The Zombies Keep Staggering On...

Rating: 6/10 (12 April 2011)

I can't deny that the 'Resident Evil' franchise is a well-made package. The first one was quite intense with some seriously creepy moments, to say nothing of horrific beasties. But - my goodness - it's been milked for every dollar.
In this latest and limpest episode, the techno-beasties are absent. Now it's just 'Dawn Of The Dead' meets 'Matrix'. And if that sounds like a very favourable comparison - it isn't. 'Extinction' doesn't come close to Romero's classic old sequel in terms of tension, plot or simple black humour. And Jovovich's pasty-faced plain-as-a-plank heroine could never be a 'Trinity'. The Zombies versus superwoman plot just wanders into set-piece snarl, leap, kick, snarl, leap, shoot hokum. She's even immune to their 'vampire' bite so it's no contest for the rotting ones. Otherwise there's a big bunch of survivors speeding around in trucks with needless abandon who get progressively wasted by recurrent zombie attacks.
The next old idea to be recycled is Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. Crows have been feasting on the double-dead stiffs and getting infected. Suddenly, they are gathering around the survivors by the hundred, just like Hitch's classic. Zombie crows? big deal. What about the zombie rats, and the zombie flies? Maybe they'll arrive in the next instalment.
This is the fourth course in the dead-flesh menu, and if you ain't replete by now; you'll never be. For me, the hors d'oeuvre was feast enough, and whilst it gave plenty to chew on, even that seemed a bit over-done.
I've given it 6 stars because what I saw (about 90%) was well made in most technical aspects. I just couldn't be bothered to watch the end because I've already seen it in the first three instalments.
First is best, otherwise the franchise is strictly for the game-fans.