Resident Evil: Jumping the Shark

Rating: 3/10 (23 September 2007)

The increasingly tired premise of a zombie-producing virus has been around for some years, having replaced the seductive living dead mystery of prior generations. I don't expect much of horror films, but I expect more than this. RE:E is just silly.
The cast is all here: evil corporation, out-of-control scientist, hapless minions who get locked in with the experiments gone wrong, multicultural gang of human fugitives strangely dressed in skimpy clothing and carrying military grade technology, etc. The story is advanced, but only in the direction of absurdity. Alice is still alive, but this time it would appear she's an android not only with superhuman agility and strength, but also with the ability to shut down satellites in space using her mind. She's always been one. And if that wasn't enough, she's also psychic--with the ability to generate force fields around herself and her friends. Most of the zombies look alike this time, strangely clothed in identical gray jumpsuits. You can now kill them by cutting their throats, shooting them in the abdomen, or dropping them off short buildings.
A few dozen overly loud bangs, crashes, and gunfights later and we get a showdown between Alice and the mutated evil doctor, carried out in a bad paste of unconnected rooms from previous films.
Close on a scene with the greedy corporate suits getting a holographic warning of their impending doom from a snippy Alice, and you have a film designed to sell wholly on the game's reputation and not because it's sincerely engaging, scary, or even interesting.
PS: here's an idea for a drinking game. Every time Milla Jovovich is on screen and her face has been digitally altered to look smoother than it actually is, that's a shot.