 Whether you hate them or love them, one can't really deny the big-screen success of the 'Resident Evil' franchise. Paul W.S. Anderson pretty well drove it into the ground, and a lot of gaming fans had a whole slew of problems with them - not the least of which was the lead character of Alice, who never had anything to do with the games. So, of course, it's time for a reboot! And while this didn't do terribly well critically, I have to say that I still really enjoyed it, and I'm sticking to that.
Even though when it comes to the game franchise, I'm relatively clueless (because tank controls ruined everything forever... and yes, I need to play the remakes), I do have some familiarity with various characters and situations thanks to the book series. It also helps me a GREAT deal to not be a "purist" when it comes to an adaptation. A good comparison to 'Resident Evil' for me would be something like 'The Haunting of Hill House'. There are a few adaptations of that story, using the same characters in very different circumstances, and none of them are actually that bad (although one might argue that about the '99 version). Luckily for me, this gave me the exact same effect that 'Silent Hill' did. I think I'm just gonna start calling it the "Silent Hill" effect. To define this, basically, I'm able to approach the film as its own movie as opposed to an adaptation that has me searching out all of its faults. I find this works pretty well (although a real 'RE' fan might correct me on this) as a sort of "crash course" in 'Resident Evil' education. For comparison, 'Detective Pikachu' was a good "crash course" for those unfamiliar with 'Pokemon'. As far as I could tell, this was a good blend of the first two games. It uses all of the right characters and doesn't feel the need to bring in someone brand spanking new to everything to be some sort of main character who looks amazing with a red dress and a gigantic gun. Aptly, in 1998, we meet Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) who is on her way back to her ruined hometown of Raccoon City with important information to give her brother, Chris (Robbie Amell) about the Umbrella Corporation's experiments. Anyone reading this right now already knows about the major leak that makes a shitload of walking dead, but it's the whole process of their deterioration that's so horrific here. I have to admit that while it's probably pretty inaccurate for the game, it's fantastically creepy for a horror movie. Anyway, ultimately Chris doesn't believe her at first, but soon enough, that changes. Chris, along with skilled STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) Alpha Team, Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), Brad Vickers (Nathan Dales) and Richard Aiken (Chad Rook) are all sent to the Spencer Mansion to investigate the disappearance of their Bravo team. Of course, within the mansion, they find all sorts of cool stuff that point at Umbrella's experimentation gone awry. Meanwhile, rookie Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia), police chief Irons (Donal Logue) and Claire end up having to hold the fort at the police station, thus giving us a generous roll-up of the first two games. Bearing in mind that I'm no expert, I feel like I got a REAL 'Resident Evil' movie here as opposed to the action-horror the original 6 amounted to. There's no doubt in my mind that 'Resident Evil' purists won't be the biggest fans of this. But I really do feel like this is still the video game genre stepping forward as opposed to backward. All of the right elements seemed to be here, but it also doesn't go completely without criticism. If the film has any problem at all, it's that it tries to do too much in a short time, not even reaching two hours in length. It may have been better as two short movies, but I appreciate the effort they put forth in trying to give us a combination film as opposed to stretching it out as far as it can go. Apparently, it was quite successful, so I am curious to see if they will continue this as a whole new (and already kind of better) 'Resident Evil' film series. 4/5
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 So, this is an interesting title that floated completely under the radar between 2021's 'Mortal Kombat' and 'Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City'. You've probably heard of both of those, but this? Even the game it's based on is pretty obscure - a virtual game meant for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. And when we say the movie is based on the game, it would appear that the basis is extremely loose.
