Breaks the mold. By far the best out of the three.

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2008)

While I felt the first and third movies in this trilogy were entirely average, this second part of the trilogy is nothing short of excellent. Here's why.
This movie breaks the mold of survival horror movies. The usual formula places a group of characters together and kills them off one at a time over the course of the movie. In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the story progression is much more open ended. We follow the stories of several different groups of characters in different parts of a city sealed off from the outside world to contain the outbreak of a virus. While many characters do die, in this case, it is happening to unique groups of people all making their own way to survive in a city over- run by zombies. Their story lines eventually converge of course, but the storyboarding developed to bring about this connection is stellar. As icing on the cake, all of these characters feel excellently cast and developed.
There are special effects in this movie, but they do not overpower the realism of human acting. The zombies, and most importantly, the Nemesis monster, are real actors in elaborate costumes and makeup.
The directing and set design are also excellent. This movie feels like a horror movie whereas the other two simply pass as alright action movies. The sets are intricately designed, with the very smallest attention to detail throughout. They are dark, filled with well placed streams of light and shadow, and dirty looking, in direct opposition to the clean, slick nature of the first movie. Everything really feels much closer to what the games envisioned in this outing. The directing is outstanding, filled with inspired camera angels, and the knowledge that true horror does not come from throwing scary beasts at us, but through the unknown about any scenario. The church scene is particularly inspired, giving us only the smallest glimpse of three attackers stalking the characters being portrayed. The level of suspense is masterfully built slowly to a climax around wonderful camera angels and the mood of the set. It is also no wonder why the acting in the movie feels so superb as well. It may not be the stuff of Oscars, but it is outstanding by action/horror standards. A great director can bring out the best talent from their actors and actresses. Another classic scene portrays frantic citizens of Racoon city trying to leave through the one exit in the barrier surrounding the city until one man at the front of the line succumbs to infection.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse is an A grade movie, and by far the best of the series. If only all three were this good, and the director of this movie had been brought back for the third installment. It isn't a perfect film, but it is excellent in all the most important places. If you only buy or see one movie out of this trilogy, see this one. It is expertly crafted.