Go ask Milla

Milla Jovovich returns as Alice, the heroine in "Resident Evil: Extinction"

Movie Review

The third in a series of films based on a video game, it's an improvement over the previous instalment and is possibly the best so far, but that by no means makes "Resident Evil: Extinction" a great movie. Taken as a whole, the "Resident Evil" film series rates about as high in cultural importance as the video games themselves - take that for what it's worth to you. If there's nothing else to watch, and you're dying to see a movie, "Extinction" wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to watch. The film follows all the conventions of horror and action films, nothing more, nothing less. For fans of the Ukrainianborn modelactress Jovovich, well this is her franchise, so just sit back and watch her shoot, kick, cut up and kill zombies.

If anything, the setting is an improvement over the previous films, which took place in the murky, underground "Hive" of the Umbrella Corporation, the company responsible for creating the Tvirus, which has turned everyone into flesheating zombies. "Extinction" is set above ground, in the southwestern United States desert. The light and space of the sandy expanses make it harder to hide the computergraphic tricks of the previous films, and offers a nice change of pace.

Jovovich's Alice is on the run after escaping from the Umbrella Corporation in the previous film, 2004's "Resident Evil: Apocalypse". A solitary figure, she rides her motorcycle across the desert, scavenging for food, petrol and anything else of use. With a shortwave radio, she also scans the airwaves for broadcasts by survivors. She is drawn to one group of rustics, who turn out to have bad intentions for Alice, but she shows them they are messing with the wrong woman.

There's a reason Alice stays alone - she has been implanted with tracking devices that Umbrella can use to control her. Umbrella desperately needs Alice because she is immune to the Tvirus and could hold the key to domesticating the zombies and letting humans reclaim the surface. So desperate is the company, that they have created clones of Alice to try and unlock the key to what makes her special.

By herself, Alice doesn't draw attention and stays "off the grid". But there aren't that many survivors left, so time is running out. And, after Alice has a nightmare and wrecks her motorcycle in her sleep with her telekinetic powers (another good reason to stay alone), she must seek the help of another nearby band of people, the "Claire Redfield convoy", a mobile group of survivors led by a strongwilled woman (Ali Larter). They road trip from place to place with their own Humvee, school bus, ambulance and armoured petrol truck (recalling "Road Warrior"). The members of the convoy include a resourceful former taxi driver named LJ (Mike Epps), the resident paramedic, nurse Betty (Ashanti) and KMart (Spencer Locke), a young woman so named because she was found in a KMart store. They are mainly fodder to gain the audience's sympathy and give Alice some people to save when the zombies attack.

Alice comes upon the convoy as they are being attacked by some infected crows (referencing "The Birds"), and uses her telekinetic powers to manipulate a flamethrower and wipe the feathered plague from the sky. Alice also gives the convoy some direction, with a journal she found that describes an isolated, uninfected area in Alaska. To get the fuel they need to make the trip, the convoy must go to what what's left of Las Vegas, which is exactly where Umbrella wants them to be.

With help from Carlos (Oded Fehr), an Umbrella security officer in "Apocalypse", now with the convoy, Alice fights her way through a showdown in Vegas with a pack of Umbrella's super zombies. She uses her mind to ward off satellite control of her brain and eventually makes her way back underground to the Umbrella Hive, where she does battle with another "Apocalypse" returnee, mad scientist Dr Isaacs (Iain Glen), who has turned himself into a super zombie with telekinetic powers.

Fortunately, Alice also finds the clones of herself that number in the thousands. Which means that we'll likely be seeing much more of Milla and her "Resident Evil" character, if the film series continues.

Three Stars

Wise Kwai

Weekend Magazine

Published on September 28, 2007