In the game (from research), a medieval town is under attack by a werewolf. Players have to guess which of the townsfolk is the werewolf in disguise, and the format is "Mafia-style" - in other words, those party games where one person is the bad guy, and everyone has to guess who it is. The film seems to be pretty much the same idea (a lot like 'The Thing') for the most part, but plays on the comedy elements of each character as opposed to making things a straight up horror mystery. And honestly - it's good! Finn Wheeler (Sam Richardson) has been assigned to the small, fictional town of Beaversfield, where he meets a friendly mail carrier named Cecily Moore (Milana Vayntrub), and they become friends. Many of the rest of the townsfolk are divided about a pipeline that has been proposed by a businessman named Sam Parker (Wayne Duvall), and we meet some of these characters in the forms of Trisha Anderson (Michaela Watkins) and her husband Pete (Michael Chernus), wealthy gay couple Devon (Cheyenne Jackson) and Joaquim Wolfson (Harvey Guillén), general rednecks Gwen (Sarah Burns) and Marcus (George Basil), and Emerson Flint (Glenn Fleshler), who pretty much keeps to himself. A blizzard takes out the power of Beaversfield, which makes the residents seek shelter in a lodge owned by the kindly Jeanine Sherman (Catherine Curtin). That night, the oddball group of residents that have been huddled together, start to experience a few strange occurrences, that ultimately puts them up against some sort of unknown creature. Eventually, as the title would suggest, evidence points to the attacker being a werewolf (spoiler alert?), based on the findings of local environmentalist, and pipeline protestor, Dr. Jane Ellis (Rebecca Henderson). So, much of the film is a bit of a "bottle" situation that makes me think 'Night of the Living Dead' mixed with 'The Thing', but comedy is the inherent genre as opposed to suspense, horror, or anything else. This is another good example of a film that basically knows what it is. This was done for fun more than anything, and I'm actually very happy that I caught it, as it exists between two much bigger titles. Perhaps most surprising of all was that I didn't have to dig to deep, as it currently resides on Netflix (Canada). So, putting the video game aspect of things aside, I might just suggest this as a solid comedy flick that you don't have to think too much about. I feel like we need more video game movies that don't take themselves too seriously. The idea that this was a comedy/horror of sorts lets the viewer know that it's not there for any big reason (awards, money, etc.), and it just wants to have fun with its would-be fans. This one comes to us from director Josh Ruben - a name synonymous with "College Humour", and first-project writer Mishna Wolff, who I'm definitely keeping an eye on. Wolff's writing here got me laughing pretty genuinely a few times, and I feel like when it comes to direction, the "College Humour" aspect of Ruben is all I really need to point out. I'd like to see these two collaborate on more in the future; especially with titles like these video games that float under the radar. They took the basic concept of the game, put it into the movie, and despite whatever changed, it still works! So, if you have Netflix, I definitely recommend giving it a watch. There's a little giggle in here for just about everyone (even if I am a bit comedy/horror biased). 4/5  One particular video game movie that floats under the radar, and rightfully so, is the zombie survival team-up flick of 'Dead Trigger'; a movie based on a mobile game of the same name where the player goes through upgrading this and that, playing story missions etc. and progressing things over time. It's a relatively common type of game, but I have a couple of other mobile titles that act like that, which I'd far rather play. However, that's not to suggest the game is bad, i'm just altogether unfamiliar.
In the game, a plague from an unknown source kills billions and transforms others into hideous creatures. The remainders of humanity desperately try to survive the outbreak, while a man named Julian Lassagne creates a colony called the New Hope. He leads this group of survivors, and you play as the protagonist, Kyle, who joins them in the fight. So, once again, we have here a case of the movie taking some liberties, as about the only thing that remains the same is the protagonists name, Kyle. In the movie, a team of misfits are recruited by the government to fight against the zombie outbreak. Led by soldiers Rockstock (Isaiah Washington) and Kyle Walker (Dolph Lundgren), the team consists of #121212, Chris Norton (Chris Galya), a homeless wanderer; #081274, Samantha Atkins (Luciana Carro), a fighter after a clean record; #021309, Daniel Chen (Justin Chon), a gamer with a zombie bodycount on the mind, his mother being killed by them; #081672, Gerald "G-Dawg" Jefferson (Romeo Miller), a petty thief with a sick mother; and #092613, Naomi Shika (Natali Yura), a girl who seemingly lost her family in the outbreak, and a couple more who end up being rather obviously expendable. The team must then fight their way through the most mild zombie outbreak you've ever seen in order to locate and retrieve a team of scientists who may very well be sitting on the cure. The plot sounds somewhat average, but truth be told, a lot of it is below average to dumb. There's so much of it that makes absolutely no sense, like various things still going throughout the outbreak. When one thinks about how Covid has effected the world and businesses, it's absolutely ridiculous to imagine that life could go on in certain ways during a zombie outbreak. These zombies are creatures I almost feel sorry for. When you take 'The Walking Dead', as things progress, zombies become a bit more of a background thing, and not as much of a terrifying threat as they once were. They go from flesh-eating nightmare fuel cannibals to pretty much wild dogs, as we see humanity becoming the real monsters. Now try to imagine this zombie outbreak being contained to how characters see zombies in the last parts of the show. Really, the idea of getting a bunch of misfits to fight in the zombie apocalypse is laughable - but then when you look at these zombies, they're a joke, and indeed, a lot of the deaths here are totally laughable. However, things aren't quite laughable enough to make this a movie that's so bad it's good. As the movie unfolds, a lot of it is just wondering how they came up with such oddball concepts. Having never played the game, I really don't know about any accuracies. But one thing I do know is that Dead Trigger is a mobile game, and it really does beg the question of whether or not they've run out of ideas. Yes, there's 'Angry Birds', but that was also incredibly trendy. Everyone and their mother knows that title, even if they haven't played it. 