Better Than the First

Rating: 8/10 (10 September 2004)

I just got back from seeing the opening showing at Cine Capri here in Scottsdale, AZ (technically, Cine Capri is in Phoenix, but anyway...). I'm a techie who loves Star Trek, Star Wars, the Alien movies, video games, almost anything computer-related, and almost any sci-fi movie. So, the high-tech and monster stuff in this movie lured me in. That and the opportunity to see it at Cine Capri - the LARGEST screen in Metro Phoenix (outside IMAX, of course) with a 40,000 watt Dolby Digital sound system! If you don't mind shelling out the dough for this premium theater, it's definitely the way to go. No, I don't work for them or anything like that. You'll see how my "gushing" about Cine Capri here relates to the movie in the last paragraph below.
But, I digress - "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" is a very decent sci-fi, survival horror movie. The acting was pretty good. The action was good. And, the special f/x were very good. Too, the "bad ass" factor was off the chart!
It has some very suspenseful parts that I enjoyed. However, there were some minor annoyances - the fight scenes were shot WAY too close to the action and WAY too jittery; I've seen another movie this summer that used this same "style" of camera-work - "The Bourne Supremacy" - and it was the only thing that ruined that movie for me as well. Also, let's be honest; this is yet another zombie movie. The main "threat" are the zombies - and, yeah, it's a bit worrisome that if they so much as nip you, you die pretty quickly from the virus and become a flesh-eating zombie yourself, but other than that, the zombies aren't too much to worry about. Their sheer numbers are a problem, but it's cake to take them out - one pop in the head or break the spinal cord and that's it - whoop de doo. Don't get me wrong, though - there are many other, more menacing threats for the characters to deal with, but the zombie threat gets pretty old pretty quick.
So... if you have an AWESOME theater like Cine Capri to see it in, go for it. Otherwise, wait until it comes out on DVD.