Resident Evil: Extinction Review
Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz on 09.24.2007
Milla Jovovich is back kicking zombie butt. Boo freaking yeah.
"Resident Evil: Extinction" Review
Milla Jovovich- Alice
Oded Fehr- Carlos Olivera
Ali Larter- Claire Redfield
Iain Glen- Dr. Isaacs
Mike Epps- L.J.
Jason O'Mara- Albert Wesker
Ashanti- Betty
Spencer Locke- K-Mart
Mathew Marsden- Slater
Linden Ashby- Chase
Christopher Egan- Mikey
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Screenplay by Paul W.S. Anderson, based on the Capcom video game series "Resident Evil"
Distributed by Screen Gems, Constantin Film, Davis Films, and Impact Pictures
Rated R for strong horror violence throughout and some nudity
Runtime- 95 minutes
Website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/residentevilextinction/
"Resident Evil: Extinction," the third flick in the horror/science fiction/action franchise based on the popular Capcom video game series, picks up a few years after the events of the second flick, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse." The supremely evil Umbrella Corporation's experimental bioweapon, known as the T-virus, has spread beyond Raccoon City and engulfed the entire world, infecting and killing dang near everything on the planet. Lakes have dried up. Vegetation is basically non-existent. North America is now, more or less, a vast, harsh desert. The few remaining human survivors travel the land, desperately looking for supplies while dodging the growing hordes of "undead" (the usual human zombies, mutant dogs, and now crows). Life is, well, hell.
Alice (Milla Jovovich), the short skirt wearing butt kicking mutant babe hero of the series, is off on her own, riding around Nevada on a motorcycle looking for survivors and trying to figure out what to do next. She's no longer a part of a group, having left Carlos Olivera (the returning Oded Fehr) and L.J. (Mike Epps) months ago (she found out that she was being tracked by Umbrella and decided to leave her friends, figuring they wouldn't be in danger with her not around). Meanwhile, Carlos and L.J. have hooked up with another butt kicking female named Claire (Ali Larter), who is leading a convoy of survivors around the desert. They are quickly running out of food, supplies, and gas. When they eventually meet up with Alice (that's not really a spoiler so don't write in about it), Alice suggests that they all travel to Alaska, where it is believed that the T-virus infection hasn't taken over. That's quite the trip (a few thousand miles), and they don't have the resources to take such a long trip. They're going to have to go scavenge for supplies in a place they haven't dared venture: Las Vegas. And so off they go to Vegas.
Meanwhile, what remains of the Umbrella Corporation is trying to figure out how to contain the worldwide disaster they created. Under the leadership of Chairman Albert Wesker (Jason O'Mara), the very British and evil Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen) is experimenting on a new version of the T-virus, something that will allow Umbrella to "domesticate" the increasingly aggressive zombies still roaming around. The key to that research, Isaacs believes, is in the DNA structure of the elusive Alice. So Isaacs has been conducting experiments with Alice "clones," recreating events from the first movie in an apparent attempt to find out if the clones actually match up to Alice's abilities and therefore can be used to create the domestication virus. Isaacs finds out that the clones, while just as hot as the original Alice, don't really measure up in the butt kicking department. Isaacs is going to have to find a way to capture the original Alice.
And that's pretty much the story.
The "Resident Evil" movie franchise, for whatever reason, takes quite a bit of hooha from not only general movie critics but from genre fans as well. I understand the general movie critic side of it, as genre movies tend to get the shaft from them. But the animosity from the genre world, despite the fact that they keep turning out for this series (why would Screen Gems keep forking out cash to make them if no one wanted to watch them?), to me is baffling. There's plenty of well staged action set pieces, gore moments, monsters, and generalized "cool" genre movie crapola throughout the series to, I guess theoretically, entertain the heck out of the audience. And there's Milla Jovovich, kicking and killing everything in sight with flash and brutal panache all the while still being a babe (every geeky nerd's late night fantasy to be sure). And yet people complain. I just don't get it. Paul W.S. Anderson, the director of the first flick and the writer and producer of all three, has created one of the few enduring movie franchises based on a video game (quite the mean feat since there have been so few). He has, along with directors Alexander Witt ("Resident Evil: Apocalypse") and Russell "Highlander" Mulcahy, made the series its own thing that compliments the video games that are its source material. Despite how generally despised Anderson is (another thing I don't fully understand), he's been the only person in recent memory who has been able to pull off these kinds of movies with any level of success. Again, this is the third movie in the franchise, and Screen Gems wouldn't be doling out cash to make more if people didn't want to see them. So Anderson and his collaborators must be doing something right.
"Resident Evil: Extinction" is a dang decent horror/science fiction/action hybrid, with plenty of all three to help keep things moving. The story is, granted, a rip off of both "Mad Max" and George A. Romero's "Day of the Dead" (watch the scene in the desert of the underground Umbrella lab surrounded by a chain link fence that keeps the gathering zombies at bay. Notice the helicopter landing. You'll be wondering "where's the Jamaican guy?"), but both Mulcahy and Anderson make the flick its own thing. Even the bits that rip off the recent "Dawn of the Dead" remake and Danny Boyle's own zombie movie rip off "28 Days Later" are done with a skill and energy that make you go "Hey, isn't that from that English movie? Whoa, that was a pretty cool neck snapping there." The story, as it is, really doesn't have an overall point. Beyond the vague plot of survival, there's very little the characters are trying to accomplish beyond that. Normally I'd be annoyed by that. But, again, Mulcahy and Anderson make the most of it and make it entertaining. The convoy probably should have had fewer people in it, it would have been nice to find out a little more about Claire (like, is she looking for her brother Chris? All of you "Resident Evil 2" nerds out there know what I'm talking about), and it would have been nice to know what the heck happened to both Jill Valentine and Ashley Ashford, but then maybe we'll find out about them in a fourth movie (and I certainly hope there is another one. I want to see what we see at the end come to freaking full on cinematic fruition).
