Resident Evil 2: Apocalipsis

*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

Lethal megababe Alice, (Milla Jovovich), is back. The Hive gets reopened for some reason. The zombies take advantage of the human's blunder and pour out into Racoon City. Alice and another hot chick decide to bring the war to the zombies. The rest of the movie is one long fight scene with zombie dogs, slobbering creatures and a big monster with a rocket launcher all wanting to waste the killer babe squad.

While "Resident Evil 2" is light on plot, it is heavy on kills, explosions and various other forms of mayhem. I definitely felt I got my money's worth. There are really only two differences between this movie and the original "Resident Evil". One, this movie introduces a new monster, the Nemesis. It's a big monster with bad teeth wearing an overcoat and wielding a rocket launcher. The other difference is that they added another hot woman to the zombie killing mix. Alice needed some babe backup. Overall, I was pleased with this one. It's worth a look.

Following the success of the 2002 adaptation from video game to film that was 'Resident Evil', comes its tantalizingly-trailered sequel, 'Resident Evil: Apocalypse'. I have to say, I was entranced by the trailer of this film. I seriously thought that this film had the potential to rise above 'Mortal Kombat' (1995) and 'Resident Evil' as the best cinematic event to spawn from a video game. 'Apocalypse' doesn't do everything wrong, but it certainly doesn't do everything right.

Let's start with a brief synopsis. Firstly, this film picks up literally days after the first drops us off. 'Apocalypse' opens with a rehashed explanation of what we learned about the two main characters in the original, Alice (Milla Jovovich) and Matt Addison (Eric Mabius). Again, we are told that this Umbrella Corporation is an international super-power and that Alice is (or more accurately was) the head of security in an underground research facility dubbed "The Hive", which harbored research and specimens pertaining to biological weaponry. After that, we are treated to the scientists who wheeled Addison away at the closure of 'Evil', opening the zombie-infested annals of "The Hive". Immediately before the audience 'knows' what happens (its pretty obvious and is given away in the final shots of the first 'RE') we transition into a militaristic evacuation of important personnel associated with Umbrella Corp. After a few assorted events that do (and simultaneously do not) move the plot line (a 'do not' being the lead-scientist asking how bad the situation is). After this, we are introduced to nearly a half-dozen other characters, including a renegade police officer (Sienna Guillory), the remaining members of an elite task force (Oded Fehr, Zack Ward), a VERY stereotypical Black man (Mike Epps) and a hulking creature (which, if you paid attention to the first 'RE', you would be aware of its appearance) that totes both a rocket-launcher and a hand-held chain gun named the "Nemesis".

As far as performances go, the aforementioned actors and actresses do well with the material that they are given. Guillory has Helen of Troy (not from the film 'Troy') on her resume, as Jovovich has Joan of Arc, Fehr has the mummy hunter, Ardeth Bay from the 'Mummy' series and Epps is credible in several comedies. There is no real emotion in the script, so the viewers really can't ask for any emotion from the actors (sadly true).

That is where 'Apocalypse' stumbles, and in many places, falls on it's face.

The plot is paper thin with nearly no real complications for the audience until the last ten minutes (which is a near-complete turn around from the original, which actually evoked SOME thought from the audience). It is basically unleash zombies on the city and shoot 'em up. The small sub-plots really vary from little to no relevance in the story whatsoever. It is pretty predictable that there is some kind of 'oh no, my friend was bitten and eventually, I'll have to kill him just before he bites me' situation, and the big action/set pieces are blatantly set up. The characters are thinner than the plot, with their arcs being straighter than a steel arrow. Alice begins the movie as an ass-kicking femme fatal, and finishes the film being...oh, you guessed it, an ass-kicking femme fatal. Jill Valentine (Guillory) is another one of these masculinely tough females, although sans Alice's super powers. The only real life that is brought to the script is through the epitome of black stereotypes, played by Mike Epps. It was sadly ironic, however that my favorite bit of 'Apocalypse' involved a reference to another video game franchise.

