A review of "Resident Evil: Extinction"

Rating: 6/10 (1 October 2007)

"Resident Evil: Extinction," the latest (and certainly not the last) in a series of video game-to-movie adaptations based on the popular Capcom video game series about an out-of-control virus that transforms its victims into zombies and other ghastly mutations, may very well be the most explosive, trigger-happy film this series has seen yet, though it is by no means the best.
This latest comes to us from "Highlander" Russell Mulcahy, the music video director-turned "B"-movie filmmaker who's been on the underground "B"-movie circuit since that 1986 film and has never quite been able to repeat its cult success. "Resident Evil: Extinction" was written by none other than first "Resident Evil" director Paul W.S. Anderson, and he takes his cues from the material to build yet another apocalyptic bang-bang, shoot-'em-up zombie-horror flick.
One could possibly deduce that this movie's success lies on one principal factor: the rise in the popularity of zombie movies within the last five years or so. If you remember back in 2004, this film's predecessor "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" was a reigning box office champ, and other zombie flicks of that year (the "Dawn of the Dead" remake, "Shaun of the Dead") were also packing them in. So this film's success seems assured, or so it would appear.
This time out, in "Extinction," six months after "Apocalypse," the only way to stay alive is to be out on the open road, and a few remaining survivors of the Raccoon City outbreak are part of a heavily armored convoy in the American Southwest, searching for any sort of a safe haven as the out-of-control experimental "T" Virus has decimated the world's population, and turned much of the planet's surface into a barren wasteland. With plot devices a la "The Road Warrior" and "Day of the Dead," Alice (soon-to-be Mrs. Paul W.S. Anderson Milla Jovovich, returning for a third time out), joins this convoy with Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S. officer Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), L.J. (Mike Epps) and newcomers medic Betty (Ashanti), radio operator Mikey (Christopher Egan), and convoy leader Claire Redfield (Ali Larter). Somehow or another, Alice gets wind of a possible safe haven up north in Alaska, presumably isolated from "T" Virus infection.
Meanwhile, at an outpost in the middle of the desert, the last remaining American branch Umbrella Corporation scientists are hard at work "domesticating" test-subject zombies, under the leadership of the mad scientist Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen). It's cute that even he has a "Day of the Dead"-like zombie, though his name isn't Bub and he's not saluting to any Captain Rhoads look-a-likes here. Isaacs has also been conducting experiments in trying to replicate Alice because her blood possibly holds a cure that will reverse the "T" Virus's effects. (In another plot device, a la "Alien: Resurrection," it's taken him 86 Alice clones so far to try to get things right.)
To get this out of the way, "Resident Evil: Extinction" is not a very intelligent film, though the one thing it manages to truly get by on is atmosphere. There are plenty of moments when you feel there's no hope and you're with some of the characters in their desperation, and that's one element of the film that Mulcahy gets right. Another thing done correctly are the film's special effects, since gore and Tom Savini-wannabe zombie effects have been a no-show or poorly done in both previous "Resident Evil" movies. And the sweeping cinematography captures the barren desert landscape perfectly, giving it an eerie life of its own.
What "Resident Evil: Extinction" suffers from are a lack of well-developed characters. (For the record, I've never seen so many of the main characters die off so quickly within say, a 20-minute time-span. Even the "Alien" movies weren't that cold-hearted.) But then, since so many of those characters are underdeveloped anyway, there's no real connection to them in the first place. In terms of story, you can tell the film series seems to be running on empty, since, after all, the "T" Virus has almost completely decimated the world's population, so it can only go so much further. Perhaps Anderson jumped the gun a little bit here but then again, he's never been much of a screenwriter to begin with.
"Resident Evil: Extinction" is, if nothing else, a worthy closer to a series that's had its run. At least if another movie is made, you can tell it's going to be pretty short. And if another movie is made, what's it going to be called? "Extinction" is out; "Doomsday," maybe?
6/10