Picking up where chapter five Retribution left off, Resident Evil: the Final Chapter has Alice (Milla Jovovich) going back to the source, the evil Umbrella Corporation in Raccoon City.
Battling through the never ending undead, Alice must stop Umbrella before they wipe out the few remaining survivors. This time, she had better succeed because they put the word “final” in the title.
We say, “The world could probably have gone without another Resident Evil film.”
TAYLOR: I was hoping that, because this was advertised as being the final chapter, that the filmmakers would have come up with a clever ending. They didn’t, instead choosing to amp up more of the same things we saw in the first five films: jump scares, hyperactive fight scenes and blood splatter. There is a bit of a twist to the overall story which reveals something that’s kind of neat, but it doesn’t really change anything. I’ve seen most of the films in this series; the first because I wanted to, the later ones because I had to. I really hope they stop now.
HOWE: Oh come now, you know you don’t mean that. Who else is going to keep the zombie apocalypse at bay, Brad Pitt in World War Z? Snore. I thought the whole franchise was cheesy, entertaining and fun. Yes, it’s a blood bath of a shoot ‘em up, but that’s just it, it’s a video game crossover and it does a great job in that genre. I will say this though, you do have to wear ear defenders as it was so loud that I think the people on one side of the theatre could hear this movie from the other side of the building.
TAYLOR: I agree: Too shaky, too quick, too loud, too much! I quickly got used to not being able to see what was actually happening in a fight scene. The overbearing sound effects made it clear when strikes were landing. I didn’t enjoy the jump scares, there were a lot of them. At one point it seemed as if Alice herself was getting a little tired of zombies jumping out to get her, maybe this really will be the last one. It’s a sequel to a series of video game movies, it’s a copy of a copy of a…
HOWE: Don’t get me started on the acting. I think Jovovich is the only one in the film that has any acting skills, but then again a movie like this isn’t going to win any Oscars. It was designed for a reason and that being a bloodbath horror movie for its fans. It certainly succeeds on that front. If you want headshots to the undead, big explosions and a comical way to slice and dice someone then this ticks all the boxes. Just remember to take your brain out to enjoy it first though, but watch out for the zombies, they enjoy brains more than popcorn.
Howe gives Resident Evil: The Final Chapter 3.5 fingers out of 5.
Taylor gives it 2 functioning bombs out of 5.
– Brian Taylor and Peter Howe are film reviewers based in Vernon, B.C. Their column, Reel Reviews, appears in The Morning Star every Friday.