Again, 'RE: Apocalypse' is not completely bad. Although few, it has its moments. Mike Epps has his funny lines and his one encounter with the Nemesis brought laughs from the entire audience, which was something needed in the film. The Nemesis was done well a majority of the time (although there is a bit where the big oaf crashes through a wall and his head piece actually shifts visibly on the actor's shoulders) and makes a formidable villain for a good margin of the film (although his closure is a bit weak). Many of the action sequences had great potential...but the majority of those action scenes were fast-cut, much like 'AvP', so much so that it was very hard at moments to see exactly what was happening in the shot.

'Apocalypse' suffices much more as an action movie than it does as a horror film, and it struggles to keep interest, even for someone who has faithfully played the video games. I will be glad to admit, though...'Apocalypse' has the BIGGEST, most unexpected scare of 2004. I won't say when or where...but I am glad to have experienced it. 'Apocalypse' isn't exactly worth all eight dollars of your admission fee, but it doesn't make a bad Saturday afternoon matinee...6/10.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I think that's what makes IMDb such a great site for reviews. When a movie trailer peaks my interest, one of the first things I do is come to this site to see what others have thought about the film. Usually there are a variety of opinions ranging from "excellent" to "pure crap" for any movie, no matter how ridiculous it may seem to me and I respect that. It's very disappointing however, to check the reviews and see that virtually no one appreciated a movie that I had high hopes for but have yet to watch. It happened with AvP, in which complaints of bad lighting, bad angles on combat scenes and a general absent-mindedness for logic in the plot ruined any anticipation that built up when watching the trailer over and over. But as I have said, everyone has an opinion and that's what makes sites like this worth checking out. I have benefited from fair reviews in which the critic still disapproves of a movie, but lists it's merits as well as it's faults.

I hope to give a fair review for Resident Evil: Apocalypse. First off, I liked this movie, a little better than the first actually. Apocalypse had a sense of urgency that I thought kept the plot rolling at a nice pace. The actor's performances were alright, I mean really, there was nothing too challenging about their roles. They just had to be convincing at looking scared, angry and eventually dead. The story was laid out decently enough, nothing too innovative or complex, but then again there was nothing innovative or complex about the games in which this movie was based from. I was a fan of the games, for the action and the sheer expasiveness of the settings where the game was played. And that's what I think made this sequel so enjoyable. There were more references and subtle details thrown into this movie making it a more complete game to movie conversion. The action scenes were okay, entertaining and not dragged out. The special effect scenes involving the lickers, explosions, etc were par for the course really, but it was nice to see the slow-mo bullet sequence appear here as it has become a staple of any movie in which a gun is used since the success of the first Matrix and whatever movie the Wachowski Bros ripped it from. The overall location and set of this movie are fantastic, which is it's real claim to fame here. Eerie atmosphere, labyrinthine city, danger around every corner gave the movie the edge that the first didn't quite nail. And finally, the costumes were passable. I liked the Nemesis design, very true to the game and brought to the movie with the same intensity as it had in RE 3. And finally, what everyone thought sent the movie overboard was the Uber-Alice. Did it ruin the movie? Not really. Could the movie have ended the same way if ALice didn't have these powers, I think so. But it would have taken some thought. They destroyed the mutated licker in RE1 okay enough without super powers. Why not just steal Nemesis' bazooka?

The review is getting long here, so I'll wrap it up quickly. Resident Evil Apocalypse is a good movie if measured in terms of action, explosions and atmosphere. It's not going to win any awards for acting at the Oscars, and it's certainly not getting any attention in the horror genre for new and innovative ways to kill people. It's just a flat-out good flick worth a matinée price.

