Posts tagged starsmarathon

The third installment of the resident evil film series see’s the survivors of the Raccoon city incident travelling across the Nevada desert in an effort to get to Alaska, supposedly the only place not to suffer from the infected. Alice has separated from the group and is travelling on her own, so as not to be a liability to her friends, eventually she meets up with them and attempts to bring down the umbrella corporation. This film again makes more links to the video game series introducing both Wesker and and Claire Redfield. This film isn’t as good as the second one, there are some very good action packed moments and the virus has spread to birds another new danger however, there are some really long dull parts of the film. It feels liked this film attempted to become more like the video games but failed immensely. They add in all these references and back story and it loses what the previous films succeeded in. The first two films were quite good zombie films but this film doesn’t even feel like a zombie film. Obviously there integral to the story but it doesn’t feel like a horror film, it probably doesn’t help that it’s set in a bright well lit desert. Ali Larter who plays Claire Redfield puts in a good performance amongst a lackluster cast. The scripting is a poor attempt compared to the previous films it just seems to lose it’s spark. 

It’s an okay film, it’s nothing special and probably the least memorable out of the three thus far. I wouldn’t recommend going out to watch this however, Asda is selling the box set of four films for a tenner which isn’t bad for four films. So I reckon that if you got a box set like that you might aswell watch all of them despite it being not as well written as the previous films. 

Resident Evil: Apocalypse opens with a recap of the events of the first film. Showing how the virus has spread from the underground hive facility to Raccoon City. The City is shut down after the virus is believed to no longer be containable and plans are made by the Umbrella corporation to nuke the city and remove all evidence of Umbrellas involvement in the outbreak. Dr Charles Ashford (Jared Harris) one of the scientists for the Umbrella corporation has access to a helicopter out of the city but refuses to leave unless his daughter is recovered. Ashford recruits Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), a few umbrella soldiers and Alice (Milla Jovovich) to rescue his daughter Angela (Sophie Vavasseur) from the local school in payment for evacuation out of the city. 

This film is an improvement on the first film, for starters the film doesn’t seem as long or dragged out. It involves you in the zombie action almost instantly. I know there was back story to cover in the first film, this film is essentially a zombie film and all people want from a zombie film is blood, gore and the walking dead. I mean there are some flaws with the film such as when the dead which have been buried possibly for years and years come back to life. It’s established that the zombies in this film are caused by the t-virus infection, yet how did these bodies buried for years get access to the virus? I suppose they just wanted a good graveyard scene and threw it in without any real thought. It’s nice that there introducing more references to the video games by introducing Jill Valentine a character from the games and introducing the nemesis. The film is an enjoyable watch and in many ways better than the first. Like I’ve said with the first film it’s probably best to view this as a zombie film rather than a video game adaptation. It’s just a shame that they have Alice as the front woman for the films because she’s not that great of a character. Anyway the films better than the first so I’d recommend giving it a watch. 

Resident Evil follows Alice who is suffering from a bout of amnesia and a group of Umbrella commandos as they attempt to uncover what happened in the underground umbrella hive facility. The umbrella facility has been working on genetic research, and after the t-virus is stolen and another is found destroyed leaking the t-virus toxins into the labs, The Red Queen shuts down the hive killing everyone inside. As the commandos and Alice explore this facility they find everything is not as it seems and they try to uncover who is responsible for this crisis. As they explore this dangerous facility they find a new danger awaits as the dead come back to life. 

In terms of relation to the video games this text is not a faithful adaptation. They borrow concepts such as the umbrella corporation and the zombies, but the focus like the location and the main characters are completely different.  Now I can imagine a lot of fans of the video game franchise not enjoying this film. It’s changing too much of the beloved story they know and love. However, as someone who was aware and had played the games before seeing the film, I actually liked this film. I don’t necessarily think it’s a great adaptation but as a zombie film I think it’s quite enjoyable. Looking back you can see the film as slightly dated some of the scripting isn’t quite there but I suppose that’s me just looking for fault. I actually really did like this film, in fact I like the whole film series. The characters are a bit stereotypical and not fleshed out as much as it could be, but I think this is deliberate so that the film could focus on the scares and the action. Which is why I think this is better as a zombie film than an adaptation. 

I’d recommend watching this film, it’s not a bad film. However maybe I’d recommend going in and viewing it as a zombie film rather than an adaptation.