Caution: This Will Contain Spoilers!
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This film is based off the Capcom video game of the same title, and is the fifth installment to the film franchise created by Paul W.S. Anderson. This film follows Alice in another fight against the Umbrella Corporation. This film follows moderately where the last film left off. After barely surviving the battle on the ship, Arcadia, Alice wakes up in a new Umbrella test facility. She must fight against various types of zombies mutated by the T-Virus, the Umbrella agents, and the insane Red Queen to escape.
This film was written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. I don't normally like to have a lot of spoilers in my reviews, but I'm going to make a small exception with this film. First word that comes to mind with this film is unnecessary. This franchise began as science fiction horror and now it has turned into science fiction action. The opening credit sequence went on for far too long. It went in partial reverse. The small details were moving forward when everything else is going in reverse. It would've been fine like that, but then they played forward. The film then takes a very random leap making Alice into a housewife. It continues to take on another few odd ended leaps for roughly twenty minutes, going from that to her in a cell, and then in Tokyo, until things are finally explained. Its explanation is weakly. In order to understand it you have to have been paying attention to all the previous films. The facility was created to make several virus presentations to various countries in order for it to be sold as a biological weapon. To keep active test experiments they created human clones that are repurposed for every experiment. The facility is controlled by... yep the Red Queen , a computer program gone insane. The person willing to help Alice escape is her old enemy Wesker, his associate Ada Wong, and the rescue team Wesker as sent to assist.
I can't say the story gets much better. It remains flat in character development and any real emotional depth. The film offers some jump moments, but no real suspense. The story felt a lot more like a video game than a film. The film has several technical errors throughout the film (like how does the real Alice know sign language? Why were clothes placed inside Alice's cell?). There is way too many over used special effects that destroyed any possibility of success for the film. As part of the film series it does manage some continuity, but it basically undoes everything in the past film (Afterlife). They also brought back several of the old characters. It just felt strange seeing all these reanimated characters in different scenarios. There was an introduction of three new video game characters Leon S. Kennedy, Ada Wong, and Barry Burton. As new characters in the film franchise they're great. But, if you're a fan of the videogames then you will hate them. On the other hand the film does maintain intense action, and great monster effects.
The cast worked good together, but fail short with giving their characters much depth. Milla Jovovich played the leading role of (project) Alice. She was good in her role. She didn't add to much emotion into her character, but kept her the bad ass that she normally is. Bingbing Li played the role of Ada Wong. She was good in her role. The script didn't allow her to create any real emotional depth. Sienna Guillory played the role of Jill Valentine. She was a good actress in the other films she appeared in, but not in this one. She tried to hard to sound like an emotionless robot, but failed to convey it appropriately. She was too dry with her lines. However, her character did remained true to the video game character. Michelle Rodriguez played multiple roles Rain Ocampo (housewife and bad ass). She was great in her limited roles. It was easy to tell that she enjoyed being the indestructible character. Boris Kodjoe played the role of Luther West. He was good in his small role. He got to do a lot more fighting. Johann Urb played the role of Leon S. Kennedy. I will admit, when I first saw him I did not think he was Leon. There was no way he was the video game character. However, he was good at being the silent fighter. Megan Charpentier and Ave Merson-O'Brian (voiced) played the role of the Red Queen. It was strange to have her return since she was disintegrated in the first film with no copies of her programming. It is also strange since there have been a white queen and possibly a blue queen. Would it have been so hard to make her a different color. It also doesn't make sense since all of them are programed to protect human life. Otherwise, the two actress' worked good together. They created a terrifying character. Aryana Engineer played the role of Becky. She was good in her limited role. She gave the film its only source of heart.
I give this film two out of five stars. It has good action, great monsters, and good 3-D effects. However, the film lacks any real story or characters. It also had so many oddities as a sequel, and technical errors.
Answer to last blog: Actor/director Clint Eastwood, of J. Edgar, also directed the film The Changeling.
Que: Which of these films did writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson not direct?
Resident Evil
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Death Race
