Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Thomas Kretschmann, Jared Harris
Director: Alexander Witt
RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE picks up exactly where the first movie left off so if you have seen the first film and have been waiting for an explanation of what has happened to the apocalyptic world that Alice has woken up to find herself in then everything will become clear and there are no obvious breaks in continuity.
In brief the virus is out of The Hive and is rapidly infecting Raccoon City. The ruthless Umbrella Corporation will stop at nothing to find their ultimate weapon and closes off the perimeter of the city then takes advantage of the mayhem to unleash and test a secret weapon codenamed Nemesis. With groups of infected people trying to escape and the few police left (an elite special tactics unit) being attacked by Nemesis the survivors’ only hope is Alice, now bio-engineered by Umbrella to make her stronger than before – and immune to the virus. There is however another problem – Umbrella is planning to stop the spread of the virus by wiping the city out with a nuclear bomb!
RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE doesn’t just live up to the first movie it goes way beyond and becomes the kind of sci-fi action film that puts it on a level with the likes of TERMINATOR 2 and 3 and yet has a dark suspense that reminds you just a little of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, although that might be partly due to the idea of escaping from a doomed city. But RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE isn’t just a clone of those great films in fact it’s a masterpiece in its genre. As well as being absolutely the best movie whose original concept is from a video game, the film has everything you could want in a sci-fi / action genre picture and to top it off Milla Jovovich is perfect as a total kick-ass-babe PLUS she is backed up by Sienna Guillory in a complete change to her previous roles and totally reinvented herself as the film’s second kick-ass babe.
As a guy (and film reviewer) who loves this movie genre I was not only impressed with the action and special effects but two hot babes kicking ass and with guns too – this must be my ultimate movie! It’s definitely going down as one of the best action / sci-fi films I’ve ever seen. PLUS the ending sets up the scene for RESIDENT EVIL 3 – oh yes – more please!
