Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Ok, full disclosure upfront, this review will contain spoilers. You’re gonna keep reading? Good, then I’ll keep writing.
The original Resident Evil came out in 2002, and had the rare honour of being a film based on a popular video game that didn’t suck. Yes, I said it didn’t suck. In fact my much younger self thought that it was pretty awesome. Especially as it had that chick that I liked from The Fifth Element. I am of course talking about Milla Jovovich. The fact that it had zombies in it as well was just icing on the cake. Michelle Rodriguez was the cherry sitting on top.
Yes, Resident Evil was where my love affair with Milla became something of a minor obsession. An obsession that saw me anticipating every installment in the Resident Evil franchise and saw me easily forgive the bizarre direction of some of the films. Milla was my main reason for being a fan.
So then The Final Chapter is announced, and all good things I guess must come to an end. The trailers look decent enough, suggesting a stroyline that was pushing to the final battle for control of humanity. What better way to end the series that to have Alice kick more zombie arse and win the day for the few living survivors. It was going to be glorious.
And it was mostly.
If you go to the film expecting a certain amount of cheese and inexplicable action sequences, then you’ll come away very happy.
The frenetic action keeps the pulse racing and the jump scares are real, well, jumpy. The biggest issue with the action is with the editing that at times feels like the editor was paid by the number of edits per second he could fit into the action scenes. This level of frenetic motion can cause ones eyes to bleed, especially in 3D.
But it did keep you well entertained and on the edge of your seats. It’s not a film you’re going to doze off in.
And then there was Ruby Rose, who helped make xXx: Return of Xander Cage so enjoyable, and who will no doubt make John Wick 2 all the more better. She was going to make an awesome kick arse partner to help Milla take on all those zombies. But inexplicably her character doesn’t do much and is killed off far to early for my liking. I’m a big fan you see.
So after some epic set pieces and over the top set pieces, and some what the fuck set pieces, does Alice actually save the world? Of course she bloody does, but in a way that leaves the door wide open for a whole new set of films or even a TV series.
Final bloody chapter my arse.
Rating: R16 Violence & horror.
FILMGUIDE rating:
