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Review by: Jack Foley | Rating:
One
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Cast and crew commentaries. 20
deleted scenes. Blooper reel. 3 featurettes. 'Game Over: Resident
Evil Reanimated' - making of. Photo gallery.
RESIDENT Evil, the original, provided conclusive proof that computer
game franchises very rarely (if ever) translate to film.
Its sequel, subtitled Apocalypse, merely serves to underline
that sentiment, as well as achieving a new benchmark in stupidity
for this sort of thing in the process.
Scripted by Paul WS Anderson and directed by first-timer, Alexander
Witt, the film picks up pretty much where the original left off,
after Alice (Milla Jovovich) has escaped from the Raccoon City
Medical Facility in order to find a way to defeat the T-virus.
However, while scouring the streets of the ruined city, looking
for survivors, she must confront yet more zombies, as well as
a creature named Nemesis, with the help of a street-wise cop (Sienna
Guillory), and the surviving members of a Special Ops team, led
by Oded Fehr.
Plot, however, plays distinctly second fiddle to the shooting,
with Witt wasting no time in flitting from one braindead set piece
to the next.
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Hence, Resident Evil fans will no
doubt look forward to the prospect of seeing more hellish creatures,
including those fur-less dobermans, getting splattered amid a
non-stop array of weaponry and death-defying feats, as orchestrated
by scantily-clad women.
Yet, when even the zombies look as though they can't be bothered,
you know you're in trouble.
Everything about Resident Evil: Apocalypse feels like an after-thought
- the script is dreadful, the lack of logic unfathomable and the
total disregard for its audience, unforgivable.
The film runs out of steam long before the half-way mark and
then adds insult to injury by setting things up for a third instalment
- which, given the US response, is a very distinct possibility.
None of the cast emerge with much credit, especially since they
are given such little to work with, while most of the set-pieces
flatter to deceive - feeling deliberately sped up, either to ensure
the lower certificate, or to hide the poor quality of some of
the special effects.
Yet, whichever way you look at it, this is a lame attempt at
movie-making, which feels like an attempt to cash in on the computer
game series at the expense of its audience.
Come back Lara Croft, all is forgiven!
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