Movie Review: ‘Resident Evil: Apocalypse’ (2004)

Director: Alexander Witt

Cast: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Thomas Kretschmann, Jared Harris, Mike Epps, Iain Glen

Plot: As the zombie outbreak spreads from the underground facility The Hive into Raccoon City, chaos ensues. Super-soldier Alice crosses paths with soldiers, civilians, and law enforcement as the clock counts down to the town being nuked.

Review: As a young person, the original Resident Evil movie was goofy enough to make for a fun evening in front of the screen, the cinematic companion to cheap beer and pizza. The sequels never inspired a viewing, let alone a DVD purchase like the original. I mean… they were just too silly. We saw the second movie, complete with heroes backflipping off motorcycles while dual-wielding automatic weapons, and determined that it was too silly for our refined tastes.

Wasn’t it a surprise, then, to find that with a modern viewing, we enjoyed the second movie more than the original?

There seems to be a bit more consideration given to the story, aside from a group of generic mercenary types saying tough-guy lines to each other. We have a small range of people, from journalists to black stereotypes to soldier types. Each person has their own goal amid the chaotic, zombie-infested streets of Raccoon City, and that gives us just enough reason to follow them from one scene to the next. Having some human faces as villains works much better than a hologram doing a standard creepy British kid voice.

This is faint praise, of course, as this is a series you can’t take seriously. The bad guys are now the human executives of the Umbrella Corporation, and we are left with the assumption that being CEO types in suits is enough characterisation for now. Trying to work out what their end goal is will leave you wanting. It feels like they’re spreading zombies and monsters for some kind of stock portfolio bonus.

Unlike the first movie, which only paid lip service to the video game source material, Resident Evil: Apocalypse gives us the one and only Jill Valentine to lead the charge, played by Sienna Guillory. Valentine here is characterised as a tough, take-charge, well-trained warrior. It’s just a shame that no one is allowed to be tougher, smarter, or cooler than writer/producer Paul W. S. Anderson’s wife. It quite often feels like these movies only exist for Anderson to platform Jovovich as the most badass woman in action cinema.

As mentioned up top, Alice encounters the other leads in a spectacularly over-the-top fashion. After our survivors complete a montage of shooting in various directions while looking determined, they declare themselves out of ammo. At this moment, Alice (Jovovich) comes flying through a stained-glass window, skids around before backflipping off the bike as it collides with a monster, and drives up a wall, where she shoots at it with dual pistols, causing it to explode before shooting down a cross that squishes a second monster… It carries on until she’s deployed five different guns and seven different poses. Just in case we didn’t get the point that Alice is cooler than Jill, Jill does comment on how amazing Alice is compared to her.

It’s a better put-together film than the first one, but this is still a blisteringly stupid movie franchise. It’s limited by the creative minds focusing on a 14-year-old’s version of “cool action,” and by its budget. One of the big selling points for this movie was the inclusion of Nemesis, an icon of the game series. An unstoppable monster, it haunts the player through the game. In this version, the audience is left giggling at the immobile plastic face perched on top of a trench coat.

Unfortunately, particularly given that this is a first-time director, this movie lacks the creativity needed to elevate it above a cheap cash-in on a known property.

Rating: FIVE out of TEN