September 25, 2007

Resident Evilist?

A fitting end to Resident Evil Trilogy is executed in "Extinction". Although not as strong as the first one, the movie itself is a decently satisfying conclusion to the story arch. Don't look for a deep, or emotionally involving movie; come on, it is zombies in Vegas. All the elements are there: kick-butt shero, monsters, evil scientist, genetically mutated monsters, guns, knives, mutated birds, firestorms. In general some to like and some to dislike. All the elements are there, but somehow the movie never truly grabs the audience's attention. Yes it is as likable as a zombie movie can be, but it isn't anything to write home about.
"Extinction" occurs five years after "Apocalypse" and, while global events of the past time are touched upon, most of the characters from the last movie are not addressed. Valentine is not in the picture, nor is the the virus creator's daughter. We never know what has happened to them. Alice is now a loner whose telekinetic powers are growing exponentially. A few character from the last movie, Carlos and L.J., have joined a caravan of survivors trying to stay alive.
As I said earlier; all the elements are there for a pretty solid movie, but somehow what the movie should have been was never tapped. There is something dissatisfying about this movie (besides the fact that a chain-linked fence can somehow hold back hordes of the animated dead). I cannot state specifically what the dissatisfying element is, but it is there. (Sorry I can't be more specific than that.) In many ways it is like Van Helsing, a satisfying beginning but disappointing end.
Over all a decent, if not fabulous, end to the trilogy. While the possibility for another movie suggested in the final scene of "Extinction", I hope that they let the series end here on a adequate note.

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