Warning: This review contains spoilers!
If Hollywood
took a unicorn and armed it with a rocket launcher, three machine guns and a
battalion of laser-shooting bears, that would be Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.
Seriously,
this movie was fast-paced from beginning to end. From when Milla Jovovich (who
plays the strong-willed, action heroine, Alice) emerged from remnants of the
White House (remember the final seconds of Resident
Evil: Retribution just before the credits?) to her departure from Raccoon
City (yes, she goes back), I was in my seat trying to keep my heart from
exploding. Zombies were popping from left, right and center. Zombies of
different kinds, too. Giant, flying, demonic zombies. Muscular, ogre-like
zombies. Even the good, old zombie hounds made an appearance. It was madness.
I might add,
zombies were the least of Alice’s problems. Most of Umbrella Corp. was either
trying to shoot or decapitate her. Then she had to carry the future of mankind
on her back, while facing a serious, inner conflict that leads to an incredible
revelation about her past. A revelation, which I would have never guessed
possible. The whole movie was, for lack of a better word…. extraordinary.
If that were all to this review, we would all pack up, turn off our monitors and return to the real world. Every one of you would go watch the movie, write thrilling, positive reviews and the world would be a safer place. We all know that is not how the world works.
So, what’s wrong with the movie? Or more precisely, what issues did I find that could sink the movie for prospective movie-goers? Well, for one, the fast-pace nature of it made it difficult to keep up with the storyline. Movie watchers did not have too much time to absorb what was going on. Ms. Jovovich was either flying across the screen over zombie hoards, or dealing bone-crushing blows to enemies. In retrospective, there was likely a good reason for it. The plot had some rather noticeable holes in it that would likely frustrate the average movie-watcher. For example, how did Alice survive the Battle at the White House? Why did Albert Wesker (played by Shawn Roberts) return to Raccoon City to begin with? I do not want to divulge any more information than I need to. Let me just say, Wesker was one of the few characters with insight to much of the cast. He had a multitude of reasons to disobey orders and not return to Raccoon City where he experienced one of his biggest failures. To the director’s credit, Paul Anderson could not address all those questions in one movie. He addressed some of the questions from the prior installments at the end, making for a quite satisfying closure to a great franchise. Nonetheless, these are queries that tend to keep a fan up at night. I wonder if he will address those questions in future spin-offs. It would not surprise me.
So how did
the movie fare for me? As mentioned before, the movie did give me palpitations.
It was action-packed, and a movie worth seeing for fans of high energy, zombie
horror flicks. That said, if you are not an avid fan of the film or
zombie/action films in general, the fast-pace nature will likely come as more
of a reason to watch it on television than in theaters. The holes might annoy
anyone after watching the film a couple of times. However, for first-time
watchers and fans of the franchise, this is a film worth watching. I give it a
solid 4/5.
Here is the part of the review where I leave you all with a song and question? Here is "Entering Raccoon City" by Paul Haslinger. Enjoy and please let me know what you think about the review. Do you think I missed anything out? Do you agree or disagree with it? Leave a comment in the comment section below. As always, until next time.....
Paul Haslinger - "Entering Raccoon City" (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter OST)
Special thanks to Milan Records USA for sharing the soundtrack and to all the people of Resident Evil for their work in making the film franchise possible. If you liked the song, do not forget to like it on its YouTube page.
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