Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6282 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-02-18
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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
It's three years after the action of Resident Evil: Apocalypse and the world has turned to desert in this third film based on the now-classic video game Resident Evil. Survivors of the zombie-making T-virus are few and far between, but Alice (Milla Jovovich) treks her way across the desolate landscape, fending off zombies and fighting the Umbrella Corporation. Not only is the company responsible for the virus and the state of the world but their experiments also turned Alice into a super-human fighting machine. She reunites with Carlos (Oded Fehr) and L.J. (Mike Epps) when she joins with a caravan of people led by Claire Redfield (Ali Larter, Heroes). Together, the band battles the undead as they make their way to the promised safety of Alaska.
The zombies of Resident Evil: Extinction have more in common with the fast-moving fiends of 28 Days Later than with the lumbering creatures of George A. Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead. However, this film doesn't limit itself to human zombies; instead, there's horror to be found in undead dogs and crows too. But none of these are any match for Jovovich's Alice. Whether clad in chaps and shorts or a slinky red dress and boots, Jovovich is dressed to kill as she takes down the zombie hordes with a lethal combination of guns, knives, and a powerful pair of legs. Just as in Ultraviolet and The Fifth Element, the actress has perfected the role of the dangerous beauty, and this film's blend of butt-kicking action and horror-movie scares provides the perfect opportunity for her to shine.

Customer Reviews

Suprisingly good
I wasn't expecting much from this after the abysmal RE: Apocalypse so I was pleasantly surprised walking out that I had just seen one of the best game to film adaptations yet, not because it remains faithful to its source material (because it doesn't) but because its an adrenaline fuelled Rolla-coaster of a movie that's highly entertaining.

A few years have passed since the events of RE:A and the world has become a wasteland overrun with the undead, a small group of remaining survivors stick together in conveys trying to stay alive traversing the desert, meanwhile the few umbrella scientists still alive attempt to produce a serum to reverse the affects of the virus but to do so they require the blood of Alice, a genetic experiment who currently survives off the grid trying to help whoever she can, when the convoy is attacked she intervenes and pops into Umbrella's view to again.

The film does 'borrow' a fair bit from cult favourites Mad Max & Day of the Dead, but when the actions sequences kick into gear coming thick and fast (helmed by the director of `Highlander') you will become lost in the excitement. The standout scene without a shadow of a doubt takes place on the Vegas strip when super zombies attack the survivors, it's an assault on the senses and easily rivals any zombie action sequences from that of the action heavy dawn of the dead remake.

Due to the films fairly short running time the plot zips along as fast pace. Resi fans will be pleased to see the addition of Claire Redfield played by Ali Larter, (TV's Heroes, Final Destination) and that of infamous Tyrant.

It may be dumb and loud but its handled so slickly that you wont care the perfect popcorn movie easily the best of the three but don't expect the trilogy's loose ends to be tied up as the ending leaves it open for the fourth and if it can maintain the standard RE:E has set then bring it on.

Even more brainless brilliance!
The Resident Evil series has never really been very popular- that's why I'm so glad the third installment has enjoyed a surprising amount of mainstream success.

Alice is back- the kickass b***h, now with added super-powers! The world has been overrun with a deadly zombie infection, and again, we focus on a small band of 'lucky' survivors on their way to safety.

Cue plenty of action, gore, awesome special effects, and Milla Jovovitch.

Please, do not watch this film expecting intelligence, a mind-bending plot, realistic characterization and whatever else. People degrading the film in those departments: Go away and watch something else, because this film isn't about all that.

After an OK original and a sloppy second, Extinction has brought the Resident Evil franchise to a whole new level, and now I really cant wait until number 4!

Lame entry to a series that needs to die
Recently I've been handing out so many positive reviews that one would almost think I'd been paid by these companies to endorse their products (nervous laugh). Anyway, doing too much good starts to make me feel uncomfortable, so recently I've been looking for an unequivocally bad product that I can really vent my spleen on. So thank you Paul S Anderson for creating Resident Evil: Extinction and allowing me to take a massive dump all over it.

Now, despite everything I'm about to say in this review, I'd like it to go on record that I actually don't mind the Resident Evil film series. Yes, the acting is usually substandard, some of the set pieces would make a James Bond villain cringe, and they often stray so far from their source material that it leaves me wondering whether the writers have even heard of the Resident Evil games. Still, through some miracle of luck and witchcraft, they work on their own curious merits.

At least, they did until Resident Evil: Extinction.

Set several years after the events of the last movie, the T-virus has escaped beyond Racoon City and infected the whole world, turning virtually the entire population into mindless zombies. As the clumsy opening narration informs us, the virus also seems to have caused the rivers and lakes to dry up, reducing much of the earth's surface to a barren desert wasteland. Quite how a genetically engineered virus could cause this to happen is never explained, probably because it makes no sense whatsoever. Still, I guess logic has never been a strong element in Resident Evil, so we won't go too deep into that one.

So anyway, the only uninfected humans left are the sinister Umbrella Corporation holed up in underground labs, and a few scattered groups of survivors eeking out a living on the surface by scavenging from the decaying remains of civilisation. For both sides however, supplies and options are running low.

It's difficult to know where to start when it comes to criticism for this film. If I was to pick the most glaring fault, I'd have to say that Extinction takes itself entirely too seriously for what it is, leaching away most of the fun factor. Resident Evil: Apocalypse wasn't a great film by any measure, but I grudgingly concede that it was probably the high point of the series due to its breakneck pace and slightly tongue-in-cheek sense of humour. There's none of that here - events proceed with the kind of grim determination normally reserved for those climbing Everest without oxygen.

The second problem is the plot. If Extinction feels overly familiar, that's probably because you've seen it all before in other, better films. Convoys of battered vehicles fighting their way through a desert wilderness? Mad Max 2, check. Slow motion wire-fu fight scenes? Matrix, check. Scientists in underground labs trying to domesticate zombies? Day of the Dead, check. The point is, Extinction doesn't feel like an original film in its own right - it's more like a Frankenstein's Monster cobbled together from different elements that don't really mesh.

The third major bugbear for me is the bizarre mixture of game and film characters, usually in situations that make no sense. Game stalwarts Claire Redfield and Albert Wesker are plonked into this film for no other reason than an attempt to please fans of the game series. Jill Valentine from the previous film is absent without any explanation, or perhaps because the actress who played her was wise enough to bail out of this one. But this is perhaps what annoys me most about Extinction - its two predecessors at least pretended to fit in with the game series, incorporating situations and plot elements that were at least broadly familiar to game fans. Extinction doesn't.

The last thing I just have to rag about is the casting. I've never really rated Milla Jovovich as an actress, and this film has done absolutely nothing to change my opinion. Fortunately the script doesn't really require her to do much more than pout angrily every once in a while and show that apparently women all stop wearing bras once society collapses. Oded Fehr, probably best known for playing `that Egyptian guy' from The Mummy series, gets through Extinction wearing the kind of tired smile that suggests he'd much rather be somewhere else. Ali Larter, fresh from the success of Heroes, seems lost here, alternating between a caring motherly type and a kickass Sarah Connor wannabe. Lastly, Iain Glen might have been a good choice for a baddie if he'd been allowed to do more than hang around in labs looking shifty.

All in all then, Extinction boils down to a string of uninspired action sequences strung together by a plot mostly borrowed from other films, hampered by indifferent acting and confusing character choices. This all adds up to a big pile of bullshit in my book, and you'd be well advised to steer clear of it.