Resident Evil: Extinction

Year: 2007
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Ali Larter, Iain Glen

More sequels, more trilogies. That's the flavour of the year, it seems. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In the case of Resident Evil, it is the former, though you'll have to keep in mind to let go of your inhibitions and just enjoy the ride.

Based on the popular video game of the same name, Resident Evil is about a genetically engineered female warrior named Alice, who must save humanity from her creators after a virus, called the T-Virus turns everyone into undead zombies. For the past two films, Alice has succeeded in evading her creators and saving whatever's left of humanity, while disposing of countless zombies along the way.

In this film, the third of the series, the earth has become a vast desert land, after the T-Virus wipes out mankind, infects the planet and turned it into an empty world of sand. Most of the cities have been buried and the undead still roam, looking for food. There are but a small band of survivors, led by Claire Redfield and the male hero from the second film, Carlos Olivera. They continuously move from city to city, looking for food, gas and ammunition, being careful not to run into the zombies. Incidentally, Alice is still alive, and on the move as well, trying to survive on her own.

However, the Umbrella Corporation, who created Alice and the T-Virus, are still operating in the underground Raccoon City. Dr Isaacs, the chief scientist, needs Alice to find a cure for the virus. He gets an opportunity when his satellites lock on her when she saves Claire's convoy from a flock of undead crows. He sets a trap for her and the convoy, and now Alice has to band together with her new friends to escape Dr Isaacs' clutches and make their way to Alaska, which may be the last uninfected place on earth.

As far as action goes, Extinction does not disappoint. You'll have plenty to savour on screen as Alice shoots and maims the zombies in brutal yet stylish fashion, while looking so good at the same time. Kudos to Russell Mulcahy for not making this instalment look like a video game. By choosing a desert setting, he avoids the darkness cliche existent in most zombie flicks. The vast emptiness of the desert is in fact quite fitting and a nice change of scenery.

Jovovich, Fehr and Larter acquit themselves well enough in their roles as Alice, Carlos and Claire respectively, and Glen makes a nice villain in Dr Isaacs. Though it is Jovovich that holds everything together for this film. I don't think the film would have been fun and effective if not for her. My only gripe is how she looks too perfect in almost all the scenes she is in, when wear and tear from being in the desert and fighting the undead should exist.

Writer and producer Paul W.S. Anderson has said that this is the last one, but the ending seems to indicate otherwise. Well, if they can make it fun the fourth time around, why not eh? (4/5)