Always interesting when a series decides to go back and do a prequel. For this though, given that we’re specifically dealing with centuries old immortals (especially ones killed in the previous films, thus not exactly available for any more sequels), there’s certainly room for it.

In a nutshell, we have an origin story. Told a few decades (the timeline is fuzzy) after the rise of the first Vampires and Werewolves, we have the story of how the more modern Lycans–able to take human form–came to be, along with Viktor’s origin story as a villain and Lucian’s as a hero(ish). It’s an interesting enough story and it certainly does flesh out a bit of the backstory. Plus, we get more of Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, and Steven Mackintosh–the best parts of the first two films. So I’m all for that!

Othercharacterwise, it’s a bit of a bummer not ot have Beckinsale, but it makes sense. And Mitra as Sonja fits the same role rather well. It’s … kind of strange how similar the two look, but … given why Selene was turned in the first place, it makes sense.

Worldbuildingwise… it’s kind of a mess. The idea of Vampires using Lycans as slaves makes sense. The random rise of the first Lycan is random, the fact that Sonja and Lucian both apparently age is … weird. The fact that we’re only a few decades into their lives and the other two Elders are already sleeping is strange. But if you are mainly looking for a bloody dark (seriously, it’s almost all at night) supernatural action film, you certainly came to the right place.

Overall, I prefer the first two films, but it’s not terrible!