The T-Virus has spread around the world

Rating: 7/10 (10 August 2015)

Five years have passed since the events of the previous instalment of this zombie franchise. The T-Virus has spread around the planet; this has not only turned most of the population into zombies, it has also affected wildlife and caused almost global desertification. Alice is travelling alone through the American West where she meets up with a convoy of survivors just as they are being attacked by a giant flock of infected crows. She manages to help them but there are inevitably casualties. They find evidence suggesting that there are areas still unaffected by the T-Virus in Alaska but that is a long journey that will require a lot of fuel. With the smaller filling stations now drained they will have to brave the city of Las Vegas if they are to get the required fuel.
While Alice is helping these survivors the Umbrella Corporation is still looking for her; Dr Isaacs needs her blood for his experiments to create a serum that will create tame zombies. He has also been working with clones of Alice which he tests to destruction. His schemes don't exactly go according to plan and he becomes infected after one of the 'improved' zombies he created bites him; he gets the antidote but mutates into a new more powerful creature; inevitable Alice will face him as the film reaches its climax.
I think this film was a step up from the second in the series despite the absence of Valentine who seems to have gone AWOL since the end of the previous film. Things start well as we are introduced to Dr Isaacs' Alice clones in a scene that is so similar to the start of the first instalment that I wondered if I might have put the wrong disc in! When we get back to the real Alice it is quickly established that there are some survivors who are almost as dangerous as the zombies when she meets a family that behave as though they've just come off the set of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. That isn't the only film similarity; the convoy of survivors is an enjoyable nod to 'Mad Max 2' and the crow attack is clearly inspired by 'The Birds'. This scene is one of the best in the film as there is something inherently frightening about being attacked by something as common as a crow. The effects for this scene were pretty impressive. On the down side the creators' desire to take things to another level went a bit far; now Alice isn't just an awesome fighter, she has telekinetic powers and the final fight against the mutated Isaacs felt as though because this is based on a series of computer games it must end with a 'boss fight' against something much more dangerous than the regular zombies. The cast did a solid enough job, by now Milla Jovovich has almost become defined by her role as Alice and Iain Glen is pretty good as Isaacs. Overall this is a decent enough sequel with some great action and some nicely scary moments although you really need to have watched the earlier films, especially the first, to know what is going on.