Resident Evil: Extinction

September 26, 2007

Rated: R Runtime: 95 min Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Well, the third episode of Resident Evil is upon us and…its pretty much like the previous two. Yes, I said episode and not movie because this franchise plays out more like episodes in a TV show or mini series than a theatrical movie. Is it any better? Well, arguably it couldn’t be much worse than the previous two installments, but even still I would venture to answer that with a semi-solid “yes”. But even with the improvements, it’s still only a two star flick.

Resident Evil: Extinction The special effects have been bumped up a bit for this episode and the action rolls along very smoothly. At no point did I find myself checking my watch or fidgeting in my seat so you have to give it some points for holding your attention. But that’s about where the good stuff ends.

Milla Jovovich is, of course, back again (and again..and again..and again) in the title role of Alice. As expected, she performed perfunctorily in the scenes where she wasn’t slaying zombies (and other critters that show up) and she was quite entertaining when she was in carnage mode. I honestly have no idea if she’s a good actress or not since I’ve never seen her cast in anything that would require her to actually *act* and the Resident Evil franchise is certainly not going to require anything of the sort.

Where the movie loses major points is in the structure. I used to be a major junkie for video games like Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Serious Sam, Half Life II, etc.. and I see a lot of parallels here to these and some other games I used to play. I felt like I was watching a computer screen where some anonymous person was controlling Alice and starting a new level. The goal of this level, by the way, is to protect a group of innocent people and travel to a big underground bunker where a nasty “boss” monster awaits. And, like any good video game, when you beat the boss, a new level starts. That’s fine and all…but do you *really* want to do the equivalent of watching someone else play a video game for 90 minutes? If so, save yourself the $10 and just go visit a friend that has one of the aforementioned games.

As well (and not unexpectedly) the ending just sucked if you are someone that likes to see something resolved. In this case, NOTHING gets resolved. NOTHING is paid off (not even a side story that would affect nothing in the inevitable sequel). Again, it felt like an episode was over and we get to wait 2+ years for the next one…which still won’t resolve anything.

Personally speaking, I resolve never to go see another one of these movies.

Posted by Alex | Filed Under 2 Stars, Action, Ali Larter, Horror, Milla Jovovich, R, SciFi, Theatrical