Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

[slayrrr666]

"Resident Evil: Extinction" is one of the more enjoyable entries in the genre.

**SPOILERS**

With the world a barren wasteland, Alice, (Milla Jovovich) one of the few survivors of the T-virus, manages to stay on the run from the hordes of undead still alive. Also on the run, Claire Redfield, (Ali Larter) and a band of survivors, Carlos Olivera, (Oded Fehr) L.J., (Mike Epps) Betty, (Ashanti) Mikey, (Christopher Egan) K-Mart, (Spencer Locke) Chase, (Linden Ashby) and Otto, (Joe Hursley) manage to find shelter in an old motel, and after she saves them from an attack, she joins them on their quest to find shelter in the world. With Dr. Isaacs, (Iain Glen) from Umbrella Corp after them for her ability to help out a project that could save mankind, she tries to help her friends survive the relentless attacks of the undead.

The Good News: There was a lot to like about this one. One of the better features is that there's a lot of action scenes in here, which are always quite enjoyable in here. There's some good ones in here, from the nice opening in the trapped radio station which soon turns into a fantastic sequence of her trying to outwit turned zombie-dogs inside a pit complete with the requisite amount of close-calls and traps to be avoided as well as out-maneuvering the dogs using the surroundings before letting them go loose on the spectators, to a longer sequence later at a gas station which is a lot of fun. The big ones, though, are three key centerpiece sequences that serve as the best examples of the action in here. The first one is a sequence where zombified ravens swarm their camp-out, which leads to several big moments including a great starting sequence with the flock flying down and just viciously taking it to the buses, resulting in a tense, action-packed scene and a lot of great moments and a spectacular way to end it. The biggest, and longest, scene here is the attack at Las Vegas, where there's just a humongous horde of zombies coming through the barriers and attacking everything in sight, which is always fun. The methods of the counter-attack against the zombies are unique and well-executed, allowing for tons of thrilling encounters within and are played off rather well. That there's a lot of big, graphic deaths and big action effects is a big plus. It's fun and exciting and definitely worthwhile as one of the best scenes in the film. The other big one is the final battle against the mutant, which manages to go from a lab through a basement, out into the model of the house and finally ends during the simulation run for one of the tests, features a lot of big moments and comes off with a satisfying finish. The film's also really gory at times, with some really messy moments. There's a slew of slicing and decapitations, gunshots galore, a couple completely dismembered corpses that are completely torn up, bites on almost everything, a brutal impaling with tentacles and much, much more, leaving this one feeling really bloody and graphic. The last plus is the really nice-looking zombies, which look really nice, and good enough to be considered acceptable. It's nice and does what it needs to. These here are what make the film enjoyable.

The Bad News: There wasn't too many problems at all with this one. One of the biggest problems is that, like all the other ones in the series, nothing is either explained or is held off on an explanation until the end. The psychic powers and telekinesis issues are completely unexplained, never having been used in the first two films and are put on display here quite frequently, making their origin a bit of a mystery. Others, such as the real reasoning behind the company's chase of her, is a one sentence blurb given ten minutes before the finale and it leaves the whole thing to a big question mark as to what's happening. There's plenty more examples, but this is a staple of the series and really shouldn't count here. The only other flaw is the film's rather low-key opening, which seems like an odd rehash of the original events in the series and doesn't really make sense. These are all that's really wrong with this one.

The Final Verdict: A lot more fun than it really should've been, with some nice good points thrown in as well to offer up some big pluses. Worthwhile for fans of the movie series or those who prefer the more adrenaline-laced zombie movies, while those who haven't enjoyed the series or prefer the video games should heed caution.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language

[Bartwald]

My favourite of all four RE movies - and actually the only one I truly enjoyed.

[slayrrr666]

I prefer Apocalypse personally, that has more action and a better pace.

[Bartwald]

It does, yeah, but the action scenes there didn't work for me - it was like watching somebody play a video game, there were no human emotions involved. This part here is, for me, the most "human" of all - and it's one of the reasons I like it best.

[slayrrr666]

Lots of gunfire, tons of explosions, body parts flying all over the place: what doesn't work about those scenes? That's exactly what should happen in these kinds of films, and considering that was the majority of the film was what left me so impressed with that one.

[Bartwald]

We're different when it comes to action scenes, slayrrr. Explosions alone just don't do it for me if there's no other hook in the movie - be it a charismatic presence of the main action hero or an involving story or convincing characters, etc.

3 out of 4 Resident Evil films lacked this X factor in my opinion. But still - RE 2 is a bit better than RE 4, I can say that.

[slayrrr666]

Well, you also have to remember that I came into horror simply because I didn't know if I could handle them and grew up with action films, so those that tend to have a lot of that will appeal to me more rather than useless facets like acting ability or technical quality. It's kinda like nudity, I guess: I can live without them in the film, but I'm never going to look down upon them if they feature it. I like those that have a ton of action, shooting things up and blowing things to pieces, and I like more laid-back, normal horror films so it's not like I only require that one area to be affected by a film.