'Dead Trigger', however, seems very under the radar (or I've been under a rock), but any way you look at it, it's definitely a strange go-to for a zombie apocalypse movie. Trust me when I say this one ranks near the bottom for both zombie and video game movies. 1/5  Whether or not we decide whether or not we enjoy the 'Resident Evil' film series, one can't really deny its success. They cranked out six movies, each was pretty successful (though none really did gangbusters), and it was a series that managed to set up a lot of continuations through cliff-hangers, and see them through to the end. I might even argue that the way this ends, though not a cliff-hanger, does suggest that things could continue. So far, for yours truly, it has been a steady ride of sinking and plateauing, but never really rising. That is until now, and even having said that, it's still only by a small increment.
So what made this one good to me, while the others played out anywhere from bad to average? Well, it's hard to put my finger on it, but perhaps it's a better idea to get to know my tastes a little more. Whether or not something is good, it can develop some kind of nostalgic factor for me, and I do have this with the first of the films. This came along in 2016 when I was 34 upon its release, concluding a series that's been around since 2002, when I was still 19 upon its release. So the series does cover my twenties, and it's like remembering funky 80s hairstyles. Perhaps they're not particularly close to my heart, but the memories of the 'Resident Evil' movies coming out was simply a part of things. I'm also a sucker for things concluding after a long run, not so much because it ends, but because I always feel like there's more put into a final chapter... unless it's 'Freddy's Dead' or 'Jason Goes to Hell', but I digress. As the film opens, Alice (Milla Jovovich) does a recap with a bit of history for anyone new coming into things. Founder of Umbrella, Dr. James Marcus (Mark Simpson) had a daughter named Alicia who was dying from progeria - a genetic disorder which makes one appear older than they really are. If you've ever seen the Robin Williams movie, 'Jack' - same deal. In his desperation, Marcus attempts to use the T-Virus on her (not knowing its full effects yet) and various other patients suffering with the disorder. However, they reanimate as zombies, and Marcus tries to shut the program down before things get out of hand. But then Dr. Alexander Isaacs (Iain Glen) has him secretly killed by Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), and adopts Alicia, taking over Umbrella. The film picks up where the last one left off, as Alice awakens in Washington, DC. The Red Queen (Ever Anderson) hologram pops up and informs Alice about Umbrella developing an airborne anti-virus that's being held back at the Hive - the setting for the first film. If Alice can get her hands on it, and release it, that will mean the eventual end of the T-virus altogether, and may very well also mean Alice's death. During the mission for this film, Alice ends up finding out just how tied in she is with Umbrella's past and, though things do get a little convoluted, I have to admit that I actually appreciated some of the turns this took. They bring in new characters (including new badass female protagonist, Abigail, played by Ruby Rose), bring back old characters (including Ali Larter as Claire Redfield) and things manage to come to a suitable end with one big action-packed feast for the eyes. I think a big part of why I liked this a little more than the others also has to do with the fact that I saw this with fresh eyes. Ulike all of the previous titles, this was my first viewing. So, much like seeing a 'Fast & Furious' movie these days, there's that matter of knowing exactly what to expect. I went into this knowing that action-wise, it almost had to be parallel to the previous couple of films- if not more (which it was). Put simply, these films have developed a rollercoaster ride reputation, so this time around it was pretty easy for me to just strap in and enjoy the ride, rather than looking for all of the ride's various problems. For whatever reason, this was probably the 'Resident Evil' title that I ultimately had the most fun with as it provided me with a lot of cool visuals that almost made me feel like a kid again. One's opinion on the 'Resident Evil' series is bound to differ from movie to movie though, and I can see people disagreeing with my thought process here pretty easily. When it comes to these, it sort of just depends on what you're looking for, as each film has it's own little bit of spectacle to it. Unfortunately, if you're looking for any sort of faithful game adaptation, you should probably just stick to the games and avoid these altogether. These movies exist as their own thing, borrowing various elements from the games, as opposed to just being direct adaptations. It seemed to all work out for the franchise in the end, and from what I understand, there's some "remake" stuff going on right now, so we'll have to see what happens. But for now, these can be a fun watch with the right mindset, even if they're not all that great. All you need to do is toss that brain of yours out that window. 3/5  So far, on this list of video game flicks, the one that stands out as best overall (at least for yours truly) has been 'Silent Hill'. There's a certain dark, horrific beauty to it that I couldn't help but admire. And while it may or may not be reminiscent of the game for fans, it totally works on its own as a simple, mind-bending horror movie. In other words, you really didn't need the game to enjoy it - all the stuff that needed to be there was there; not the least of which was a brilliantly eerie soundtrack (perfect for Halloween).
