Resident Evil: Extinction

The storyline builds quite nicely in the 3rd installment and the addition of a few more known actresses and actors, helps move this film forward. Unfortunately the special effects are still very rudimentary.

With Extinction, the Resident Evil franchise perhaps have made its mark as the most enduring computer game turned movie to date. Most of such movies usually make for cheesy lazy weekend entertainment, little in depth but filled with plenty of set action pieces, which for the most parts are nothing groundbreaking. But what this franchise has to credit for its longevity, is Milla Jovovich.

OK, so she has made mostly mediocre movies of late (I sense some fanboys will get me for this, but let me put it straight, I'm a fan of hers too), especially with the lacklustre Ultraviolet, and the really showy .45. If not best remembered for her role as Leeloo in Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (still credited in my books as the ONLY film I watched with having zero prior knowledge on anything about it), then it'll be for her role as Alice, the zombie butt kicking superbeing whose blood holds the key to a reversal of the effects of the T-virus engineered by the evil Umbrella Corporation.

The premise here is similar to that of 28 Days/Weeks Later, where the virus is now out of control, and mutates humans into flesh chomping zombies, spreading mayhem worldwide. Human survivors are few and far between, and where we left off from Apocalypse, Alice is now travelling the world alone, seeking refuge and peace, while evading Umbrella's gunsights. It presumably takes place a significant amount of time after the predecessor, given that Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) doesn't return for this, keeping the doors open for either an unlikely spin off, or a revisit into the gap in timeline should Guillory sign on the dotted line.

But I guess as Juvovich fans, we don't really care, do we? So long as we get to see our heroine in action, we're satisfied, whether she's causing misery to her opponents from her twin handguns, double Kukri knives or just her incredibly toned limbs, we're rooting for her all the way, dressed in garb personally designed by Juvovich herself, which provides for both form and functionality. The trend of casting pretty women to pair with her continues, with the first movie having Michelle Rodriguez, the second with Guillory, and now, Heroes' Ali Larter and Spencer Locke join the fray. However, they are relegated to more pedestrian roles as compared to previous partners, so don't be expecting much from them, especially for fans of Larter.

The story can be no more simpler than Alice serving as a messiah for a small convoy of survivors headed by Larter's Claire, delivering them a message to journey to the promised land in Alaska. But of course the road to Peace and No Infection is plagued by challenges which culminates in a big battle in Las Vegas, where the trailers have teased with the entire city being semi-buried in sand. And like a video game, all levels will lead to their respective Big Boss to do battle with, and Extinction doesn't evade that formula too. Watching Alice grow in power, provides a lot of kick in some of the cool things she can do, enhanced with special effects of course.

Don't expect the franchise to slam the door of opportunity shut on itself. By the look of things, we might even see a fourth movie coming up in perhaps two or three years time (the interval between the movies thus far). Expect plenty of blood and gore as our heroes cut through ugly zombies like hot knife through butter, and none other does it more balletic and graceful than Milla Juvovich. You go, girl!

This is where the film series started really going downhill.

Since the last movie the world has gone through an apocalypse with only a handful of survivors through out Earth. This is explained rather poorly in the dialogue at the beginning of the film.

The Earth has become a wasteland and it's up to Alice again to continue the fight against Umbrella.

Jill Valentine and the little girl from the second movie are now gone with no explanation, but we do meet up with Carlos again as well as meeting Claire Redfield who is a fan favourite from the video games.

At this point I wouldn't even call the series horror anymore. Not that there was much horror to it in the first place. At least the first two movies had several horror elements in it. This does not. Cloning and experiements Yadda Yadda. A sci fi action film sums it up.

The movie was ok. But just barely

The deadly virus has decimated the world, exception a little zone in Alaska where live people no-infected . Years later , one time Racoon was destroyed , the Umbrella corporation led by ambitious Dr. Isaacs(Iain Glen) continues his weird experiments with the deadly T-virus. But the Zombies spread the epidemic and those exposed to cruel bite suffer a complete transformation turning into meat-eating sickos. Alice(Milla Jovovich)is attempting to survive , and she finds new survivors(Ali Larter, Ashanti along with Oded Fehr and Mike Epps who repeat characters) traveling throughout Nevada desert . They must confront carnivorous crows, hordes of zombies starving of human flesh and an evil corporation chief who creates the most horrifying creatures ever made .The survivor group are surrounded , facing the world destruction by deadly epidemic.

This exciting picture contains thrills, chills, action-filled with fierce combats and lots of gore and guts.The horror and action moments are fast moving and compactly realized. The film turns out to be a crossover between 'the nuclear apocalypse of Mad Max 2', the 'George A Romero's Zombies' and genetic experiments from 'Sigourney Wever-Ripley in Alien saga '. Of course, the film takes ideas from former parts as 'Resident evil'(2002, Paul W. Anderson, here also producer and screenwriter) and 'Resident Evil: Apocalypse'(2004,Alexander Witt)resulting to be a nice following. The creepy images of wide range from the genuinely fantastic to the bizarre along with an eerie and amazing frames. It's predictable but we have seen the previous chapters but also its predictability is redeemed in part by the charismatic acting from the action-women, Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter. The flesh-eating mutants appearance deliver the goods, plenty of screams, shocks and tension. The make-up assistants create a truly horrible zombie cannibals. Horrifying and astonishing images about apocalyptic events with deserted and destroyed cities, such as the creepy scenarios in Las Vegas without people, totally uninhabited and covered of sand. Cool,luminous cinematography using steadicam by David Johnson and haunting musical score by Charles Clouser.The motion picture is surprisingly directed with startling visual style by Russell Mulcahy(Razorback,Highlander, Resurrection).

Directed by Russell Mulcahy of the criminally underseen awesome creature feature Razorback. I've always really loved this chapter. Maybe its because it has that epic Mad Max feel mixed with the telekinesis of Friday the 13th 7 and although it can be a little silly it takes the franchises back to it's scarier roots with homages to the birds and day of the dead. This time around Alice is still on the run from the Umbrella corporation and the world has become a desert wasteland. She stumbles upon some old friends and some newbies like a teen girl named Kmart, the singer Ashanti playing a nurse and a bad ass Ali Larter as Claire Redfield from the games. This one is the goriest of the first three and features some great old fashioned practical effects. The movie is fun, scary and action packed leading up to a bad ass finale and one hell of a cliffhanger.

Budget: $45m Domestic Box Office: $51m Worldwide Box Office: $148m

4/5