You know, I'd really like to know who it was in Hollywood that decided that model-turned-actress Milla Jovovich is viable as a female ass-kicking action star. That way I could go up to them, show them select clips from Ultraviolet, the Resident Evil movie before this one, and (of course) this entry and ask them just what the Hell they were thinking. Now, I know there's a fan base for the slight, fairly odd-looking Jovovich out there but I myself just don't get it.

Which leads me into Resident Evil: Extinction or, as I like to call it, "I should've known better..." After suffering my way through the second entry three years prior, I can't say I was one-hundred-percent sure just what I was expecting as I strolled my way into the theatre. Perhaps it was hope that under the wing of a new director (in this case Australian Russell Mulcahy who did make the first Highlander movie and the nifty little "killer boar" flick Razorback) the series could get back to the entertainment value of the first movie. Or maybe it was just blind faith that series scriptwriter Paul W.S. Anderson might've learnt something from his past mistakes about making an effective zombie movie (be it one based on a video game) and could use the film's desert landscapes to make something interesting.

Well, lowered expectations and hope can be a bitch sometimes.

Right from the get go my brain was screaming, "Oh god, they're trying to mix an apocalyptic Mad Max-type movie with the Resident Evil series!", as we're brought back into the World of Alice (Jovovich). After we learn that her attempts to escape from the evil Umbrella Corporation was just one of her clones failing miserably at a test set-out for it by the seemingly evil Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen), we catch-up with the real Alice who's been drifting throughout the desert wasteland trying to avoid detection and killing off any zombies that happen to cross her path.

Also making their way through the dustbowl that is now Earth is Claire (Ali Larter) and a convoy of survivors who are driving across the country trying to avoid the undead as well as find enough gasoline and food to keep them going. Included in this group are the returning soldier Carlos (Oded Fehr) and annoying African-American comic relief L.J. (Mike Epps) who somehow survived the events of Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

Seeing as it might actually be interesting to keep Alice and Claire's groups separate and focus on Alice's lone wolf philosophy and Claire's patron saint attitude to keeping her "people" alive, writer Anderson does exactly what we'd expect him to: puts Claire's group in danger from a psychotic batch of zombified crows and has Alice arrive to save the day.

The rest of the movie sees Alice and her newfound companions (who thin in number as the movie goes on) try to avoid the ever-present gaze of Umbrella and the good Doctor while trying to get to Las Vegas to get enough supplies to head-up to Alaska where a radio message has told them it is clear and uninfected of the Umbrella's virus. Of course, Isaacs and Alice are due to have a showdown and, of course, things end with a ridiculous action sequence that leads to the set-up for yet another sequel.

Resident Evil: Extinction is the kind of movie that pisses me off as a horror fan. Instead of focusing their genre efforts on more original fare, distributing studio Screen Gems (who are owned by Sony) would rather toss another shitty sequel on audiences not caring about how low-quality things turn out as long as the movie has a decent opening weekend at the box-office. It's an attitude that's becoming more common to horror movies in the Hollywood system and it's a sad state of affairs indeed.

If you're not sure that the movie is based on a video game, Mulcahy and his crew are sure to remind you as the entire movie plays out like one. When they're not cutting away to some (eventually annoying) computer graphics showing the blueprints of Umbrella's underground lab, the makers are busy staging a whole bunch of clumsy action sequences (which is most evident during a moment where zombies pour out of a metal container "Barrel of Monkeys" style) and throwing out some dull gore to boot. And the entire thing ends with what I can only describe as an "end boss fight" as it's certainly staged like something you'd see in a game.

Yeah, so if you haven't figured it out yet, I really didn't like Resident Evil: Extinction - it's a lazy cash-in of an effort that doesn't even attempt to bring the series to at least a mildly entertaining finale and while I admit it is a tiny bit better than Apocalypse it's still an insult to my, and every other reasonable horror fans, intelligence. (Chris Hartley, 10/3/07)

Directed By: Russell Mulcahy.
Written By: Paul W.S. Anderson.

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Ali Larter, Iain Glen.