But now we take a look at the film's sequel; a somewhat convoluted mess that I almost feel like I should watch again before reviewing it, because it was kind of confusing, but I don't want to, so here we are with a somewhat half-assed attempt. So, some years after the events of the first film, Christopher Da Silva (Sean Bean) and his adopted daughter, Sharon (Adelaide Clemens) find themselves on the run, assuming different identities; prominently, in this film, Harry and Heather Mason (I will keep calling them Chris and Sharon for purposes of recognition). Now for those catching up, we know Chris and Sharon from the first film, and as far as we know before going into this, they remain somewhere in Silent Hill - so IS this the real Sharon? While Sharon is convinced that their running has to do with Chris being in trouble with the cops, Chris knows better that it's actually a cult from Silent Hill known simply as "The Order". Now, the standard 'Silent Hill' story tends to involve someone venturing, or being taken into the dark world of Silent Hill, and another venturing in after them. In this case, the Order kidnaps Chris, and Sharon heads in to find him with the help of one, Vincent Cooper (Kit Harington). Maybe it's just my ADD at work, but pretty much around the time the Silent Hill stuff starts to go down, that's where things started to confuse me. This was a film that I found to be a jigsaw puzzle pieced together wrong. It consisted of all the right pieces, but it get to be too much for a plot that should be about as basic as the first. If you're in the mood for a lot of disturbing imagery that borders on torture porn, however, this could be pretty ripe for the picking for you. That's one thing I'd say the movie did really well - the atmosphere of the first film is still ever present, and that includes the soundtrack that I so praise. So as far as the mood goes, in my humble opinion, the film nails it. There's also some pretty great usage of practical effects to add some of that real "meat" to things. All in all, the film is successfully creepy, and uses various stars to its advantage like Carrie-Anne Moss and Malcolm McDowell. Who do they play? No spoilers, but if you need to know, here's this. The film unfolds with some mystery and intrigue, but I personally had a tough time with it. While certain aspects of the film are done really quite well, other things are either confusing or even sort of redundant. I mean, we have a character going into Silent Hill looking for another character while the story tells some kind of horrific history in the town, for some reason always involving a little girl. And I think that's where the film really drops the ball; it's sort of more of the same, and the cool, gruesome, horrific imagery just isn't enough to save it. In my mind, I'd say stick to the first one, as it just plain works as its own horror movie complete with a twist ending. This, while I wouldn't consider it trash, is a bit more or a spectacle than a good story. Who knows, it could make for a guilty pleasure for the Halloween season. 2/5  This one picks up where the last one left off, and again, hits the ground running with some action. As I mentioned in my previous review, this is part two of the "Umbrella Trilogy", which pretty much feels like one long climax complete with good fight choreography, action and visuals along with a pretty sweet soundtrack. In the right frame of mind, these can be fun. But the fairly bad acting and sometimes overacting, basic ongoing plot point of going after Umbrella, and many other reasons you need to throw your brain out the window to enjoy it, it's still not the best thing out there.
