolf "a credit to your race."

Violence: Constant, graphic, and gory supernatural violence, including people being cut in half, ripped apart, decapitated, struck by medieval siege weapons (giant crossbow bolts, rocks), stabbed, struck, punched, and kicked. Extensive fantastic hand-to-hand combat, as well as swordplay and neck-biting. Lots of blood, either spilled in combat or drunk as a fact of vampire life. Grisly scenes of characters being lashed as punishment. Vampires are vaporized/immolated by the sun's rays. A character is stabbed through the mouth with a sword, with the protruding blade shown through the back of their skull.

Sex: Some kissing; a sex scene between consensual adult supernatural beings shields full nudity from the eyes of the audience yet leaves little to the imagination.

Language: No actual swear words; the clashing characters instead spit supernatural names -- "vampire," "lycan" (the saga's name for werewolves) -- at each other like epithets.

Consumerism: Not an issue

Drinking, drugs and smoking: None, although blood is drunk in extensive amounts.