Hearing that Resident Evil was actually a decent movie, especially considered it's based on a video game, I decided (having never seen any of the movies) to watch the entire collection last night. I ended up watching 3/4 of the movies (the fourth was a direct-to-video animated movie). I will watch and review that one later, but as far as I'm concerned (having watched the three live-action movies that actually were in theatres) I have seen the entire "trilogy."
So, we'll start with the first, Resident Evil. The idea: a deadly virus (the "t-virus") created by the evil Umbrella Corporation has spread through their underground lab. A "special ops" team from the Corporation is sent down to investigate what happened, only to be greeted by virus-infected individuals who act like zombies in that they move slowly, try to eat
you, and (in at least one case) walk on broken sideways feet. One member of the team is Alice (Milla Jovovich), is a complete badass who only wears Certified Sexy clothing. Remember, this movie is based on a video game. In the video game, Alice is the main character, so she must wear much less clothing than one normally would in a combat situation. And in the case of this movie, I didn't mind at all. Milla Jovovich was surprisingly attractive (I remember thinking she didn't look particularly good on the cover of the movie) and seeing her the entire movie certainly added an element of enjoyability to it.
Although the plot was pretty shallow, and the idea (virus-made zombies) was done better and much scarier in
28 Days Later, this actually was a fun movie to watch. Character development (especially of Jovovich's character) was surprisingly high for a movie of this type. The movie also never dragged. By the time it was over, I was actually left wanting
more. Luckily for me, there were still two more movies to watch.
The second movie, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, I approached with caution. I had heard from various sources that this was the worst of the series, and very definitely NOT a good movie. Luckily, it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. The basic idea of the movie is that the t-virus has now spread outside the underground facility and infected the entire city. The city has been quarantined, and (naturally) Alice (still Milla Jovovich) is inside. This movie follows much the same pattern as the first movie: people must survive hordes of infected zombies, and Alice must kick major ass. In this film, due to viral modifications inflicted upon Alice by the Umbrella Corporation, she is an even bigger badass than she was in the previous film. However, this time she seems more appropriately dressed for combat. Luckily, this does not at all take away from her attractiveness, and just watching Jovovich continues to be an enjoyable element of the movie.
Again, a fun movie to watch, although not scary and not quite as good as the first. Also, unlike the timid, only-eventually-asskicking Alice of the first movie, Alice (in this movie genetically altered and already used to killing zombies) plays the hardened badass role. And it works well. BONUS fact: one of the soldiers stuck in the city is played by Zack Ward, aka bully Scut Farkus of A Christmas Story.
The third and final movie, Resident Evil: Extinction, takes place in a world that has been devoured by the virus. Only a few uninfected nomads remain. And who is one of those nomads? Alice (still Milla Jovovich). Alice has now developed even MORE powers, and now, in addition to her extreme zombie-fighting skills, also has some telekinetic abilities. The desert-like atmosphere of the U.S. makes for a cool backdrop for the action. One of the highlights is seeing Las Vegas buried under sand.
Of the three movies, Extinction was the second best, but really all three movies were almost identical in quality.
This is a trilogy in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: watching the trilogy as a whole makes for a better experience than watching them individually would. It's like watching a 3-part, 4.5 hour movie. Each movie flows well into the next, and plot points remain more-or-less consistent between the three (this frequently doesn't occur in movie series). Also impressive was the fact that they managed to bring back the same actors (the ones playing characters that were still alive by the end of the film) in all three movies. Also sort of nice was the fact that all three were written by the same person (Paul W.S. Anderson) but each was directed by a different person. I think this helped prevent each movie from seeming exactly the same as the last.
This would be a great trilogy to watch as a "party" with friends because the movies move quickly, all three take less than 5 hours to get through (unlike, say, a Lord of the Rings trilogy party), and they're good "popcorn" movies.
Resident Evil:
7/10
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
6.5/10
Resident Evil: Extinction
7/10
Resident Evil Trilogy
8/10
After not seeing this movie for a long time due to the presence of Julia Roberts as well as an unappealing title, I finally gave it a shot.