After having seen Resident Evil god knows how many times, and being pretty psyched for the sequel, I finally got to see it, and on the premiere night, too. Of course, I knew that the director of the first RE, Paul W. S. Anderson, wasn't doing this, since he was busy making his dream project, Aliens Vs Predator. Luckily, I can cope with changes like that... as long as the change isn't devastating. For this movie, however, it's hard to tell... maybe the mediocre attempts at scaring the audience and providing shocks was Anderson's fault, as he wrote the script, but it may be the new director, first-timer Alexander Witt, who's responsible. Let me say this upfront; I, as many others who enjoyed the first, really liked the ending, the whole foreshadowing thing, and, thankfully, the film picks up exactly where the first one left off. Actually, it goes a little further back, to show us exactly what happened before Alice woke up. The plot is decent, about as good as it gets when it's Paul W. S. Anderson writing it. It doesn't drag... heh, it doesn't drag... heck, it doesn't even leave the slightest chance for it to drag, as it's constantly moving. The movie never allows the audience to catch their breath; apparently, someone(I'm guessing Anderson or Witt) has never heard of the danger of overdoing action sequences. For anything (at all) to be good, entertaining, thrilling, whatever... there needs to be what is commonly referred to as 'buffers'. Without those nice little talky-talky scenes in-between, heck, maybe even a dash of good old-fashioned character development, the action just ends up being trite. And that's pretty much what happens here. They try to squeeze as much action into every single frame as possible, and it ends up annoying the audience rather than exciting. The director also has a horrible habit of blurring the image whenever there are more than five zombies on-screen, apparently to (I guess) cover up a bad job on makeup... or something to that effect. If the first had too much make up and such, this has too little. The acting is decent enough. Milla Jovovich gives the same good performance that she usually does. The rest of the cast are acceptable. The characters are mostly clichés and stereotypes. Of course, by mostly I mean almost 90% of the cases. You got the stupid reporter who just wants to make a story out of all of this, despite her being in obvious danger; The bad-ass cop who's suspended but still takes her duty deadly serious; the half-witted pathetic guy who's obviously only there for comic relief... actually, scratch that last one, as he was actually pretty darn funny. For once the person who's supposed to be there for comic relief works, instead of just being the *most*(or even worse; least) laughable character. The special effects were well done, but not spectacular. Definitely not the best I've seen. The action was good, but really over-the-top. The scenes with the Nemesis range between being some of the best action in the movie to being some of the most pathetic and smirk-inspiring scenes. The cinematography is nothing special. The film introduced an unnecessary amount of characters, most of whom are just fodder for the zombies or Nemesis anyway. The showdown between Alice and Nemesis was somewhat pathetically staged, and probably would have seemed out of place, hadn't the rest of the film been of the same quality(honestly, it seemed like a video-game... and while I am quite a big fan of them, I'm considerably more interested in playing them than watching them). That big ol' hunk o' biologically engineered walking death was simultaneously underdeveloped(for what they had him/it do) and overexposed. The film is noisy and loud, but not as loud as the first film, and while the sound is often horribly overdone, it doesn't distract as much as several other big action hits. The film is also less loud when it comes to the soundtrack; it was nice to have some change from the one-note *loud* heavy metal from the first film. All in all, a pretty entertaining flick, but out of your mind much faster than it got in(and that's saying a lot, believe me). If you liked the first, are a big fan of one or more of the actors, or you just have nothing better to do for 90 minutes, give it a shot. It kept me watching through the end, and, despite a few disappointments, kept my interest as well. It just didn't stay fresh in my head for more than about fifteen minutes after the credits started, which is very little for a film with so much going on in it all the time. I recommend it only to big fans of the first or of Milla Jovovich. I suppose big fans of Paul W. S. Anderson(they must exist, somewhere) will probably enjoy it too. I will say that most who liked the first will probably like this as well, but possibly a little less due to the lesser directing. 7/10

Resident Evil Apocalypse is not a bad follow up to the action packed original. The story picks up right where the first movie left off but also introduces new characters Jill Valentine and Carlos Olivera. The zombie outbreak is now overtaking Raccoon City and the government along with the Umbrella Corporation is detaining the citizens while trying to cover up the truth. My favorite part of this movie is the realistic depiction of all-out war with the undead as the police and army try to hold off an ever growing horde of zombies lumbering toward the city. This film has great special effects, action-packed battle scenes and halfway decent acting; all of which make up for a predictable plot line and an overall lack of gore. If you enjoyed the first Resident Evil I recommend checking out the second installment as well. I'm sure you'll find it pretty entertaining.