Sunday, September 30, 2007

Resident Evil: Extinction

There was something genuinely fun about the first Resident Evil movie. Paul W.S. Anderson was at the helm and doing what he does best make really mediocre movies. But the combination of Milla Jovavich and crack team of special forces going into a zombie filled den of evil was basically the culmination of my dreams as an 8 year old obsessed with monsters and badass special forces units. So sure a part of me realizes it wasn't the best executed of films and part of me is giggling with joy. Now Resident Evil: Apocalypse was pretty close to what I had expect of Resident Evil. Ludicrous, over the top, and Oded Fehr. I was pretty sure the series had peaked. A third film could not be nearly as bad as the second, it just wasn't possible.

Oh how wrong I was. Resident Evil: Extinction picks up apparently five years or so after the previous film. The T-Virus (that would be the zombie virus for lay people) has spread throughout the world and apparently also killed most plant life. A convoy of trucks led by Ali Larter and Oded Fehr is moving across country scavenging abandoned towns for canned food and gasoline ever wary of the zombie threat. Alice (Milla Jovavich) travels on her own, aware that the evil Umbrella Corporation (still one of the greatest names for a huge EVIL conglomerate I have ever come across) can track her if she stays put too long. Meanwhile a scientist is doing experiments on Alice clones as well as working on a injection that will make the zombies docile but instead makes them stronger and more aggressive. Eventually the scientist makes his play for Alice while she aids the convoy in getting to safety along the backdrop of the southwest and Vegas.

Yeah, the film is as ridiculous as that. Its also poorly acted and poorly written and in general the film just makes almost no sense. That being said, I did laugh. Alot. Not that the filmmakers intended for the viewer to laugh or likely were the other viewers in the theater happy that I was laughing. It was just so ludicrously bad I couldn't help but laugh. The whole philosophy of these films seems to be bigger is better. And why does every film have to end with the lead in to a new film that hasn't been made yet? It is my least favorite thing to do in a film. Still, it did kill an afternoon and it gave me some justifiable vitriol. Even zombie fans should probably stay away.

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