Resident Evil: The Final Chapter review

By Ryan Keating-Lambert

★★☆☆☆

The ‘final’ chapter of the Resident Evil franchise is better than the previous two, but falls short of capturing the original thrills and bloody spills of the first two films, which will always be the best.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter sees superhuman Alice (Milla Jovovich) and company taking one last leap to wipe out the zombie t-virus. However, to end things once and for all, the team has to go back to the original underground ‘hive’ facility in Racoon City, the site of the original outbreak in the first film.

Director / writer / husband of Milla Jovovich Paul W.S. Anderson is back for the sixth and final film in the saga, and things couldn’t be more out of control in the Resident Evil world. The Final Chapter sees earth completely overrun by the undead as well as their more mutant relatives. There are some cool monsters here, especially the dragon looking thing in the beginning.

It’s an intense opening, but it’s probably the calmest scene in the whole film. It’s a non-stop, out of control, high octane, adrenaline fueled, ‘insert blockbuster movie adjective here’ type of outing. It’s like smashing up an electric guitar – totally rock in the beginning but a proper expensive mess towards the end.

But there are some positives… Alice’s character somewhat develops over the course of the film, which is an improvement compared to the latter two movies, but that’s about it for interesting characters here. Fans of the older movies may be excited to see a few familiar faces, but no one too noteworthy.

But let’s face facts, this is not a movie in which we’re supposed to particularly care about the characters, aside from Alice. It’s an action movie, and for that it serves its purpose. Less talk, more fight.

Fans may also enjoy moments that hark back to the first film. A certain laser weapons system makes a triumphant return, as does the murderous ‘Red Queen’. Anderson has overall tried to smooth over the plot holes from the last few films and bring it all back to the original. So expect a few twists and turns along the way, even if they are predictable ones.

For a video game adaptation, Resident Evil has done pretty well. It was born in a time when zombie movies were only just coming back into fashion, so it’s understandable that the franchise got a little ridiculous. What is there left to do with this genre? There’s a lot of competition these days.

Milla Jovovich is a great action movie girl and does majority of her own stunts, so the action scenes, though stupidly quick and messy, do have some stand-out moments. Being married to director Anderson has obviously worked out pretty well for her career… but I’d like to see her in some new roles, as I’d like to see Anderson do some darker stuff again. Remember Event Horizon? That was class.

This movie is pretty sh-t, but it’s entertaining shit.

Photo: Sony