I'm gonna try to keep this spoiler free, but when we last left our heroes, Alice (Milla Jovovich), Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) (and a couple of other big spoilish names I'm iffy about mentioning), they were on board an Umbrella Corporation freighter. They are violently attacked by a bunch of V-22 Ospreys, led by a brainwashed Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory). During the attack, Alice is captured, and we are randomly thrown into her waking up, living an average suburban lifestyle with her husband, Todd (Oded Fehr), who we otherwise know as Carlos, and daughter, Becky (Aryana Engineer). We then see a fairly typical zombie outbreak occur, where Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez) tries to help out to little avail. We also soon learn that this is not the real Alice. The real Alice, having been captured, is interrogated by Jill, but escapes during a power failure, only to find herself in her own simulation of a zombie outbreak in Shibuya Square, Tokyo. Here, Alice runs into one of Albert Wesker's (Shawn Roberts) best agents, Ada Wong (Bingbing Li), and Wesker himself appears on a screen, thought to be dead, explaining that the Red Queen has now taken over Umbrella. The main facility is now in Kamchatka, Russia, located underwater. The plan is to have Alica and Ada rendevouz with a rescue team consisting of Leon S. Kennedy (Johann Urb), Barry Burton (Kevin Durand), and Luther West (Boris Kodjoe) and go take care of business. The thing is, do we dare trust that Wesker is trying to help the cause? Of the 'Resident Evil' movies, I only actually caught three of them in theaters; 'Resident Evil', 'Afterlife', and then this. Between 'Afterlife' and this, I pretty much just stopped. In fact, if I'm being perfectly honest, I still haven't actually seen 'The Final Chapter'. So it may be unfair of me to claim these final three as the balls-to-the-wall three-film climax when I don't know anything about the last one yet. Well, except one thing - it's very easy to assume, considering it comes after these last couple, and the fact that it's the final film of the franchise. I see this one pretty much on the same level as I saw 'Afterlife'. The difference being that this is even a little more convoluted in its delivery of awesome eye candy, and plot that's a bit hard to make sense of. It occurs to me with this one that the theme of reaching that final boss keeps happening, but keeps having to go further. In fairness, that's what video games do. But also, in fairness to the fans, all of the big-wig creations in those games, though often seen, do seem to take a bit of a back seat through this series. Once again, they look pretty damn cool, but I can't help but feel they are severely underused. I furthermore don't know how the hell one is supposed to suddenly be able to trust Wesker, considering he's been the source of so much of Alice's anguish through all of these movies up until this point. Even to look at him, you're just like "VILLAIN!" I think the one thing this movie has going for it above the others is that it delves quite a bit into Alice's apparent past, which of course includes her daughter, Becky, who does come back around to play a sort of Newt (from 'Aliens') character while Alice is the very clear Ripley (although I might suggest Ripley is more bad ass). Much like the previous film, it's one in the series I sincerely don't care for much. All style, very little substance, and when it tries to have heart, it's actually kind of unsuccessful. There's something about Alice's past that feels too little too late, but perhaps that's just me. This isn't something I hate, but it's definitely a weak point in the series (which says quite a bit). That said, I'm actually kind of looking forward to how this all ends... 2/5  When it comes to the 'Resident Evil' movie franchise, I have a tendency to divide it into two trilogies. The first three, I'd refer to as the "Apocalypse Trilogy", where the big concern is surviving undead creatures and Umbrella's sinister creations. The second trilogy, is the "Umbrella Trilogy", where the focus shifts far more towards the Umbrella Corporation itself, and taking down the big wigs while making sure everything "looks cool". I also consider the second trilogy to be more of a "style over substance" thing, almost as if all three final films are one big climactic epic. This is debatable, but this is just me.
