Strummin' My Pain With His Finger

Rating: 4/10 (24 September 2007)

Resident Evil has never failed to surprise. It's a charm that Anderson has the ability, not to control skillfully, but inanely and luckily write into each of his screenplays. The funny thing about Extinction though, is that out of all the bad rap that it got before coming out, first reviews, and release of tons of footage from the hour and a half plus film, it really wasn't bad.
Granted the acting in this one wasn't as dramatic and gripping as the first two, not that it was Oscar worthy, but it always gets the job done. Though I must note that Mike Epps does awful in his first few scenes. Especially when screaming out in remorse for his other not so lucky co-star Ashanti as she perks up against the bus door, dying vigilantly. Milla, while still believable as an action heroine, was a bit disappointing with her usual opening dialog (in this case a narrative which seemed very amateur). Fortunately enough, this can all be blamed upon the script and the directing. Surprisingly enough though, Ali Larter in the second and third act filled her role nicely and Oded Fehr actually, as annoying as he was in Apocalypse, stole the show in this one as the straight guy who has the hots for Alice (but) not really cause the world is ending.
The story is simple as usual, Alice has super powers because of Umbrella, she finds her old buddies and makes new friends and gets to protect them with some high kicks and nice knives. This time though, she can jump higher, move faster, and throw people around with her mind. She's finds a journal that says Alaska = freedom, and hey, why not take the convoy with her. So off they go. Little does she know, Umbrella is tracking her now, and they are out for blood, quite literally. So some stuff goes down in Vegas and Alice ends up going up against the man who programmed her to make her eyes flash pretty logos and well, things don't get anymore interesting.
The funny thing about this installment is it isn't a character piece, and it isn't a very complex story either, yet people gripe about these aspects not fulfilling any kind of sophistication. My question is, do you really need all of this? The world is coming to an end people, all you need to know is my name and whether or not I can help you. Said rules apply to Extinction, and well to the entire series. But mostly to Extinction. That being said, you can go get your character development when Oscar season comes around. For now, enjoy this film, for in twenty years, the series will be a cult classic. Why? Because it's successful. How is it successful? 100Mil around he world for each one, and this installment is on the same track. When a bad film like this sells, it's one of those movies that you look back on in about thirteen years and get all nostalgic about, "Gawd, I really liked that movie. You remember when (insert scene)." And so on.
I really liked the fact that they played down the fact that they made Alice superhuman. "Like, hey guys, I have something to tell you *kills LJ with flying rock* I totally have superpowers, but shh, don't tell anyone cause i don't really care." The crow scene where Ashanti sacrifices herself and her giant afro that comes out of nowhere (you'll see) and Alice comes to save the day, sent chills down my spine. It was the first movie in years that's been able to do that. I sat in the theater every time she did something, well, cool, going, "YES! KILL EM'! SHANK THE HO!" No doubt, people will talk about the rip offs and whatever about her being Jean Grey and Day of the Dead being the classic, and blah blah blah, but it doesn't really matter. Because RE: Extinction is entertaining. It delivers eye candy and enough substance to at least keep people paying money for their dues.
My favorite scene was the showdown between the convoy and the super zombies in Vegas. There was bloodshed and emotion raving throughout the battlefield. It was actually an all out war, and the execution of this scene is critical to the movie's success. The special effects were good enough, and the death scenes were the dramatic kind of things you like to do if you're an actor having fun with acting. The heroes in this scene are no doubt at their peak of interest and showing off their skills. I loved the fact that one second you can be making head shots, and the next you slip up once and can't seem to get back into the groove of things.
The best part about this movie was the end at which point Alice meets the white Queen, a sister system of the Red Queen (if you're familiar with the first film) and as she exchanged dialog with her you seem to absorb this confidence that she has now. At this point, she is sent to the lower levels of the lab to defeat said spoken foe and it's here where I felt like the 'video game adaptation' finally kicked in because it felt as if she were going in to face off with the final boss. And it was nothing short of a cinematic boss battle.
At the end, the final showdown, although it lacks a bit of punch that you would think a third and supposedly final installment would want and have, it doesn't fall flat entirely, instead, it picks itself up and is actually a believable battle between good and evil. it's a nice way to see Jovovich go before she enters motherhood, and though it isn't the Oscar material everyone needs, it's the next best thing. The last summer pick you see even though school has already started;)