Around six years after the events of the second movie, the infamous T-virus has taken over the world leaving few survivors. The virus triggered the chain of events that has turned humans into zombies and has also turned the Earth into a waste land. The oceans dried up, and the lands turned to deserts...basically Nevada. Wait a second, the majority of the film takes place there. Good job on the location team!
A small convoy of trucks and people traveling across the western part of the U.S. are looking for survivors of the T-virus aftermath. There are about thirty of them taking refuge in trucks, school buses and other smaller recreational vehicles. The group is led by Claire Redfield, and Resident Evil 2 survivors Carlos and L.J.
Claire’s rag-tag fleet of vehicles listens for radio broadcasts of survivors and then checks them out. Along the way they loot small towns in Utah for supplies, fuel and survivors. The hope for survival is bleak as they find the towns already run dried for what they need.
Meanwhile, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is doing her own ransacking of towns…and also looking for survivors. Alice departed from Carlos and L.J. shortly after being rescued at the end of RE 2. She made a choice to “go off the grid” and stay hidden from the Umbrella Corporation and their satellites. Alice eventually reunites with Carlos and L.J. as she meets up with Claire’s convoy.
Amongst the survivors, there is a rumor that Alaska has not been breached with the global infection, and the group decides to head to Alaska. The only problem is that they don’t have enough fuel or supplies to get there. The convoy has hit all the small towns and sucked them dry of supplies. The next hope is to hit a big city up for supplies. And that big city would be Vegas.
Speaking of the evil Umbrella Corporation, top executives and scientists hold up in underground compounds similar to the one in the first movie. They continue to conduct experiments on the T-virus in efforts to “domesticate” the zombies. Dr. Issacs leads the American facility and is after more than domesticating the zombies. Issacs is experimenting with the T-virus and clones of Alice in another cause.
With the help of the corporation’s space satellites, Dr. Issacs finds Alice and sets up an operation to capture her and bring her back to the underground facility for more testing. The Umbrella Corporation sets up a trap for Alice and friends in Vegas.
Villain:
It wouldn’t be a Resident Evil movie without zombies now would it? Of course not. Zombies are once again the center stage for the movie. These zombies are a blend of slow moving and fast moving zombies. Pretty much average zombies then…right?
On one hand we have the average zombie in the film and on the other we have the genetically enhanced super zombie created by the Umbrella Corporation. The plain ole' zombie wasn't featured as much as the movie...series...should have. Extinction focuses on the more aggressive super zombie in the film.
Also a Resident Evil movie wouldn’t be complete without some freak of nature T-virus mutant thing. Dr. Issacs gets bitten by one of his test zombies in the movie and hurries back to the installation and repeatedly injected the anti-virus into him. The only problem is that he tinkered with the T-virus and his experiments so much, that the anti-virus had no effect on him.
Dr. Issacs injected so much, that it had a different result…mutation. The new Dr. Issacs turns into some type of uber zombie killing machine that shoots out tentacles and can’t be killed.
Cast:
Milla returns to reprise her role as Alice. From my point of view this was Milla's second best acting effort in the trilogy. It's not saying a WHOLE lot, but I believe it was a tad bit better than her performance in the first movie.
Alice is the focal point of the franchise. Her character goes hand in hand with the movies. In the first movie, we get introduced to the character. In the second movie, we learn that she has evolved and mutated with the T-virus, turning her into some type of super chick. The third installment continues on the growth of the Alice character and she becomes some what...beyond human.
Alice still has the kick *ss moves that she possessed in the first two films, but in Extinction she gains another quality to her whoop butt personality. Two words...psychic powers. Yep. Alice is now a blend of zombie *ss kicker and Jedi Knight. Or another comparison can be that she is the Tina chick from Friday the 13 Part 7 with the addition of Kung Fu skills. I'll let you ponder that thought.
Moving on...
Ali Larter takes the role of Claire, leader of the convoy. Larter is a beautiful, stunning, blonde woman, but I have yet to be impressed by any of her roles. There was nothing compelling that put her performance on the map for me.
This seems to be a reoccurring thing in all of her movies. She was the lead female in Final Destination, and I thought that she didn’t do anything special there. Her role on the T.V. series Heroes has been getting better. Her character in the first two seasons sucked, but they gave her a new look and she’s getting better as a mischievous, double crossing playa. Unfortunately, I saw none of that in this movie.