The fourth film even opens with a recap from "My Name is Alice" (Milla Jovovich), and since this begins the "Umbrella Trilogy", it's only fitting that I do the same, so we can start somewhat fresh here. So to recap, an incident happens in an underground lab that unleashes the "T-Virus", and eventually leads to the zombie apocalypse. This unfolds in the first three films by showing us its evolution through the Hive (Umbrella's secret underground facility), the fictional Raccoon City, then of course, the world. Former Umbrella worker, Alice, survives the first film, and by the second film is experimentally infused with the T-Virus, bonding with it, and creating a bad ass. Alice pretty much makes it her mission to hunt down Umbrella for not only destroying the world, but keeping constant with experimentation - which includes using her DNA to recreate her. This is where the fourth film here picks up, as Alice has found a buttload of clones of her, has freed them, and as a team, a whole whack of Alices is now storming Umbrella HQ in Tokyo, and they just tear shit up. Umbrella Head, Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), however, manages to escape, detonating a bomb that destroys Umbrella HQ and all Alices within - except of course the real one who manages to escape on Wesker's plane. Her attempt on his life is nearly successful, but he manages to inject her with an anti-virus, taking away all of her awesome abilities. Just to get things rolling, however, the plane eventually crashes, and Alice survives, but now has to rely on her average abilities which are surprisingly similar to her superhuman ones. Anyway, she travels to her Alaskan destination of "Arcadia", determined in the third film to be the last refuge for humanity. Before the end of the third film, however, Alice goes after Umbrella, leaving the friends she made to make it to Arcadia, themselves. Among them, Claire Redfield (Ali Larter), who Alice stumbles upon when she finds Arcadia to be not quite what she expected. Anyway, I could be unfolding plot stuff here all day, but the pair soon travel to Los Angeles where they find a prison full of survivors. Lead by Luthor West (Boris Kodjoe), they also meet Wendell (Fulvio Cecere), Crystal Waters (Kacey Clarke), Bennett (Kim Coates), Kim Yong (Norman Yeung), Angel Ortiz (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), and last but not least, Wentworth Miller in his heyday, playing someone who may be a huge spoiler if revealed. As the film continues, we learn things like what Arcadia really is, and the fact that Alice's venture against Umbrella isn't over yet - indeed, it's just beginning. As for Wesker? Well, again, no spoilers (even if you don't really care). For me, the 'Resident Evil' film series is okay at best, and a lot of it has to do with chapters like this, where it's nothing but eye candy - and at this point, dated eye candy. The slow-motion, or "bullet time" cliche has pretty much become a parody of itself, and it was used a LOT here. A lot of that was also to show off the new superior 3D technology we got with 'Avatar'. Yes, this was the second (I believe) film to actually use it. So in theaters, I remember it looking amazing, but that was about the extent of it. Otherwise it felt very simplistic, and there to show off new technology and what it could do. As usual, I'm reviewing this not so much as a video game adaptation as its own thing - the fourth of a chain of six movies telling one long story. If you're able to see things as such, and you're not really that into the games (like me), it can be a perfectly entertaining experience if you can just let go, and treat it like some kind of bad ass Saturday morning cartoon... with swearing and violence. These have never been a set of movies I've hated in any way, but there are a few I find to be "lesser" than others, and this is one of them. The entertainment comes from the look and style, and the big problem with the 3D aspect, is that it's only really available on the big screen. After that, it's kind of just a balls to the wall action flick with very little substance, and this would continue with the next film. But more on that soon enough. 2/5  When it comes to the 'Resident Evil' film series, this is the only other one I can say I actually like (along with the first). My mind has the potential to change on some chapters further down the road, as I only ever saw the next two, and it was a series I wasn't really invested in. I just went to the theater to be entertained, but a lot of the time had forgotten what happened previously, and they just ended up being all style no substance. But hey, they did have some pretty cool 3D action sequences. Anyway, for the time being, 'Extinction' isn't only the other one I like, but honestly, probably my favourite of the batch.
