Log in / Sign up
 
    Share this page

    Resident Evil: Apocalypse

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
    Click here to show this review.
    So Bad it’s Good Rating: 3/5

    You have to hand it to “Resident Evil: Apocalypse”, it knows that its characters are flat and its story is dumb so it drowns its audience in non-stop violence and action in order to try and get by. It’s a bad movie, but at least it isn’t a boring one. If you’re not up to speed, here’s what you need to know: Underneath Raccoon City exists a genetic research facility named the Hive, run by the Umbrella Corporation. One day, a thief steals a sample of a weapons-grade infection named the T-Virus and releases it unto the Hive before escaping. A crack-team of specialists is sent inside to stop the murderous computer system in charge of the facility but discover that the inhabitants of the Hive have all been killed and then transformed into zombies by the T-Virus. To make things worse, Umbrella Corporation’s mutants have been set loose. Only Alice (Milla Jovovich) and Matt Addison (Eric Mabius, appearing only flashback in this film) survive.

    In this sequel, the two survivors are taken by Umbrealla Corp’s goons, until Alice is set loose into Raccon City, which, 30 days after the incident has become a post-apocalyptic zombie ridden ruin and is now barricaded and quarantined from the rest of the world. Alice teams up with a rag-tag group of survivors: ex-police officer Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), Sgt. Peyton Wells (Razaaq Adoti), Umbrella Corp. Security officer Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), news reporter Terri Morales (Sandrine Holt) in order to track down young Angela Ashford (Sophie Vavasseur) If they can the girl, her father Dr. Charles Ashford (Jared Harris) guarantees them safe passage outside of the city. There are some complications though, Umbrella is up to its nefarious old self, the place is crawling with zombies, the city is set to be demolished via nuclear warhead and there’s a mysterious member of the “Nemesis Program” roaming the streets, looking for Alice. Minor spoilers ahead.

    Just like the previous film, this one is all style and no substance. It’s just a series of action sequences tied together with a very thin plot and it doesn’t matter if it makes a lick of sense, as long as it looks cool. Take for example the scene where the crew is walking through a cemetery when all of a sudden the entire population of the cemetery suddenly climbs out of the ground to attack them. How the corpses became infected by the T-Virus when they were underground and sealed inside coffins, I have no idea. Why the zombies all crawl out at the same time, just as our characters think is safe is never explained either. All reasonable thinking when it came to the writing was banished in favor of having moldy, maggot-covered corpses attack our characters. This movie is riddled with such plot holes. In nearly every second scene a character somehow manages to miss a zombie crawling towards them just so we can have Alice or someone else enter the frame in a dramatic fashion by taking out the menace. This movie really lives by the rule “If it’s off-screen, it doesn’t exist” and that is not a good thing; it just makes the characters look like a bunch of sponge-brained turkeys or at the very least, a group of heroes with terrible peripheral vision. Alice is the worst contender by far. There is a scene where for absolutely no reason she bursts into a church through the window while ridding her motorcycle. The building was surrounded by zombies so why would she even enter the church, and who’s bright idea was it to set a ramp right next to that ornate stained-glass window? To prove how bad-ass Alice is, she then proceeds to attack the three mutants stalking Valentine and her crew with three different weapons. Why? Well because it would be “cooler” if she did it that way.

    The characters make the same mistakes that everyone is every single zombie or action movie ever does. They split up when there’s no reason to split up, they refuse to ditch members of their party that are infected, and they never even try to reason or even talk to anyone they encounter, they just go in guns blazing. I’d like to think that no one would really refuse to give Milla Jovovich a ride on their helicopter if they had a gun to their head but in this movie, everyone is either loyal to the death or killed before they have a chance to surrender. I haven’t played any of the Resident Evil games (I quit after that first dog jumped through the window and promptly ate me) but I can’t believe that there wasn’t some legitimately good, or at least original material they could have borrowed to make this zombie action flick.

    If there’s anything good to say about the movie it’s that it’s easy to make fun of and it never slows down. Every five minutes you’re pretty much guaranteed an action scene and they get increasingly ridiculous until we’re treated to a scene where Alice runs down the side of a building so that she can take down a bunch of faceless goons and fight an 8 foot, 300 lb mutant (who still manages to leap tall fences like they’re nothing) The special effects are significantly better than they were in the first movie and there’s a nice variety of enemies for our protagonists to fight. We’ve got grave zombies, undead children, zombified civilians, zombie dogs, Umbrella Corp thugs and some mutants too. Despite the fun I had at its expense, the movie is nothing special and boils down to just a ridiculous, dumb action horror. Alice just keeps pulling new skills and abilities out of nowhere but then never again uses the skills she’s displayed in the past. She shows off her awesome motorcycle skills, her superhuman ability to jump over fences and her instinct for knowing precisely the weak point of a structure exactly once, so there’s really no buildup or foreshadowing. It’s very frustrating to watch the director hammer Alice down your throat as she constantly one-ups everyone around her. Why do we even have other characters in this movie if all they do is slow her down?

    If you liked the first movie, this one is better because at least it’s not just a generic zombie movie. It’s an insane action movie stitched together with a generic zombie movie! You know from looking at the Dvd cover if this movie for you. If you have any doubts, it isn’t. It isn’t good but it isn’t dull. Faint praise indeed, but it thoroughly earns its faint praise. (On Blu-ray, November 15, 2013)

    5
    HelpfulNot helpful  Reply
    adamwatchesmovies@  4.7.2015 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

    Show all reviews for this movie
    Note: The movie review posted on this page reflects a personal opinion of one user. We are not responsible for its content.

    Did you see ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse''?

    There is a problem with your e-mail address and we are unable to communicate with you. Please go to My Account to update your email.

    How do you rate this movie?

    Select stars from 1 to 10.
    10 - A masterpiece, go, see it now
    9 - Excellent movie, a must see
    8 - Great movie, don't miss it
    7 - Good movie, worth seeing
    6 - Not bad, could be much better
    5 - So so, okay if you don't pay
    4 - Not good, even if you don't pay
    3 - Poor movie, not recommended
    2 - Very bad, forget about it
    1 - Worst ever, avoid at all costs

    Please explain. Write your comment here:

    Please choose a username to sign your comments. Only letters, digits, dash - or period. Minimum 4 characters.

    Your age and sex:

    We publish all comments, except abusive, at our discretion.