Our bad *ss ex-military friend Carlos and the pimp L.J. returned for another dose of zombie fun. Missing from the equation from last movie was Jill Valentine and the little girl. What happened to them? I missed Ms. V. Oh well.
SFX/Gore:
Extinction has state of the art special effects that look slick on the screen. In my opinion the best looking effect is how the movie transformed Vegas into a sand overridden city. I thought that was a nice touch to the film. The make-up on the zombies look great and the deaths are pretty good. None of the deaths were anything memorable, but I did like the shades Extinction brought in from the first movie, like the laser grid chamber. It’s always good to bring that killing machine back into the equation.
TNA:
Extinction raised the bar a little bit with eye candy in the film. Outside of Milla and Ali fogging up the screen with their hotness, the film brought in a couple more female bodies to play insignificant roles. Ali Larter Pictured Below. Extinction continued a popular trend of bringing in some hot R&B musician to fill the roles of a soon to be dead chick…and that chick would be Ashanti. Ashanti plays Nurse Betty, if you haven’t guessed, the nurse of the convoy. Rounding out the new addition of eye candy actresses is teenie bopper, Spencer Locke. Her name in the film is K-Mart. Apparently, Larter’s character found her in a K-Mart, and the name stuck. Don’t ask me. I’m just happy they found another way to give us something pleasurable on the eyes.
T.Gun Factor:
Extinction is the third and probably final installment on the Resident Evil video game based franchise. Extinction wasn’t as bad as others make it out to be…maybe because Paul W. Anderson didn’t direct this one. Extinction had its good and bad moments in the film, but overall it was at least an enjoyable popcorn movie to watch.
One thing that I didn’t like about the film was the “domesticating zombies” thing. Really? Can you rip off George Romero anymore? Was it coincidence that Romero’s third movie, Day of the Dead, went over the “domesticating zombies” idea, and now the third installment of Resident Evil goes down the same path? Hmm.
Another problem that I had with the film was the Alice Clones. I understand the Umbrella Corporation cloning her for research purposes, but why pursue Alice if you have unlimited clones of her? And why don’t they unleash the clones on the thousands of zombies? Instead of hiding in some underground bunker, they should have just unleashed the Grand Army of Alice Clones on the poor zombies. That probably would have been cooler.
Since I’m on the topic of Alice and the Umbrella Corporation…what the hell was the shutting down of Alice all about? So let me get this straight…Alice has gone “off the grid” for years, and then the Corporation finds her and is able to upload video feed from her eyes and are able to track her. Then during the “capture battle” they’re able to flip a switch and turn Alice off. Then Alice…the super being she is…fights off the shut down and psychically sends some signal to an orbiting satellite to disable it and come back on line. WTF?
I would say that Extinction was a little bit better of a film than the second installment, but not as good as the first movie. It's still an enjoyable popcorn movie to watch once.
Misc. Movie Trivia: -Film opened on September 21, 2007 and made $49.9 million at the Box Office ($23.6 opening weekend) -First installment of franchise not released on VHS format -Crow scene plays homage to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds
Short version of the plot: Raccoon City has been infected with the T-virus and zombies roam the city. Trapped inside are a few people lead by Alice trying to find the daughter of a top level Umbrella Corporation scientist for exchange of safe passage out of the city.
Initially I liked Apocalypse better than the original film, but after a few viewings it just didn't hold up over time. I think at first I was drawn in by the idea of a city barricaded in full of blood thirsty zombies...and the nice skimpy Jill Valentine outfit...but after watching it a couple times, I pulled the wool blanket from my eyes and saw the lesser film of the two Resident Evils.
Maybe the cynic in me surfaced for this film. My first problem I had in the film was the barricade around the city. Within 13 hours of the discovery and breakout of the T-virus and zombies out of the Hive, the Umbrella Corporation had set up a wall around the metropolitan preventing anyone from leaving. Really? 13 hours to build the Great Wall of China around Raccoon City? The Chinese gotta be jealous of the Umbrella Corporation.
