Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Review by Clint Morris

It’s becoming clearer that the same people who make the movie trailers aren’t the same people making the movie.

Why? You see a fantastic trailer for a film and then you go see the film, and it doesn’t deliver on its pledge. Sure, studios are quite welcome to sell their product, but at what expense?

Perhaps having people walk out of their movies even more disappointed than what they would’ve been had they just cobbled together a trailer that simply projects the movie as no more than it is?

The trailer for computer-game inspired sequel Resident Evil Apocalypse was fantastic.

Set to an electric hard rock soundtrack with flashy visuals and commendable quips, it not only gave one the impression that the sequel was going to be a significant improvement over its fairly average predecessor – but one wouldn’t have been stupid for believing it might just be the action hit of the Summer. It looked that much fun.

Ultimately, one might be better served simply watching the trailer on loop than checking out the film itself.

Though entertaining-enough – in that ‘leave your brain at the door and watch a crazy chick shoot some zombies for kicks’ fashion – Resident Evil Apocalypse is every other B-shoot 'em up movie reworked with some chic music and a couple of cool effects.

In the first film, we saw an underground research facility that was overtaken by man-eating zombies. This time, that film’s super-heroine, slinky almost-soldier like Alice (Milla Jovovich) teams with members of an elite police unit to continue her mission in waste management.

In other words, pretty much more of the same – but with a few new sidekicks.

Directed by Alexander Witt – former assistant to the first film’s helmer Paul W.S Anderson, who delegated junior to the job so he could do Alien vs. Predator instead – Evil, as so-so as it is, will still strike a chord with both fans of the game and genre.

There’s plenty of action, a couple of great female leads (game-character Jill Valentine is bought to life by Sienna Guillory, and aficionados of the game say she looks perfect for the gig) and some commendable stunt sequences. One in particular has our heroine fasten a rope to the top of a skyscraper and then runs full tilt down the building's front. Very cool.

Again though, the film itself is a bit of a letdown, especially after such promising previews. The bar has been raised on zombie movies over the last twelve months, with films like Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later, and unfortunately, Resident Evil Apocalypse neglected to notice the rivalry, instead assuming it’d be safe to just dish out the same old, same old.

2 out of 5

Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Australian release: Thursday October 21st
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Mike Epps, Oded Fehr, Jared Harris.
Director: Alexander Witt.
Website: Resident Evil.

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