Review of Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) by Pillis — 24 Oct 2019

Apocalypse is without a doubt the installment of the whole franchise to be inspired by the game material the most. This of course does not translate to a great movie and that's why the first one was such a hit and a clever take on the original videogame, because it avoided doing so. The chore of the gaming experience of Resident Evil was its gameplay not its awful plot or ridiculous characters. Say what you want but while being poorly written, the RE movies have expanded the world, brought a bigger plot and a beautiful and well developed female lead. No wonder the weakest things about these movies are the fanservice moments and characters for fans of the games.

Apocalypse then being the closest to the games is a convoluted mess that lacks the horror tension of the first movie and the dramatic end-of-the-world action and sense of purpose of the successors.

Despite discovering only in the Final Chapter that the story of the origin of the T-Virus told in this movie is either a cover up or a fraud, you never at any point buy the chore of the plot here regarding a little girl and his dad at Umbrella because all this movie is about is Alice vs Nemesis while Jill kicks ass in a mini skirt. So in the bigger scope this movie really feels out of place and the weakest link of the bunch. Another silly aspect of the story is the whole "put racoon city in quarantine within a few hours" which sounds just as stupid as the videogames but all in all, it works OK as an action sequel set in an urban area.

The positive aspects are still plenty: making Jill Valentine a kick ass action heroine instead of a random cosplayer (cough cough Ada Wong), a sinister reveal in a Church, The Lickers, a throwback homage at zombie flicks at the cemetery, great action, practical effects, impressive stunts and wire work, Milla at her physical peak, a good amount of humour and zombie ****.

Also CGI is limited and many of the action scenes have aged incredibly well and it's always fun revisiting this pop corn flick despite its apparent flaws and limits. It doesn't really work as a movie on its own as it fails to create an unique world but it helps in developing Alice character who is the star of the show, as always.