Like the t-Virus that causes “Resident Evil”‘s brand of zombiedom, the series itself has mutated into something quite different from its original form over the last 15 years. Balletic in her fight scenes and convincing in her post-apocalyptic musings, the actress has kept these movies afloat for a decade and a half.Īlso Read: All 41 Video Game Movies Ranked, Including 'Resident Evil: The Final Chapter' (Photos) Jovovich has always been an exception: a seaworthy captain even when the ship she’s helming isn’t. Umbrella is as generic as evil multinationals in the movies come, and like much else in the series - the supporting characters, the narrative arc - it sometimes feels like a first-draft stand-in to be filled in later. supercomputer of the soulless company responsible for this world-ending outbreak chooses to share this delicate information with our heroine.Įach new “Resident Evil” has drawn back the curtain on Umbrella Corporation a little further, not that there’s much of note behind it.
This time the narrative revolves around the supposed existence of an airborne antivirus that, if properly administered, will end this undead pandemic once and for all. See Video: New 'Resident Evil' Trailer: Milla Jovovich Battles the Undead to Guns N' Roses Watching the world deteriorate down to its bare bones has been among these films’ highlights all the same, though more reason to mourn the people who didn’t survive would have helped. Humanity is down to its last remnants - just a few thousand people - which might explain why there are so few compelling characters not named “Alice” to be found. It begins where 2012’s “Retribution” left off, amid the rubble and ruins of Washington D.C.
“Trouble was, they didn’t stay dead.” Ditto the series as a whole, though this latest entry replaces that earlier pronouncement bit with a promising new line: “My name is Alice,” our heroine intones, “and this is my story - the end of my story.”Īs it turns out, the main reason to hope she’s telling the truth is because “The Final Chapter” may actually be the best of the bunch. “A lot of people died,” Alice (Milla Jovovich) says in the explanatory monologue that opens most of the prior five films. Anderson actually makes good on the title, that is. One suspects that might also be the case for “Resident Evil,” whose own “Final Chapter” marks a surprisingly satisfying conclusion to this based-on-a-video-game franchise - assuming writer-director Paul W.S. In 1984, “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” was released in theaters 33 years and eight movies later, the slasher saga refuses to stay dead.