The next thing I didn't like about the film was the Nemesis project storyline. I know it probably has something to do with the video game storyline and lore, but I didn't like it in the film. So zombies have overrun the city and the Umbrella Corporation decides to play a game of cat and mouse with their experimental super zombie soldier (Nemesis).
They turn the super zombie soldier on anything that resembles a plausible challenge including the surviving members of an elite police force named STARS. Nemesis easily wipes them out during his campaign trail of wrath and destruction through the city. Yawn!
Eventually he comes across Alice and friends. We learn that Alice has mutated with the T-virus into some type of super soldier woman and the other dude that survived from the first film also mutated and turned into the mutant super zombie soldier. Now they must battle each other to survive. Boring.
Lost in the background of the film is the true interesting story...the zombie infestation. That storyline takes a backseat to many other useless plot lines in the film. The zombies pop up occasionally, but I never felt that the survivors of the city were in any intimate danger from them. The only real danger the survivors faced was whether they would escape the city before the "nuke" came in and cleaned up the mess. Should have made the zombies more dangerous and prominent in the film!
Another thing in the film that bugged me was the random events and action sequences put in to pass the time. I was pretty bored with most of those scenes. There were many scenes that offered no little to the outcome or storyline of the film.
Out with the negatives and In with the positives!
This sequel actually delivered better in a group of likable characters compared to the last film. The first Resident Evil, I only cared about Michelle Rodriguez and Milla. Apocalypse actually gave the audience a little bit more from it's secondary characters.
Carlos and Mrs. Valentine gave us some pretty strong supporting characters. Carlos is a bad*ss soldier that can easily be rooted for. He is played by Oded Fehr, who was the stud from the first two Mummy movies. NOT BRENDAN FRASIER! The other guy. The Arab.
On to the sweet Mrs. Valentine. This is where my focus on the movie gets tainted. She's so sexy wearing her blue tube top shirt, black mini skirt and black leather boots. Yummy! I just can't focus beyond that. The whole movie could have had her walking up and down the street, and it would have pleased me.
Milla did a wayyyy better acting job than she did in the first movie. It's probably her best performance out of the Resident Evil trilogy. She does a fine job being the "tough" super chick.
Overall this sequel lacked the punch needed to carry the series further (even though they made a third). It was a great idea with the city being locked down and infested with zombies, but I believe there was poor execution in the final product. I'm surprised that Paul W.S. Anderson didn't direct, but was less surprised when I saw that he wrote it.
Misc. Movie Trivia: -Film opened on September 10, 2004 and made $50.7 million at the Box Office ($23 million opening weekend) -Natasha Henstridge was originally casted for the role of Jill Valentine -Snoop Dogg was originally casted for the role of LJ...now that would have been fun!
Based on a video game: In a fictional city named, Raccoon City, the Umbrella Corporation has a top secret military installation underground called the Hive. Inside the Hive, top scientist work on high level military projects including a virus project called the T-virus. The T-virus pretty much turns people into zombies.
An unknown assailant attempting to steal the virus accidentally sets it free into the Hive. The Mother computer called the Red Queen, detects the virus in the air and seals the facility by locking all exits and doors leaving the scientists inside trapped and victims to the virus.
An expert commando team is dispatched to penetrate the Hive's security system and enter the installation. Under the assumption that Red Queen has gone "homicidal" the team's objective is to shut down the computer. Unknowingly they shut down the computer and unlock the facilities doors allowing the scientists turned zombies to roam free. Trapped numerous levels and feet underground, the strike force must battle their way through zombies (and mutant super zombie) to the top before getting locked up in the facility.
Once again Mr. Anderson gets his paws on another movie that should be better than what it turned out to be. It was okay and enjoyable to watch, but it could have been a lot better. Many people disliked Resident Evil, but I at least enjoyed watching it. I don't believe that the movie is a total piece of crap that it has commonly been made out to be, but it's not the best either. Gee, it really sounds like a Mr. Paul W.S. Anderson movie after all. I had a good time watching it, and can actually watch it every once and a while.
There's a couple things that I liked from the movie. First of all, I'm a zombie lover. So as long as somebody puts some effort into making a zombie flick, I'm hooked. Resident Evil delivered there for me.
