RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2004 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *
Loud and stupid, RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE is yet another video game made
into
an incoherent and ridiculous movie. The second in a series about the
"Resident
Evil" video games, this movies manages to be considerably worse than the
original RESIDENT EVIL, which I thought could not be possible.
Milla Jovovich stars as Alice, a RoboCop-like super hero who works for and
against the nefarious Umbrella Corporation, whose super-secretive hive is
hidden beneath Raccoon City. This movie about the undead should appeal
only to
the brain dead, but there is one segment of society that will eat it up --
video game-addicted teenage boys. For their viewing pleasure, the script
includes plenty of inside jokes for gamers, especially about the
controversial
Grand Theft Auto series of games.
Most of the movie is a shoot 'em up, as the good guys use noisy guns,
rifles
and automatic weapons to mow down slow-moving zombies. The director uses
all
of the standard techniques of the genre, including nearly indecipherable
night
sequences, slow-motion, blurry images and lots of lightning flashes. This
movie, which gives video games a bad name, is one big bore.
Although you probably won't care, the producers are so intent upon letting
you
know that they want to make a third in the series that, after the film's
natural ending, they include what should have been most of the first act
of the
third film. It doesn't look like the third is going to be any
improvement.
How's that for a surprise?
RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE runs a very long 1:33. It is rated R for
"non-stop
violence, language and some nudity" and would be acceptable for most
teenagers.
My son Jeffrey, age 15, liked the action and gave it *** 1/2. He
especially
liked the Grand Theft Auto jokes. His friend Kyle, also 15, gave it ***,
saying that Matt was his favorite character.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 10,
2004.
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century
theaters.
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