Game – Movie Review: Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

The third Resident Evil movie deviates so far from the games it is barely recognisable unless you count zombies, Umbrella & a few other names dropped.

Set many years after the events of the first 2 films, the outbreak at Racoon City has spread to the world destroying mankind & having a bad effect on the flora & fauna. Earth is being rendered into a desolate landscape with nothing but desert wilderness throughout America.

In a remote part of this wilderness Umbrella continue to experiment on clones of Alice hoping to find a cure & a way to control the hordes of undead that are spread around the hidden facility.

This facility is headed by Dr Isaacs who was responsible for Alice’s mutations. He is desperate to find her now as he believes she holds the key to the zombie infection in her blood. He wants to find her against the wishes of Umbrella & particularly Wesker who makes an appearance as a hologram from a far away facility.

Alice is wandering the wasteland having been gone her separate way from the group she escaped Racoon City with. Her mental abilities are increasing & she is having difficulty controlling them so considers herself a danger. The survivors of Racoon (minus Jill Valentine for reasons never explained) have met up with Claire Redfield & her group of survivors & together they travel across the country in a convey looking for a safe place.

After stopping at a motel & getting attacked by mutant crows they are rescued by Alice & her mind powers. Back together Alice tells them about a supposed safe place she read about in Alaska & they all agree to go there but first stopping at Vegas on the way for supplies.

Alice using her mind powers has put her back on the map for Umbrella & Dr Isaacs defies his superiors & sets out to catch her when they arrive at Vegas. He plans to utilise his super-zombies to dispatch the group & capture her. His plan fails as she is just to much of an ass-kicker nowadays & he gets bitten by one of his own zombies.

Escaping back into his helicopter he returns to the lab & tries to inject himself with a potential cure which transforms him into a tyrant. The survivors of the Vegas fight leave on a helicopter for Alaska while Alice goes off to finish her fight with the mutated Dr Isaacs.

Extinction is a vast improvement over the previous film as it makes a welcome return to being more of a zombie flick. The focus is on the walking dead much more & the make-up effects are wonderful. At this stage in the films there is little point watching them in the hope that you might see a game reference. Oh look, crows…Resident Evil had crows…clutching at straws.

Sure we have Claire Redfield & Ali Larter does a good portrayal of her but she takes a backseat to Milla’s Alice. The films have made her into a god-like character & any threat to her just seems unbelievable now. She never seems in danger even when fighting the bloody tyrant.

Dr Isaacs is probably the standout character in a movie filled with some really good acting. Seriously…compared to the film that came before this lot deserve Oscars…even Oded Fehr is much better to watch. He is also involved in one of the more impressive sequences in the film.

The film has little semblance of horror but it does create an atmospheric & tense scene involving the infected crows. Unfortunately Alice ruins it by walking in & mind-blowing everything up. That happens a lot throughout…

It has moments of greatness & visually it can be very easy on the eyes. Zombies look great & the make-up for the Tyrant is excellent. Acting has improved & the story concludes with an interesting sequel set-up. Let down by a horrible action sequence in Vegas & way too much Alice mind powers.