Same Old

Rating: 4/10 (13 October 2007)

I had already ceased to hope that this movie franchise would have a lot to do with the Resident Evil games - of whom they conveniently "borrowed" the name to get some easy cash from innocent fans. If you've seen the first two films, then really, there would be no reason for you to believe you'd go into the cinema and relive anything similar to the emotions the games can put you through. But ultimately, it's something else entirely that kills off this film and you can spot it with ease: it's recycled stuff.
From Mad Max to Day of the Dead, The Birds, Land of the Dead and several other feature films, Resident Evil: Extinction "borrows" extensively. I guess that's bad in itself, but if you consider that originality was the last thing which defined the film series, then it's actually got little to say.
This third time around, Alice roams through the US with her nice super-powers in her attempt to ... (this is where you find out for yourselves what her purpose is, for the most I could figure out was "seek revenge on Umbrella") in a world which has become completely barren and devoid of life. As a matter of fact, this little bit of info which is delivered to us in a short narration by Milla Jovovich at the beginning of the film - how the virus has somehow sucked the life out of our planet physically - is perhaps one of the most interesting concepts RE 3 has to offer, but unfortunately it's treated as such an insignificant matter that you are bound to ignore it all together. The actual storyline involves a bunch of people traveling through the desert without any real aim except for survival and the "crazy doctor" who tries to find a cure and in the process is corrupted by power. There's a lot of fighting, kicking, slashing and shooting going on and it's all reasonably enjoyable, but the lack of purpose to the whole story makes you feel too detached to actually care for anything, even if Milla works quite hard to achieve the contrary.
Some effects are cool, some scenes are a bit creepy, some elements actually look like those from the games. But seeing a central character like Albert Wesker introduced into the series as such a moronic persona, that was just appalling. I swear I'd have thought the guy playing Wesker was somehow related to someone related to the producers, because his acting is sooo poor, I just can't bring it into words. Not to mention the fact that the guy in the film bears no resemblance to the guy in the games, but for the name and the sunglasses - I guess in a way that actually makes him symbolic to the film franchise.
I guess that if you can ignore him (or don't know the original to begin with) you'll be able to cope with the rest of the film better. It's ultimately a decent slash and dash flick, but the fact that in the end it leaves you with nothing whatsoever is just not enough as far as I'm concerned. To me, this stuff will never be Resident Evil.