Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1005 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-02-18
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 276 minutes

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Resident Evil

Given that Resident Evil is a Paul Anderson movie based on a computer game which was itself highly derivative (especially of George A Romero and James Cameron films), it's probably unfair to complain that it hasn't got an original idea or moment in its entire running time. In the early 1980s, Italian schlock films such as Zombie Flesh Eaters and Zombie Creeping Flesh tried to cram in as many moments restaged from American originals as possible, strung together by silly characters wandering between monster attacks. This is a much-improved, edited, photographed and directed version of the same gambit.

As amnesiac Milla Jovovich remembers amazing kung fu skills and anti-globalist Eric Mabius mutters about evil corporations, a gang of clichéd soldiers with nary a distinguishing feature between them (except for Michelle Rodriguez as a secondary tough chick) are trapped in an underground scientific compound at the mercy of a tyrannical computer--which manifests as a smug little-girl-o-gram--fending off flesh-eating zombies (though gore fans will be disappointed by the film's need to stay within the limits of the 15 certificate) and CGI mutants, not to mention the ever-popular zombie dogs. It's tolerably action-packed, but zips past its borrowings (Aliens, Cube, Deep Blue Sea) without adding anything that future schlock pictures will want to imitate.

Resident Evil 2 - Apocalypse

2002's popular video-game-derived hit Resident Evil didn't inspire confidence in a sequel, but Resident Evil: Apocalypse defies odds and surpasses expectations. It's a bigger, better, action-packed zombie thriller, and this time Milla Jovovich (as the first film's no-nonsense heroine) is joined by more characters from the popular Capcom video games, including Jill Valentine (played by British hottie Sienna Guillory) and Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr, from 1999's The Mummy). They're armed and ready for a high-calibre encounter with devil dogs, mutant "Lickers," lurching zombies, and the leather-clad monster known only as Nemesis, unleashed by the nefarious Umbrella Corporation responsible for creating the cannibalistic undead horde. Having gained valuable experience as a respected second-unit director on high-profile films like Gladiator and The Bourne Identity, director Alexander Witt elevates this junky material to the level of slick, schlocky entertainment. --Jeff Shannon

Resident Evil 3 - Extinction

Movies based on computer games generally aren't well respected, but just because they aren't high art doesn't mean they can't be highly enjoyable. The only catch is that you need to be a fan of computer games to appreciate them. Resident Evil: Extinction is the third movie in the massively popular Resident Evil franchise, and it's probably the best one yet.

Between Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Extinction, the zombie-creating T-virus has spread far beyond the doomed Raccoon City; now the human race is almost extinct (hence the title). When a convoy of survivors meets up with the genetically-altered Alice, the shadowy Umbrella Corporation does everything in its power to take them down and reclaim her; but Alice isn't giving up without a fight...

Resident Evil: Extinction is part zombie movie, and part post-apocalyptic survival yarn. The big set pieces use CGI that doesn't look anything like reality, but does look very much like a computer game, which is possibly intentional--since this is a sequel to an adaptation, Resident Evil: Extinction does tend to assume a built-in audience which is already familiar with the various quirks of the franchise. If you're a fan of the games, you'll enjoy the various references to game characters and events; if not, you might feel a bit left out. It's not the best entry point to the franchise if you're a complete newcomer, but if you've seen the other films, it's a hell of a lot of fun. -- Sarah Dobbs

Synopsis
Alice (Milla Jovovich) battles against virus infected zombies in the thrilling, action-packed Resident Evil trilogy.
In Resident Evil, a research laboratory is invaded by a bio-engineered virus and Alice and Rain must put a stop to the spread of the deadly bug.
In Resident Evil 2 - Apocalypse, the sinister Umbrella Corporation sends a team of investigators into their destroyed underground lab and unwittingly unleash the still-staggering zombies and monsters out into the population of Raccoon City. Soon Umbrella has evacuated all of their own key employees and has shut everyone else inside to be devoured.
After being held captive and being experimented on, Resident Evil - Extinction sees a biologically altered Alice reunite with fellow survivors in order to save the world from further catastrophe.

Customer Reviews

Extinction! I Doubt it!
--- Resident Evil ---

When making a movie about a video game there has to be some kind of plot changes to make the movie work in terms of surprise and originality. The Resident Evil games were original enough for a game and as a film, But somehow this movie was made by people who either didn't play the games or didn't understand what it was that made those games stand-out amongst the others.

The end result is a movie you can watch without needing to play the games, Which can be a good thing, However, This movie has nothing to offer that the Dead movies don't deliver. Paul Anderson at that time was one of the first to re-introduce the zombie genre to audiences, If he would of took a few more risks, Mainly making a movie from scratch without a pre-existing fan base he would have been admired more for doing so, Even if that film had of been unsuccessful he still would have peoples respect for trying.

Okay, The video games storylines were a little simplistic and weren't exactly a movie-in-a-can but they were designed for young teenagers, Far be it for me to make suggestions on making a movie, But if Anderson wanted to make a movie for a fan base why not work at it and find a balance between cheesy storytelling and great storytelling instead of a zombie chasing by numbers promo movie. There certainly was work to be done with adapting a video game like Resident Evil to the big screen but unfortunately for movie goers and fans alike, That work never got done.

