Oh, good lord... The first movie had a lot of entertainment value (even if it completely ignored the source material), but "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" just stinks.

Rating: 3/10 (11 January 2014)

You ever been in a friendship or relationship that has so many ups and downs, you can barely think straight? One day everything will be fine, but the next, there's some sort of meltdown and it all goes hell... before suddenly getting better again?
That's what the "Resident Evil" film franchise feels like to me. It's like a volatile relationship with someone that I probably shouldn't be spending my time with, but I like them just enough for some strange reason that I continue to spend time with them. Much as this film franchise keeps alternating between dopey fun (the first and third entries, for example) and outright awfulness (This entry...), yet even though I know I could be doing much better things with my time, I keep watching.
"Resident Evil: Apocalypse" is a 2004 follow-up to Paul W.S. Anderson's first film. Directed by Alexander Witt (from a script by Anderson, who also produces), this is a prime example of a heinously messy, amateurish sequel that suffers not only a wonky script, but truly amateurish direction that just makes everything fall flat.
We follow Alice (Milla Jovovovich) once again, this time as she navigates the quarantined and zombie-infested Raccoon City with a motley crew of survivors, attempting to find the daughter of a top-Umbrella employee, as part of a barter agreement to be set free. However, unbeknownst to her, a new threat in the form of the "Nemesis Program" has been unleashed onto the city, and she will have to face this horrible creature (as well as corrupt Umbrella employees) in order to survive.
The acting this time is a lot more mixed. Some of the performances are great. Jovovich is a blast as Alice, this time with almost super- human powers following the experiments done on her. She's a fun female action-hero and is one of the strengths of the thus-far five entries in the series. Oded Fehr is also a blast as a comrade of Alice, a commando formerly employed by Umbrella. And Jared Harris as an Umbrella employee whose daughter is lost in the city gives probably the best performance in a good parental figure. However, performances by the likes of Sienna Guillory (as a disgraced police officer named Jill Valentine), Mike Epps (as a wise-cracking comic-relief character) and Thomas Kretschmann (as one of the most generic villains I've ever seen) all give pretty bland performances and drag the film down quite a bit.
The production and the script are where the film really falls apart, though. And they are very, very messy.
First of all, I need to address Alexander Witt's direction. Witt has proved himself a very capable, talented man, generally as a second- unit cinematography and second-unit director. However, here he displays that his experience did not help him obtain a strong enough visual sensibility to help a major production. (At least at the time of its release) This film is one of the most identity-less, bland productions I've ever seen. I'd even dare to say soulless at times. Frankly, Witt's aesthetic choices (in everything from composition to style) feel amateur, akin more to a first-year film student than an experienced filmmaker. I don't know how, but he managed to take so many cool action set-pieces and some interesting creatures, and make them boring. Outside of one cool sequence where the "Nemesis" creature is awakened in a Frankenstein-like laboratory, the direction just sort of... sucked.
The script by Anderson is also very problematic. From a rushed pace, to a very poor structure, this is essentially a film about people walking from point A to point B over and over again, with some goofy action and bad dialog thrown in. I also take issue with how the film treated its one major minority character, turning him into a stereotypical one- liner spouting goof-ball.
The rest of the production is decidedly a lot worse this time around as well. The production design is far less inspired, and even laugh-out loud hysterical at times. (Pay attention to the plethora of computer monitors throughout the film- they are the fakest-looking and most over- the-top blatant displays I've ever seen.) The costume design is also quite cheesy, making the characters look like Saturday-morning cartoons. And the music is a lot less polished this time as well.
Honestly, after being surprised by how enjoyable the first film was (even though it completely changed the story from the source material video-game, which I found upsetting) in a "dumb fun" kind of way, I was shocked by how horribly this film compared.
This is just a stinker all around. It's poorly directed, poorly written and despite having a few good performances, generally poorly acted. Thankfully, I am pleased to report that the third film managed to up the ante and more than made up for this mess.
But as it stands, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" gets a poor 3 out of 10 from me. The only reason to watch it is if you want to watch the entire series without missing an entry.