Resident Evil - Extinction DVD: Review By Vamp

OK, so I went on for a few years watching and rewatching Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, never tiring of them(Which I still don't even today), and also scraping the internet for any SHRED of evidence, till about 2006, the news started to become more known, things were becoming easier to find, and then to top it all off, I found the release date! From there it was only to find pictures and scrapes of more news as to characters and plotlines, then I found out the name, Resident Evil: Extinction, and that was it. I couldn't wait, and I slowly began to lose my mind. THEN! When I went to see Ghost Rider in theaters, they had a trailer right before it for Resident Evil: Extinction, and that was it, I was now becoming obsessed. Soon, however, it hit theaters, and though I wish I could've seen it more, I only got to see it twice, but two memorable times. If the first two made me jumpy, that was NOTHING compared to how jumpy I was in this film, even if at the time I was used to scary movies, infact obsessed with scary movies. This movie was absolutely incredible, and though it had very little to do with the game, I think it did just as good as the first, if not a bit better. As you've undoubtedly figured out, this will be as the first two were, a revamping of my original, and incredibly skimpy reviews of the same movies.

Stepping out of the director chair from Resident Evil: Apocalypse is Alexander Witt, who took over for Paul W.S. Anderson from the first one, and he steps aside to allow Russell Mulcahy to direct. Mulcahy does an excellent job stepping in because like the last one did, you still feel like it's the same series and that nothing has changed at all, but there are differences, like the fact that this takes place in the desert, and stuff like that. Anyway, he does an EXCELLENT job in doing this movie, and really knew what he was doing. Paul W.S. Anderson once again remains on to write the story and screenplay for this third installment of his Resident Evil series, and though it differs from the games, it's still awesome, and he definitely hasn't lost his touch. Together Anderson and Mulcahy give us yet another chilling and incredible Resident Evil movie.

The visuals in this movie are just as incredible as they were in the last two films, and theres so much new stuff that has been added to it that keep making it better and better. For one the zombies are incredible looking, and since this takes place a few years into the future, it looks as if the bodies have begun to molder even more in the hot sun, and so the look old, withered, and even MORE lifeless, and that makes the premise realistic because they've aged the zombies. Another thing that returns are the dogs, but they've aged too, and you can tell the difference, even though it's only slight with these, and they continue to use real dogs with the make up goop and effects, which I've always thought was a cool way to approach that. Something new about the film that I really like is the overall look and feel to the movie. It really does feel like the whole world has gone extinct, and that it's all desert wasteland, which it is, and this overall gloom and doom effect was just awesome in my opinion, and i really enjoyed it. Another new thing that I really liked is that they finally brought the crows in from the games, which are just the crows that have been feeding on the zombies and are now infected. They have subtle differences in their appearance, mainly their eyes, and the way the make the millions of crows flock together and attack is awesome to watch. There are so many things I could go on about visual-wise in this one, but I'll just let you see the movie. It's all incredible to see.

The storyline of this one isn't really derrived from the games even though there are a couple of characters that make appearances from the games, like Albert Wesker for one, and Anderson really delivers us an original, and yet awesome movie based from the games that I really enjoy because since this one isn't derived from the games there really isn't anything that you EXPECT to happen. It's been five long years since the Raccoon City incident and it seems that Umbrella wasn't able to control the T-Virus at all, it spread rapidly, first infecting The United States, and then the world. Everywhere is now a barren desert filled with the undead, and Alice still strives to live, her one goal: To defeat The Umbrella Corporation. Now however she has once again teamed up with Carlos Olivera and L.J. who have joined a convoy led by Claire Redfield, and she delivers them hope. It's one that grips your attention right from the start and it's full of action, and zombies, and everything that the first two films had.

Milla Jovovich is back again, and this time she's kicking ass and taking names. After narrowly escaping the clutches of a sadistic group in a TV station, she sets out into the barren wasteland yet again, and she soon stumbles across something that will greatly aid her old friends, Carlos Olivera and L.J. but when she gets to them, she has to stop a horde of crows, and then as they are working on getting there they are attacked, and Alice finds that the tracking system that she had been avoiding for years, is now working again, and tracking her. She makes her way to the Umbrella Facilities only to find something that fuels her anger with Umbrella even further, some expiriment that they are doing to further their evil. Milla Jovovich, as I've said before and will continue to say, will always be Alice, and in my opinion there is not a soul in the world that could play this character half as good as Milla can. In this one, her newer kick ass attitude is portrayed so convincingly and believable it's just awesome. She really was an AWESOME casting choice for this role.

