Movie Review: Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)


I have to confess that until now, I’ve had the pleasure of avoiding this whole Resident Evil business; I haven’t seen either of the previous two films (Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse) or played much of the Capcom games which, I gather, are only tangentially related to the premise at this point. So, my assessment of Resident Evil: Extinction might be hampered by a lack of familiarity. There’s only so much I’m willing to go through for research.

But I’m guessing, given what little I know, the Resident Evil franchise sucks pretty hard because 1.) It’s based, however loosely, on a video game, 2.) The reviled Paul W.S. Anderson (of AVP: Alien vs. Predator infamy) directed the first effort and produced/wrote both sequels, 3.) Milla Jovovich, the female equivalent of Dolph Lundgren, is the recurring player.

So after watching, my first impression is to say Resident Evil: Extinction sucked ass, even though, as far as “game-based-movies” go, I thought that the approach that they took was refreshing. It seemed that they placed a higher priority on the story, feel, and character development than most directors of the genre normally do (which isn’t saying much). I had expectations of walking in and seeing an hour and a half of barely-there-underwear wearing super chicks tearing through hordes of zombies while rattling off 1000+ rounds of ammunition (clearly no thoughts of Oscar nominations were prancing around in my head).

Well, whatever the hell was going on in Resident Evils one and two, this third installment veers the franchise heavily into Mad Max territory; superhuman clone/warrior/whatever Alice (Jovovich, who admittedly looks quite fetching in her soldierly hot-pants and chaps) is wandering around the post-apocalyptic America rendered by the first two films — some evil corporation unleashes a virus that turns everyone into zombies, right? If some extant plot explains what Alice is doing, I’m not aware of it — she’s presented merely roving around the Southwest, which has become more desert-like since the zombie scourge, occasionally doing battle with some inbred bandits and a few skinless Dobermans.

The biggest letdown was, that for an action movie, Resident Evil: Extinction contains only 3 major fight scenes. The first consists of the convoy being attacked by thousands of infected crows. Alice comes to the rescue with her psychic powers and torches the hungry, homicidal birds. The second scene happens in Vegas where the remaining people of the convoy and Alice are attacked by an endless stream of extra-strong zombies from a commercial container. More blood is spilled and Alice kicks zombie-butt. The last and final action scene is the most disappointing of the set. Alice returns to The Hive where Dr. Issac (Iain Glen), the rogue scientist developing a cure, has been infected and has had major mutations causing regeneration, extendable tentacles, and even-stronger psychic powers. I expected a kick-ass battle and instead was left wanting a whole hell of a lot more.

Anyway, both Milla and director Russell Mulcahy make the whole fiasco semi-watchable, even when the story becomes almost irredeemably stupid. I may not have been particularly interested in Resident Evil: Extinction at the onset, but I was relatively entertained by the end. I suppose this is a good thing.

Critical Movie Critic Rating:
2 Star Rating: Bad

2

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'Movie Review: Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)' have 6 comments

  1. The Critical Movie Critics

    October 6, 2007 @ 2:44 pm mlankton

    Resident Evil was my second date with my wife, so terrible movie, great memories. Actually it wasn’t as bad as I remembered it the second time I saw it.

    Whoever fired Romero and tossed his original script out was an idiot.

  2. The Critical Movie Critics

    October 28, 2007 @ 5:17 am fraidofthedark

    Any movie which begins with Mila Jovovich nude can’t be half bad, and we got three!

    With that comment I have probably alienated half the posters, but hey shes gorgeous!

    Anyhow, seriously this isnt a bad movie at all, my problem with the trilogy is the disjointed continuity between each one.

    Because they are all essentially the same start (naked Mila), middle and end (fight scenes), they can each stand alone, so for me that part simply doesnt work.

    Taken for what they are, violent action movies, they are great entertainment.

  3. The Critical Movie Critics

    November 9, 2007 @ 5:00 am JD Ripper

    Extinction is the last episode of the Resident Evil trilogy. I watched all three movies. The first and second episodes were good and I was expecting a lot from its concluding episode. The Resident Evil Extinction was a good movie but it failed to meet expectation.

  4. The Critical Movie Critics

    November 19, 2007 @ 12:02 am Sirius Lee

    I’ve stayed away from watching any of the movies in the Resident Evil franchise because I’m not a big fan of video games and I can’t see what’s so great about Milla Jovovich. The only movie with her in the cast that I liked was The Fifth Element. Add to that Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, but that had more to do with Dustin Hoffman’s brilliant acting. But it seems that this is one franchise that isn’t going away anytime soon, owing to the largely positive response at the box office.

  5. The Critical Movie Critics

    December 12, 2007 @ 10:53 am AnAngryPerson's other personality

    Totally what I was about to put, it really is 1. Convoy meet and greets(getting to know them) followed by Mila helping with a bird problem, 2. Las Vegas and 3. The lab. As a resident Evil fan (played the first, a bit of the third and all of the forth). I would say that the closeness to the actual story is on a very thin line you could say its as related as us and a mouse(the fact we’re both mammals). I wasn’t too surprised to be let down but this movie, it was actually worst than the first and that was a bad movie, the second on the other hand has more of a story and feels like a genuinely longer movie(as well as more closer to the 2nd/3d game plot). This seems to have no plot at all. Good rating totally agree

  6. The Critical Movie Critics

    March 25, 2009 @ 9:35 pm anonimuz

    i am not a fond of watching films really,

    but when i happened to watch resident evil extinction, i realy really liked it, it wasn’t, well the typical zombie stories which feature pure bitting and infecting and gross scene, it actually makes sense,

    yup, i agree that it didnt achieve my expectations in the last part of the story which is the fight between alice and the doctor,

    but all in all i love the story, and i will certainly watch it again and again and again.

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