Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) Screen Gems/Horror-Action RT: 94 minutes Rated R (language, strong bloody violence, some nudity) Director: Russell Mulcahy Screenplay: Paul W.S. Anderson Music: Charlie Clouser Cinematographer: David Johnson Release date: September 21, 2007 (US) Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Oded Fehr, Mike Epps, Iain Glen, Spencer Locke, Ashanti, Christopher Egan, Matthew Marsden, Linden Ashby, Jason O’Mara, Joe Hursley. Box Office: $50M (US)/$147.7M (World)
Rating: ***
When it comes to movie franchises, I’ve noticed that the weakest link is usually the third movie. Look at Superman III, The Karate Kid Part III, The Godfather Part III, Lethal Weapon 3, Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Amityville 3 and Jaws 3. All of these titles are comparatively lame. What is it with the number 3 in Hollywood? Does it represent some kind of symbolic kiss of death?
Of course, there are a few exceptions to this theory. I really like Alien 3, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Halloween III: Season of the Witch and Resident Evil: Extinction. In fact, I would even say Extinction is my favorite installment of the popular horror-action movie series. That’s really saying something when you consider that it’s also based on a video game, another type of film I tend to dislike. In my opinion, director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) has put together a solid actioner that plays like a combination of The Road Warrior and Day of the Dead. It has both zombies and killer crows! How cool is that?
Once again, Milla Jovovich plays heroine Alice and she’s still one tough lady. Resident Evil: Extinction also has a tight script; it leads me to believe that Paul W.S. Anderson is a much better screenwriter than he is a director. I still stand by what I said in my previous Resident Evil reviews about these movies being complete junk, but Resident Evil: Extinction is definitely the good kind of junk.
This movie opens with Alice (Jovovich) laying unconscious on the shower floor, just like when we first met her in the first movie. She gets dressed and walks around the deserted mansion. She defeats a few obstacles before being killed by a bouncing mine. Killed …. what the hell? There’s no cause for worry, it’s not the real Alice. It’s a clone, one of 87 failed experiments. Dr. Sam Isaacs (Glen, The Iron Lady) believes that he can develop a permanent cure for the T-Virus with her blood; after all, she has successfully bonded with it as proven by her superhuman abilities. Since he’s unable to create a good clone, he decides to try and re-capture her. However, that might be easier said than done. A lot has happened in the five years since her friends rescued her from the Umbrella research station in Detroit. The virus spread to the rest of the world. In the space of a few months, the world came to an end. Now, the US is a barren wasteland. Alice rides around alone on a motorcycle, having separated from her friends out of fear for their safety. The Umbrella Corporation can track her with their satellites and would likely kill anybody associated with her should they try and re-capture her. She searches for supplies and reads a diary that she found; it speaks about a safe zone called “Arcadia” located in Alaska.
Meanwhile, a convoy led by Claire Redfield (Larter, Obsessed) makes its way across the country. The busload of survivors includes our old friends Carlos (Fehr) and L.J. (Epps). They’re constantly in search of food, clean water, shelter, medical supplies and gas. They stop in a deserted town to search a motel for supplies and run into big trouble when they get attacked by a large murder of crows who have been feeding upon infected flesh. Alice shows up and saves their asses. She hands Claire the diary and convinces her to take the remaining survivors to Alaska.
Back at the Umbrella facility, Dr. Isaacs is also conducting experiments on zombies in an attempt to domesticate them. Against the orders of Umbrella chairman Albert Wesker (O’Mara, One for the Money), Isaacs continues his efforts to re-capture Alice, using the satellites to triangulate her exact location.
Overall, Resident Evil: Extinction is a very entertaining movie. I love the fact that it borrows so openly from The Road Warrior and Day of the Dead. It almost makes you forget that you’re watching a movie based on a video game. I love the scene when Alice saves Claire and her people from the infected crows; I won’t reveal what she does but it’s really cool. Once again, Alice gets to fight alongside another bad ass chick. Ali Larter does a good job in the role. The movie has some pretty cool zombie attacks and great action scenes. Those crows are really wicked cool. You already know how I feel about Jovovich, so I won’t bother repeating myself.
In short, Resident Evil: Extinction is solid B-movie entertainment, albeit one with a high price tag ($45 million). It’s just great goofy fun, a genuine guilty pleasure.
