A fun action/horror film with a great monster.

Rating: Null/10 (23 September 2004)

Resident Evil: Apocalypse is a fun action/horror movie with good creature effects and an ending that makes you want more (in a good way).
If you were disappointed with the first movie's sterile environments and lack of any connection to the videogames, you'll be happy to see familiar faces Chris and Jill and the Gothic interior of the Church. Ammo is scarce, lickers are everywhere, and it's a whole lot more like playing the video game. (Not one evil child A.I. in sight!)
And, of course, there's Nemesis. Nemesis is great. An eight foot zombie with a chaingun, rocket launcher and prize winning snarl, Nemesis can stomp through a hail of bullets like it was a light rain. The best thing about him is he's actually there. You heard me, the big man ain't CGI.
It's amazing these days to find a rubber suit monster in a major motion picture, and after watching RE:A, you have to wonder why. Nemesis has an actual physical presence. The actors look far more intimidated by this hulking deathbeast than any of the CGI beasties they have to pretend are there. (Look for their expressions of actual horror, rather than the wide-eyed wonderment you get when actors have to share the screen with cartoons.)
If there is a problem with Resident Evil, it is of course, the zombies. Yep, for a zombie movie, they sure don't get much push. The rotting wonders terrorize our heroes for the first third of the film and then are quickly forgotten. But who cares, by that time Nemesis rolls out. And he's a really *big* zombie! That's got to count for something. (Ah well, at least it's not the first movie, where you had to wait 45 minutes to see that the zombies were poorly made-up, not very scary and actually quite goofy. In RE:A, they tell you right up front!)
In summery, go see Resident Evil: Apocalypse for the pure joy of it. It's not a "hardcore" zombie movie, but then again, it's not trying to be. It's a monster flick, plain and simple. And it's a damn good one.