Right At Your DoorDay of the DeadBoogeyman 2The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

Posted: 03.05.2008
by: Mike James

Acting: Partying: Girls:
Blood: Language: Gore:
Violence: Humor: Sexuality:
Torture: Predictability: Overall:

Movies based on video games have a long and storied history of excellence. Whether it's Jean-Claude Van Damme's "Street Fighter: The Movie" or Dennis Hopper's "Super Mario Bros.", Oscar season has rarely been able to overlook emerging video game adaptations as... wait, never mind. I could lie all day, but you and I and the rest of the internet all know that video game movies suck. In fact, they suck eggs. Sometimes, they can even make you suck just for watching them. Can there possibly be an exception to this law that seems as strong as rock, as true as gravity?

I submit to you that the Resident Evil series of films are some of the best video game-inspired movies made to date. Are they art? Yes. Are they high art? Hell no. Are they entertaining? Definitely. The long running video game franchise is largely credited with inventing the "survival horror" genre and features a complicated web of conspiracies and secret organizations amidst a city over run by brain-chomping ghoulies. The films lift a few characters and situations from the games, but leave the tone far behind. If you've played a Resident Evil game, you know it's all about conserving ammo and health and staying away from as many zombies as possible. While it makes for an interesting twist in a game, that would be one boring ass zombie movie so the film goes the other direction into over-the-top, Devil May Cry-style ultra mega super violence.

This is the third film in the franchise and ostensibly the last, though it did make its money back so I doubt we've truly seen the last of this series. In the first film, the zombie-making T-Virus was unleashed in the top secret underground facility where it was created. By part two, the city above had been overrun as well. As we begin the third film, zombie apocalypse is in full effect. Humanity is reduced to a few roving ...

continue reading...

0.037662

eXTReMe Tracker