Fair warning, as we are doing a chain of sequels, there's high potential for spoilers from previous films, and this starts more or less where the last one leaves off. The previous film ends with Alice (Milla Jovovich) escaping an Umbrella research facility with help from Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), L.J. (Mike Epps), and Angela (Sophie Vavasseur). By the way, I failed to mention L.J. in my previous review, but that's mostly because he didn't seem to serve much purpose other than being an average joe caught up in the midst of all the chaos surrounding Raccoon City. Anyway, he survives, and we know that all of these characters become acquainted with each other. As the film opens, we learn that Umbrella has completely failed to contain the outbreak of the T Virus, bringing the world to a devastatingly overrun zombie-ridden wasteland. A few have managed to survive, however, by staying on the move. Among the survivors are Alice, who is travelling solo when we meet up with her, as she discovers the possibility that Alaska may yet be untouched. She eventually meets up with a convoy of scavenging survivors, looking for food and supplies at any stop they can manage, and convinces them that Alaska is probably the best direction to head. Among the convoy are, Carlos and L.J. from the previous film, and it's lead by Claire Redfield (Ali Larter). We also meet the likes of "K-Mart" (Spencer Locke), Mikey (Christopher Egan), Otto (Joe Hursley), Betty (Ashanti) and Chase (Linden Ashby). Meanwhile, Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen) makes capturing Alice his top priority, as she has somehow bonded with the T-Virus without physically mutating into some insane monster (as we saw with "Lickers" and Nemesis in the previous films). He believes that they can use Alice's blood to develop a serum that will not cure the zombie infection, but perhaps domesticate it. The idea is brushed aside by Umbrella CEO, Albert Wesker (Jason O'Mara), who would prefer he works on his clone project; the "Project Alice" mentioned at the end of the previous film. Basically, they have been able to clone a bunch of new Alices trying to recreate what they made at the end of the first film, when original Alice was first exposed to the T-Virus. It's nice that we're introduced to a few new characters here, who I recognize by name base don the games - namely Claire Redfield and Albert Wesker. As far as their game presences go, it's hard for me to say how right or wrong they got these characters, but from what little I do know, it seems fairly accurate - although I pictured Claire a little differently, Larter does a fine job here, and I won't ever deny the little celebrity crush I've had on her since 'Final Destination'. So yeah, there may be a little bias here when you get right down to it. I'd have to say the only thing this lacks in is the quality of the main plotline. While what's going on at Umbrella seems intriguingly evil, the survivors are living out the typical zombie road trip plot with a few variations. But that might also be what I liked about it. It was simple. The film ends on a pretty similar note as the first two, where Alice comes across something new about herself. In the first one, she is exposed to the T-Virus and is able to run faster, jump higher, be tougher, etc. In the second one, she develops telekinesis (which, again, I failed to mention, but it works as a pretty powerful weapon for her) and in this one... well, await my next 'Resident Evil' review that is sure to open with a few spoilers, although considering what I've told you, you may well be able to guess already. Anyway, I tend to lean towards this chapter of the 'Resident Evil' series more than most, but it tends to be a little more up the alley of someone like me - used to the average zombie flick without a lot of complex material. What does the next chapter have in store? 3/5  Back in my PS1 days, there were two survival horror games that stuck out to me as potentially very good... if only I could get the handle of them. 'Resident Evil' was one of them, of course, owing largely to being the first game to give me a genuine jump scare. The other was the mind-bending and surreal nightmare that was 'Silent Hill'. It had an atmosphere with its gruesome imagery, lighting and dream-like, subtle soundtrack that I couldn't help but admire as what "horror" should be.
It's a bit mind-blowing to think that at the time, a game could capture some truly horrific material while a movie couldn't. The first game was '99, so horror was in a heavy phase of teen slashers. They were all basically some kind of 'Friday the 13th' ripoff taking place in a more real-world setting. 'Silent Hill', among other games, however, offered something more unique - perhaps being able to get away with it a little easier both graphically and, well, graphically. Whether or not I ever got the handle of 'Resident Evil' and its tank controls, 'Silent Hill' was one I wished I didn't suck at because I wanted to experience it as some sort of next level horror. I might add that it was also around this time I started getting interested in all the classic 80s slashers I missed. The film's basic premise is seemingly pretty similar to the first game, but borrows elements as opposed to characters, all of whom are original for the film. I offer the movie credit for that, as it can be a self-contained story and doesn't really have to follow much of the game's original plot. In the argument of introducing us to Cole in the new 'Mortal Kombat', or Alice in 'Resident Evil', they interact with a whole bunch of characters we already know from the games, so you wonder where they enter into things. This, much like the games, is its own story, so even as a video game adaptation it sort of works either way. All they needed to do was add the right elements. Story-wise, this one opens