Oded Fehr returns to his role as straight from the games character, Carlos Olivera. Carlos has now been helping Claire Redfield, along with his friend from Raccoon, L.J., to lead her convoy of survivors across the land trying to find safety. One morning the entire camp wakes to find themselves surrounded by millions upon millions of evil crows that are all infected from feeding on the infected flesh of the zombies. Now as they try and escape in disarray Carlos begins to take action, but soon this job is stolen, but in a good way, as Alice shows up to save the day. The two of them are happy to see each other, and he introduces her to Claire, and they all work together to get things cleaned up, even though the entire camp is scared of her. Carlos is like second in command, and he is still in love with Alice, but she has to pull away, and he doesn't really understand this. Oded Fehr, like I've said, has always been one of my favorite actors ever since I saw The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, and in this one he does just as good a job as he did in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and he just IS the real life version of Carlos Olivera from the games. He's got the attitude and everything down to the "T," and he reall delivers a convincing and believable performance in this movie. He's another actor that cannot be replaced for this role because he just IS Carlos Olivera, which I've probably said alot. He really was a great casting choice for the film.

Claire Redfield is played by Ali Larter, whom I'm not to familiar with as an actress. Claire Redfield is another character from the video games, who appeared first in Resident Evil 2 alongside Leon S. Kennedy. In this movie Claire is the leader of a convoy of survivors who travel across the land, trying to find a place where they can stay away from all the problems of the T-Virus and The Umbrella Corporation. She is these people's only hope, and she must fight to keep them alive. That's when Alice shows up and mysteriously does something to save the entire convoy, but Claire finds that what she has done has scared her convoy, and though she is incredibly grateful, she needs her gone to keep these people alive. However, Alice gives them news of a town she found out about in Alaska, where the infection DIDN'T hit, where they'd be safe, and Claire finds it a hard decisision to carry through, for one their fuel is dying out, and she doesn't want to go to a big city incase of massive infection, and there's still the chance this place doesn't exist, but she leaves it to the entire convoy to decide, and they decide to try for Alaska. Ali Larter really does remind me of Claire from the games, even if the looks are incredibly varied from the video games, she just has that kicking ass and taking names attitude down to a fine art, and that really makes her character convincing and believable. She was another great casting choice for this movie.

Iain Glen stars in this movie as the bad guy, Doctor Isaacs. Dr. Isaacs is now working on an expiriment so evil that it might just be able to reverse the effects of the T-Virus, and domesticate the undead mutations in the outer world. He has CLONED Alice because her blood bonded with the T-Virus, and if they can procure a cure derrived from her blood, then they can return to the surface. The only problem is that this cure isn't working because they need the blood from the REAL Alice, and so they set about trying to get to her. Soon however she rescues the convoy from a horde of infected crows, sending massive psyonic energy waves that his underground facility catches, and he heads, without the consent of his superiors, to the surfface to collect her, however her powers seem to have grown, and this becomes a little harder. What's more is that Dr. Isaacs has been working on a secret expiriment, that is even more deadly than anything they've done before. Iain Glenn, whom I've liked since he was in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider with Angelina Jolie, does an excellent job in this movie. As he was in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, he plays an excellent bad guy, and even though he thinks it's for the right reasons, he's still completely evil. He really has this attitude down, and that just makes this character all the more convincing and believable in his quest to capture his prized expiriment, Alice. He is yet another EXCELLENT casting choice for this movie.

Mike Epps returns to this movie as L.J. L.J. has been surviving alongside Carlos Olivera, and he has been helping him and Claire Redfield for the past five years as the world has gone to ruins, and the mutatious undead are now ruling what's left of the world. On a scouting trip into a motel to make sure that everything is safe though, L.J. is bitten by a zombie, but he is still able to hide it from everyone else in the convoy because he seems to keep their spirits up, and he doesn't want to see them fall. He continues to go along, and when the entire convoy decides to try and reach Alaska, he goes along with that as well. Though for the entire time, he is losing his senses, and becoming another infected undead corpse, but he really fights the disease. Mike Epps, whom I don't know aside from these movies, really does an excellent job stepping back into this characters shoes. He's just as funny and c*cky as he once was, only now he's got that need to survive, just like everyone else, and Mike Epps really portrays all this really well, and delivers a convincing and believable performance as this character. I don't think that anyone else could take his spot as L.J. because he just takes this character and makes it his own, which really makes the character even better. He was yet another great casting choice for this movie.

All in all this is yet another EXCELLENT installment, that adds itself to, in my opinion, the best zombie series there is, and everything about it just continues in its incredibility. It's got action, comedy, action, suspense, action, zombie-ass-kicking, and action, and it blends it all together wonderfully, and makes for a wonderful movie, that adds itself spectacularly to this incredible series. It also adds itself to my list of all time favorite movies along with the first two films, Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse!!!!!