I predicted that the final chapter of the Resident Evil franchise might be a thoughtless and fun action movie. Biscuits was not so optimistic. Despite those reservations, we took a chance and decided to head out to the theater. We both beleived that this movie couldn’t possibly be any worse than Underworld: Blood Wars. We were wrong.
What we liked about Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Not much. The movie did open with a brief message from star Milla Jovovich and director Paul W.S. Anderson. The pair introduce the movie and thank the audience for being fans of the Resident Evil films for the past ten years. That was a nice touch.
We liked these incredible women of science fiction
Let us be honest, an action movie adaptation of a survival/horror video game franchise is going to be tailored to the tastes of teenage boys. American audiences have unfairly high expectations of female celebrities. Without going into how sexist and unrealistic these standards are, I will just say that Milla Jovovoch and Ali Larter are both working mothers in their 40’s. I cannot imagine the dedication it must take to stay in top physical condition while managing the pressures of family life and other interests. They work harder and look better than a lot of men half their age.
On her website, Ali Larter talks about losing the weight she gained from her second child and preparing to step into the role Of Claire Redfield one last time … if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
We didn’t like very much about this movie.
We really didn’t enjoy Resident Evil: The final chapter. I’m not sure where to begin. First, the entire premise of the franchise has been dropped into a massive plot hole. I won’t reveal any major spoilers in this post. I think the image is safe enough … you knew Alice would have to fight t-virus mutations. However, events of the first film are ret-conned by the newly revealed master plan of the Umbrella Corporation.
Second, the combined effect of lighting and editing make this film unwatchable. Between the dark color pallet, the ever-present smoke, and the jump cuts I couldn’t understand what I was supposed to be seeing. Everything looked muddy and confusing. Fight scenes were reduced to a series of very rapid cuts. For example: tumbling bodies / cut to foot / cut to fist / cut to muzzle flash. Seriously, the action choreography is like a bad artists impression of epilepsy.
Lastly, there is no cohesive storytelling. Characters who aren’t introduced until halfway through the film are supposed to be pivotal to the plot while characters who are in fact essential to the plot are inexplicably off doing … something … somewhere. Why is Dr. Isaacs in the middle of nowhere? What happened to the survivors who arrived at Washington DC at the end of the last film? Are we to assume that they are all dead? If so then how exactly did Wesker end up back in Raccoon City?
The verdict
Don’t spend your money seeing Resident Evil: The final chapter in theaters. While it’s fair to say that neither Biscuits or I are huge fans of the Resident Evil film franchise, we agree that this is the weakest of the films
