"Resident
Evil: Apocalypse" picks up pretty
much where the original film leaves off. The
evil Umbrella Corporation has released a
virus in Raccoon City that animates the dead;
get bitten and you'll become a zombie in about
an hour or so. Alice (Milla Jovovich), the hero
of the titular video game and the previous film,
escapes from Umbrella Corp.'s subterranean
laboratory to find herself in a city that has
mostly been abandoned. The corporation has
evacuated essential personnel and sealed
the city, leaving behind several of its own
forces to the hungry hoards. Among them is
Officer Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), another
dangerous lady from one of the sequels in the
"Resident
Evil" game series; the young
daughter of its chief scientist (Jared Harris),
Angie (Sophie
Vavasseur), a girl who is the key to the viral
epidemic; and a creature called Nemesis, a
human from the original film who has mutated
into a monstrous bio-weapon. The idea is to
set Nemesis on Alice, who is herself a
bio-weapon of sorts. Basically what we have
is "Night of the Living Dead" meets that
episode of the original "Star Trek" where
Captain Kirk has to fight that giant lizard.
"Resident Evil: Apocalypse" is superior to the
original film, and is among the better of the
video games adapted into action features
(see: "Tomb Raider," "Mortal Kombat" et al.).
Its pace is riveting and the narrative is closer
to that of the actual game; it even looks a lot
like the game. Not that any of that makes it
more than another among noisy genre films
full of clichés from both the gaming and movie
worlds. But for diehard fans of either it more
than fits the bill.
Starring Milla
Jovovich, Sienna Guillory,
Thomas Kretschamann, Oded Fehr, Jared
Harris, Sophie Vavasseur, Sandrine Holt and
Mike Epps. Directed by Alexander Witt. Written
by Paul W.S. Anderson. Produced by Paul
W.S. Anderson, Jeremy Bolt and Don
Carmody. A Columbia release. Rated R for
non-stop violence, language and some nudity.
Running time: 94 min
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