Review of Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) by Viniciusbrito — 27 Jan 2019

The story in this film has a nice base, the first movie worked really fine, and now they kind of do the same thing, but bigger, instead of a confined underground place, the zombies reach the whole Raccoon City, that idea of bigger, I don't quite like it, but I did enjoy the atmosphere as well, the whole idea of being in a sieged city with no way out and a lot of zombies inside is nice, the whole prologue where we see normal people around and the Umbrella members opening the hive is very nice. The story overall is about a run away, an escape of that place, it is ok, there isn't many aspects that make it unique, and is based on convenience and coincidences all the time, and that pisses me off, I really dislike when something crucial to the story happens based in a coincidence or covenience moment, but when it does happens a lot, that is just so bad, like some character finding the other out of nowhere, in a giant city they got so lucky to find eachother, come on, the first time that Alice meets Jill and the others is so ridiculous and so out of nowhere per example. There is one moment in the bridge, where you can see a whole bunch of people, like the the bridge is almost full of people, and when the officers there evacuate everybody that is there, they went back to the city, but when the movie goes back to there, there isn't anyone in the streets, where all of that people went? there a lot of zombies but there is no way that all of these people would become zombies that fast, it feels like a abandoned city, wich gives a cool atmosphere but at the same time it didn't fit on what they were showing before. The 3rd act of this film is totally a mess, for the video game fans it is ofensive, in Resident Evil 3, the game, Nemesis was a really scared dude that was impossible to kill and was always running after you in a crazy speed, every time that you heard that "STARS" you knew that you had to run because **** got serious. Nemesis in this film isn't scary or anything, his visual are fun, but what they did to him dosn't really have the same feeling as the game, but that isn't a big of a problem. The fact that Alice all the time exchange punches with Nemesis is really a horrible thing, more at the end when she fighting with him one on one that is all ridiculous, the conclusion of that battle is even worst, they completed lose a chance to make a remarkable villain like he is on the games. More towards the end you can see Alice killing someone with telekinesis, and that is where Resident Evil movies completed threw it down, a super character in this kind of films just doesn't work, because what would even happen to her if she is a super human against zombies and stuff and can even beat Nemesis one on one, is just isn't fun anymore there is no danger feeling.

Jill Valentine is probably the best thing in the movie, even if she wasn't used as well as she could. Jill Valentine is by far my favorite Resident Evil characters from the games, I really went through many things with her in Resident 1, 3, 5 and other games, so we are very familiar already. In this film, first, the way that she looks and dresses is exactly like the game Resident Evil 3, it is so perfect how she is compared to the game in a way that I don't think that we have any other so close to the original in any other video game movie this far. Sienna Guillory portrays her perfectly, she is badass, she speaks with autority, she is well decided on what she do, and also is a very respectful person, I really like her, is to bad that Alice is always over her.

The action in this film with Alice are just sad, she having super jumps or super moves, that is not fun, the way that it is filmed is also incomprehensible, the camera have some blurs and some strange slow motions, I really don't get what they were trying to do. The action with Jill and the others, does work, so as the scary and thriller moments, there some nice badass moments with Jill, some moments where you can totally feel the vulnerability of them compared to what they are getting into, it is good. The Star team that gets in the city is also good in action, they have some choreography moves that are fun to watch.

One thing that it is good in this film, but it could have been much better, is the atmosphere that they created. The whole thing in the city, with small streets, giving claustrophobia in some situations with a lot of zombies in a small space, that was nice, the ambience in the curch was also well constructed, with water and darkness, far noises. But overall around the city, I felt it much simple, even compared to Resident Evil 3 from playstation one, there was many more places that you could feel that there were something wrong, just by when you stepped there, or even the first movie from this franchise, I think that there is a lack of details that really bothers and makes the difference.