Milla Jovovich, back to kicking butt in a coherent movie, is once again outstanding as Alice. She looks good doing everything she does here (she even gets to do a little emotional acting a few times). There probably wouldn't be much of a movie without her. The returning Oded Fehr, as Carlos, doesn't get to do as much as he did in the previous movie, but what he gets to do is pretty dang good. Fehr has a good look, has plenty of screen charisma, and can handle the action stuff, so why the heck hasn't he been given a chance to be a genuine leading man action star? Ali Larter does a good job as Claire, but, again, it would have been nice to see more from her and about her. Ashanti does an okay job as Betty the medic of the convoy. Mike Epps, who still has the gold plated Desert Eagle, gets to do more action stuff in this flick, which is weird because you normally don't think of him in that way. Iain Glen is somewhat generic as the evil Dr. Isaacs, but then again when you're British you can be both generic and memorable. The man is evil. And it's fun as all hooha to see that bastard Wesker on screen. Jason O'Mara, with the iconic dark as heck sunglasses, is quite the evil prick. I hope we get to see more of him in a fourth flick.
So what do we have here? A close up of the eye of Milla Jovovich, Milla Jovovich naked in the shower, gratuitous referencing of the first "Resident Evil," that freaking laser hallway thing, a chopping door, a sliced in half gurney, machine guns in the wall, gratuitous guys in white biohazard suits, a massive underground elevator shaft, a trench filled with plenty of "beautiful" dead bodies, gratuitous George A. Romero's "Day of the Dead," gratuitous "Mad Max," an abandoned TV station, an old fat woman, a rip off of both the cannibal family scene in "Judge Dredd" and the pit fighting scene in George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead," zombie dogs, dogs on spikes, a ceiling cave in, a hot chick suiting up and getting on her motorcycle, a zombie eating a guy's guts in the middle of the road, bus wheel spike to the face, gratuitous "Inna Godda Davida," gratuitous cut scene of computer schematic of underground Umbrella lab, a hologram, crossbow arrow to the head, "Free chili and cheese," a penny jar, flies feasting on a hanging dead body, crows eating a zombie's eyes, a book, gratuitous Austrailian guy that kind of looks like Heath Ledger, a gold plated Desert Eagle, neck snapping, gratuitous Tar Man reference from "Return of the Living Dead part 3," domesticating a zombie, gratuitous bus driver that kind of looks like Hugh Laurie, creating a perimeter, a dust storm, Milla Jovovich sleeping in a giant water gel bubble, rock levitating, walking acorss the desert, zombie crow attack, flamethrower attack, a giant cloud of fire in the sky, a desert funeral, a Casio watch that monitors satellite movements, a disgusting man boob wound, Oded Fehr smirking, Vegas covered in sand, a shipping container filled with aggressive zombies, Milla Jovovich with two knives kicking the crap out of everything in sight, shotgun blast to the head, knife to the head, a great zombie massacre, gratuitous Winchester pump, fighting a satellite, running double knife zombie throat slashing, slashing a zombie from crotch to throat, a tentacle whipping zombie monster, a tractor trailer battering ram, gratuitous cigarette smoking, a massive explosion, bodies on spikes, strangling a naked Milla Jovovich, psychic butt kicking, and setting up another sequel.
Best lines: "Take a sample of her blood and then get rid of her," "You bitch, you dropped my baby!," "Jesus Christ, he's dead!," "That was a juicy one," "Claire, would I lie to you?," "Simply demanding results will not guarentee them," "You like playing rough, huh?," "Well, Claire, if we can run these trucks on rust we're looking pretty good," "I want my perimeter up!," "Activate #87!," "Oh, hell no, let's get out of here!," "My research has intensified," "Sometimes aggression has its uses," "My research will change the face of everything," "If you pick a side, make sure it's the right one," "What's your name? K-Mart," "Carlos, it's 12:14. Why, do you got somewhere you got to be?," "Alaska," "She's right. Vegas is our best bet," "Pork and beans are lethal. I don't know how you cowboys do it," "Climb the Eiffel Tower with a high powered rifle. A few years ago that would have caused a stir," "She really is magnificient," "Back to base!," "The anti-virus! Get me the anti-virus!," "Wish I had a smoke," "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," "I knew your sister. She was a homicidal bitch," "Alice. Good luck," "You can't kill me," "I've told you. I can't die," "I am the future," "No, you're just another asshole," and "Yeah, you're the future, all right."
"Resident Evil: Extinction" is a blast for nerds and anyone else in the mood for a well done, fun as heck horror/science fiction/action hybrid movie. I highly recommend it. Give it a chance.
Go see it. Let's get another one.
The 411: "Resident Evil: Extinction" adds another fine chapter to the ongoing "Resident Evil" movie franchise. Say what you want about series creator Paul W.S. Anderson, but he's managed to create an enduring movie series based on a video game. Very hard to do. Milla Jovovich does yet another great job as the star. Plenty of zombie butt kicking, flying karate, gunplay, and gore. Just a blast from start to finish. Russell Mulcahy should be proud.