The Plot was basically a female security guard with amnesia wakes up in a mansion and is then taken by a group of elite commando's into an underground lab from there on out it's zombie bites man, Man becomes zombies, Zombie kills man. Milla Jovovich is right at home in this movie playing a characterless, Emotionless, Sci-Fi chick, Michelle Rodriguez on the other hand used an embarrassing impersonation of Vasquez from Aliens to get her through the movie. It was altogether tiresome and the ending saw the opening scenes to the sequel, Damn didn't see that coming.

--- Resident Evil: Apocalypse ---

Having watched Resident Evil and AvP I was reluctant to see this movie, However, I felt that Anderson deserved a third chance. The movie was quiet intense and suspenseful up until the arrival of Alice (Milla Jovovich) who comes crashing in through a church window on a motor bike. From there on out it was hi-jacked by her overacted sense of character (or lack of). Sienna Guillory who plays Jill Valentine should of and could of carried this movie on her own, This movie would work much better without Jovovich and the constant reminders of the first movie, Which appear in a sort of nightmare flashback for both Alice and the audience, It's at moments like that that make you wonder if you yourself are experiencing these flashbacks or if they occur as an intended addition to the movie.

Like I said Sienna, Who I think is the nearest to an actress Paul Anderson will ever get, Totally out performed all the Hollywood cast and yet she is rarely mentioned for her effort. The presence of Alice total deflated the movie's intended atmosphere after all it's a survival horror movie, Yet the fact that Alice is super human who is never once attacked by anything and seems to spend the whole movie bailing her comrades out of tight-spots took away any chance of suspense and replaced it with a weird revenge type thriller with Alice constantly prevailing over both the monsters and the main characters with very little effort, Your left wondering what's the point.

The movie was a directorial debut by Alexander Witt, Who I have never heard of before but hope to see his name again soon, The sets were greatly improved and the formation and progression of the plot were carefully dealt with, Since there was no real plot to speak of, But it didn't seem to matter with the atmosphere and the presence of a great actress (Guillory not Jovovich) this movie was enjoyable in small doses. Another edition was the Nemesis which seemed more like a lovechild of both the Terminator and the Predator rather than an original creation for cinema, Laughably it acted more like the Predator alien from `Predator' more so than the Predator featured in AvP which is another W.S. Anderson movie.

The Demonstration of Nemesis' skills was short lived since after that he appeared only twice more and was overpowered by (you guest it) Jovovich, I felt that Anderson's decision to have the Nemesis kill all of his intended victims in one swift move was very disappointing, He could of featured as a side story hunting down survivors and killing them to add some sense of immediate danger and given that the Nemesis' job is to track down S.T.A.R.S members of which Guillory's character was a member, There were no show downs between her and the Nemesis because guess what, Milla Jovovich shows up and bails her out.

The plot is self explanatory however, With a few added plot developments, Including a final scene insuring that the next instalment will be as unfulfilling and Innocuous as all the others. But at least I walked away from this movie wanting to watch it again and with a few more names added to my watch out for list, Sienna Guillory in particular.

--- Resident Evil: Extinction ---

Although I felt the first film lacked massively in all areas of what I look for in a film, The second was enough to gain my interest in this movie, However, I have yet to be inspired by one of Paul W.S. Andersons movies, they continue to stupefy my senses more so than the video games of which his income now relies heavily upon. The idea behind this movie was to give answers, The only problem there was that no one cared enough to ask the questions.

This movie is most likely a break in the franchise but I seriously doubt that it is truly an extinction of it, The plot is so thin that to even give this movie a brief synopsis would most likely tell the whole story. Milla Jovovich gives an increasingly boring performance as a blade welding gun blazing super human zombie killing machine who is now able to kill things with her mind. Oded Fehr returns as Carlos and although Fehr delivers his lines with some enthusiasm we can see in his eyes that he is slowly dying inside and is caught wondering where his career went so wrong, Ali Larter also shows her face every once in awhile and every so often the camera ventures off of Jovovich and we see Ali's performance but not for too long, Just in case we the audience like her more than the lead character.

While speaking of character, It becomes clear fairly early on in the movie who lives and who dies, One of the tell-tale signs is that the ones who die lack depth and in most cases decent dialogue, Paul W.S. Anderson clearly felt that there wasn't much point in developing a character if he or she were about to be killed off, The lacklustre of W.S's characters have become a cymbal in his films, Where Spielberg has a shooting star Paul W.S. Anderson has characters so empty there first lines echo long after the movie has finished.

The good points in this film are few and far between and most likely happened by accident, The use of daylight in a zombie movie has always been an interesting addition, However it doesn't take your breath away. It must be said though that the biggest mystery to me is that the movie states that after all humans were killed by zombies all the lakes dried up, I never knew that lakes and rivers relied on the human race so much and at one point in the movie the survivors visit Las Vegas for fuel and find that a third of the city has been covered in sand, I have to say that the men and women who spend there days cleaning away the sand from the streets of Las Vegas are truly the unsung heroes in this world. The movie is essentially what would happen if George Romero directed a Mad Max movie, Although it wouldn't be fair to add Romero's name to this mess.

The film lacked substance and although it had style it wasn't a style that we haven't seen before, Jovovich's performances relied heavily on everyone else being ignored by both the writer and the director, I didn't have much expectations when watching this movie and yet still I was extremely disappointed, I remember thinking perhaps this is the kind of film that is so bad it may actually be good, But no it is just bad.