with couple Christopher and Rose Da Silva (Sean Bean and Radha Mitchell, respectively) chasing after their daughter, Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) who just about sleepwalks her way off a cliff (filmed at my somewhat local Devil's Punch Bowl - in fact, much of this was filmed close to where I live, which is always pretty cool). She screams out the words "Silent Hill", and the parents wish they could figure out the connection between her and this mysterious location. Rose takes Sharon to find the town, which had since been abandoned due to a coal fire that continues to burn - based on the real-life location of Centralia, PA. Upon experiencing a car crash during a police chase from the seemingly shady officer Cybill Bennett (Laurie Holden), Rose awakens in the mysterious and abandoned ghost town with her daughter now missing. When Rose heads out to search for her, she soon finds herself in a hell on Earth where any time a loud siren goes off, trouble in its most terrifying forms are on their way. Along her journey to rescue her daughter, Rose further uncovers a mystery that may explain her daughter's connection with this Hellish town full of monster babies, twisty, bendy people, and a "Pyramid Head", who by the way offers up one of the most brutal deaths I've seen on screen - even if the effects are a bit dated now. Although I remain somewhat unsure of how this works as an adaptation, I think it's a title that can stand on its own very well as long as it's treated like its own thing, and not a direct adaptation of any of the games. Putting that aside, I would suggest that as a horror movie, this is something that does a good job of bringing that same horror magic I experienced with the first game to the big screen. When it comes to horror, I definitely have a thing for the twisted and unusual. A good horror movie has to mess with my mind, and this does manage that in several ways. It may not have done well critically, but this has its cult following of fans who suggest it's one of the best video game movies we have. I have to say, I couldn't agree more! While I still say that goes to 'Mortal Kombat', this was still at least objectively enjoyable as a horror movie. 4/5  This third Uwe Boll video game instalment is based on the 2002 hack and slash game of the same name, which has since spawned a popular franchise that, once again, I have never dabbled in. I don't particularly know how well this does as far as an adaptation goes, but of the Boll video game movies I have seen, so far this has been the most tolerable. I still wasn't what one might call a fan, and its clear that Boll's stiff direction is ever present here, but unlike 'House of the Dead' or 'Alone in the Dark', it didn't actually get under my skin enough to genuinely bother me. Having said that, it's still not something I'd consider to be a good movie.
Things open at a side show travelling carnival, as we're introduced to Rayne (Kristanna Loken); a dhampir, a half vampire, unaffected by crucifixes, able to tolerate the sunlight a little better, and does not have a strong thirst for blood. Her downfall, however, is that she's still affected by holy water. We soon learn that she's the daughter of a Vampire King named Kagan (Ben Kingsley), who plans to annihilate the human race with an army of human and vampire thralls (or slaves). Rayne manages to escape the travelling freakshow through various acts of violence, and some of it seemingly deserved, to go off and fend for herself. Meanwhile, three members of a vampire hunting squad called the Brimstone Society, Sebastian (Matthew Davis), Vladimir (Michael Madsen) and Katarin (Michelle Rodriguez) get wind of the carnival freak who may be a dhampir. They plan to find and recruit Rayne in order to fight against, and bring down Kagan. Little do they know, however, that Kagan is also looking for her, at the thought of her potentially interfering with his hostile takeover of the human race. Rayne's only real hope is to obtain the talisman that Kagan is after to complete his plan in order to gain an audience with him. Will Rayne be able to face her father head on? Will she aid the Brimstone Society? Will the movie actually be a bit better than Boll's previous two? In my humble opinion, this is still not good, but it's far more tolerable than the messes that were 'House of the Dead' and 'Alone in the Dark'. This has all the Boll tropes, like stiff acting, and a bit of a jumble of a plotline, but I feel this has something the other films don't have, and that would be a niche fanbase. While 'House of the Dead' offers up zombies, and 'Alone in the Dark' offers up a series of random monsters, this offers up vampires, and vampires are one race of creatures that has a particularly heavy cult following. There's a certain fascination that comes with them as opposed to something like zombies where you just plain know the mindless corpses you're getting. Vampires have personality, and there's a bit more wiggle room to play with that. In the end, I tried viewing this as more of a straight up vampire movie than one based on a video game (as, again, no dabbling in said title). As a result, I think I managed to avoid knowing where the film screwed things up as an adaptation, and I think I'm a little more forgiving than others with it. Having said that, there were still some bothersome things about it. We have stiff acting and bad direction, even considering some of the cast (I'm looking at you, Kingsley) along with some rough dialogue and editing here and there, and it's certainly not something I feel like I need to see again. But I will say that of the Boll video game adaptations, this has been the most tolerable so far. I may not be its biggest fan, but I can think of a few who might check it out based on their interest in vampire stories. 2/5 |
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