Resident Evil: Extinction (DVD)
Steve Barton
|
Reviewed by Uncle Creepy
Starring Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Oded Fehr, Iain Glen, Ashanti
Directed by Russell Mulcahy
Distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Ah, where to start? It seems like forever ago that I first played Resident Evil on the original Sony PlayStation. Like many fans, the love affair was instantaneous. Since then every time a new Resident Evil game comes out, I’m at the store with cash in hand. The video game franchise has become one of the most beloved ever amongst horror and zombie fans in particular and is now synonymous with scary blood-spattered mayhem! Pretty fucking sweet! So where do the movies fit into this mythology? Nowhere really. Each film has beared little to no resemblance to its digital counterpart; yet, they still manage to stand on their own as a separate chapter in the Resident Evil universe. No easy task methinks.
Resident Evil: Extinction takes place soon after the events of the second film. We find Alice (Jovovich) still on the run and the bastards at Umbrella still cooking up new baddies with the dreaded T-Virus. In fact, as if creating a zombie plague weren’t enough, these wacko scientists are now building Super Zombies. YAY! Las Vegas is the latest setting for the film, and Alice, along with her never fully explained super powers, is still trying her damnedest to survive amidst the carnage. Honestly, there’s not a hell of a lot more to the plot than that. There really doesn’t need to be either. The one thing that Resident Evil: Extinction does right is that it is fun, gory, no-brainer entertainment starring a heavily armed hot chick and the undead by the boatload. Shakespeare it isn’t. There’s just one glaring hitch … it, just like the last two flicks in the series, is not a good Resident Evil movie.
Let me explain.
What we have here, folks, is a totally competent zombie flick, on par with some of the best we’ve seen this year. However, from a Resident Evil fan’s standpoint we still haven’t gotten anything to make us sit up and take notice. The movies in this franchise are void of atmosphere, void of true scares, void of the numerous different types of monsters the series is known for, and void of anything at all resembling a completely coherent storyline. All of these things together are what contributed to making the game franchise special. From a cinema standpoint these are just big dumb action films with monsters in them. If you’re cool with that, you may just find yourself with a lot to like here. Especially the fact that, unlike in the second film, there are actually zombies in this one. What a novel idea! Zombies in a Resident Evil movie? AMAZING!
*shakes head*
On the supplemental side of the zombie barricade, we get a nice little package though I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there were a special edition, super-duper, unrated, multi-disc, director’s cut somewhere in the near future.
Things kick off with a feature commentary by director Russell Mulcahy, writer/producer Paul “W(riting). S(ucks).” Anderson, and producer Jeremy Bolt. Nothing much to write home about here, but the undertaking is fairly lively. As a matter of fact, when thinking back to the commentary on the first Resident Evil DVD in which Milla and Michelle Rodriguez spent most of the time talking about going shopping, I guess this one is pretty damned good. Moving on. Next up we get eleven deleted scenes clocking in at about eight and a half minutes. These snippets add nothing to the film but do deliver a bit more footage of zombies standing around looking menacing. From there we get the featurette section of the DVD entitled Beyond Raccoon City: Unearthing Resident Evil: Extinction. Here we have four making-of featurettes that run about a half hour in total. Aside from the zombie themed one, there’s not a whole lot to these that aren’t garden variety.
But then we come to the moment we’ve all been waiting for — a “Sneak Peek” at the first CGI Resident Evil feature film, Resident Evil: Degeneration, which we first told you about here (New Resident Evil Trailer — Mon, 12/17/2007). Click on that link, watch the trailer, and then try not to be excited! I dare you! This looks like what fans have been waiting for. I’m a little disappointed that this “Sneak Peek” was just the abovementioned trailer, but, man, did it look bitching on a big screen TV and in 5.1 surround! Please, give us this NOW!
While we may just have to wait for Degeneration to hit home for a purer experience, Resident Evil: Extinction can help pass the time. At the very least you can make a cool drinking game out of the flick by taking a shot every time Milla hides one of her nipples. It’s almost as comical as Beowulf playing Hide the Salami while channeling the spirit of the Austin Powers films!
When did she get so shy?
Special Features
3 out of 5
Special Features:
3 out of 5
Discuss Resident Evil: Extinction in our forums!
Categorized:Reviews