Secondly, I liked the security corridor sequence. * Highlight to Read *Four of the strike commandos enter the corridor adjacent to the Red Queen's mainframe room in an effort to disable it. They believe that they have over ridden the security system and unlocked the doors. They enter the corridor only to be sealed into it between rooms. Red Queen launches it's self defense mechanism and a laser beam sweeps the corridor down the middle slicing into the team members and killing some of them.
The leader of the team dodges a couple of sweeps and then comes to his end as the single laser beam then transforms into a laser web slicing him into a hundred little cubes. I thought that was pretty awesome. It's definitely one of my favorite kills of all time.
Thirdly, it has a couple of kick *ss chicks with guns. I think that I have a hard-on typing that. Hot chicks with guns. Who doesn't like that? Milla Jovovich (Pictured right) doesn't really deliver much in an acting performance, but she does play a hot bad *ss chick pretty well. We even get to see a 1/4 tit and nipple of her early on and a quick shot of her "infield" at the end. I guess you take what you can get.
Along side of Milla is another one of my favorite movie hotties, Michelle Rodriguez (Pictured left). Fresh off her success from The Fast & Furious movie, Rodriguez fits well into a "tough" military commando heroine role. Unfortunately this movie starts a trend of her being "type-cast" as she reprises similar roles in S.W.A.T. and the T.V. series Lost.
Resident Evil doesn't offer much in way of good acting or plot development, but I'm alright with that. It's a zombie movie, I don't expect much. I'm easily entertained when it comes down to zombie movies. The one thing that I really wasn't a big fan of was the whole "Alice memory loss thing". One minute she doesn't know crap and the next we find out she's part of the company's mastermind project and knows everything.
I must admit, I've never played a Resident Evil video game, so I'm not 100% sure what the lore and role of Alice was, but I thought that her character role/set up in the movie was horrible. But I wasn't a huge fan of the game so I can't really make an accurate judgment. This part of the film might have been what ticked off so many loyal fans. If I was a hard core gaming fan of the series, I might be able to put my two cents in. But I'm not, so I can't.
Overall, I enjoy watching Resident Evil from time to time. After all, it's a zombie flick. The special effects were pretty good on the film, and there seemed to be a adequate pace to the film. I can't really complain that much about the film...so I see it as a "action packed popcorn movie" about zombies. And I have no problem with that.
Misc. Movie Trivia: -Film opened on March 15, 2002 and made $40.1 million at the Box Office ($17.7 million opening weekend) -George Romero was originally attached to direct the film but turned it down due to script discrepancies -The character Alice, is never spoken, written or identified until the credits
Shark-factor:What is the shark-factor?Unlike the Matrix, I’ll explain the shark-factor.A while back, I was with my friends watching the Planet of the Apes (1968 version).My friend Bookie commented on how hot the chick in the flick was and pretty much said he’d give his left nut to have her. Then my other friend, Shark, commented, “You know she’s like sixty now!”And that dampened the day.So every time we’ve watched an older movie and mentioned how hot the chick was, Shark came in and ruined the day.So to fairly grade the “hotness” of the chicks in the films, I need grade them based on how they looked year they were made and not how old they would be now.So the shark-factor is to make up for any time-age-difference for the women in the films between present date and time and production date and time.So F*** You Shark!
survivors. Alice departed from Carlos and L.J. shortly after being rescued at the end of RE 2. She made a choice to “go off the grid” and stay hidden from the Umbrella Corporation and their satellites. Alice eventually reunites with Carlos and L.J. as she meets up with Claire’s convoy.
enhanced super zombie created by the Umbrella Corporation. The plain ole' zombie wasn't featured as much as the movie...series...should have. Extinction focuses on the more aggressive super zombie in the film.
evolved and mutated with the T-virus, turning her into some type of super chick. The third installment continues on the growth of the Alice character and she becomes some what...beyond human.
zombie fun. Missing from the equation from last movie was Jill Valentine and the little girl. What happened to them? I missed Ms. V. Oh well.
hutting down of Alice all about? So let me get this straight…Alice has gone “off the grid” for years, and then the Corporation finds her and is able to upload video feed from her eyes and are able to track her. Then during the “capture battle” they’re able to flip a switch and turn Alice off. Then Alice…the super being she is…fights off the shut down and psychically sends some signal to an orbiting satellite to disable it and come back on line. WTF?
