What do you get when you cross the future wasteland setting of the Mad Max series, the underground research facility of Day of the Dead, and the apocalyptic virus of The Stand? If you answered Resident Evil: Extinction, you're right! If you said any other movie, you failed to read the name of this review—take a minute to go back and refresh yourself. I'll wait.
Back? Good. Anyway, this movie is fun. Not really "good" in the classic sense of the word, but there are much worse things you could be doing with your cinematic time. I mean, you could be sitting in the next theater over, subjecting yourself to Dane Cook. Honestly, who would you rather be watching on the big screen? A seriously unfunny Cook, or Milla Jovovich kicking some zombie ass? I know, easy question.
This third outing for the video game-inspired franchise ups the ante. The first film had Alice (Jovovich) discovering the zombie outbreak in a secret facility underneath a mansion in Raccoon City. The second outing, subtitled Apocalypse, had the outbreak on the surface, consuming the city as the malevolent Umbrella Corporation continued their experimentation with the T-Virus. This third film ups the ante. Extinction takes the outbreak global.
It has been about ten years since the events of Apocalypse. The T-Virus has spread across the globe wiping out most of humanity, turning them into flesh-eating zombies. The infection spread to animals and infected water supplies. Nature has begun reclaiming what humanity had appropriated, evidenced by the Las Vegas of this universe, the desert sands have swept into the city, leaving it uninhabitable. The story picks up with Alice traveling by motorcycle, staying off radar and taking out what zombies she can find.
Meanwhile, there is a convoy of survivors moving from town to town looking for supplies. They are led by Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) and Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr). It is inevitable that the convoy will eventually meet up with Alice as their paths are doomed to cross. It said so in the script. Anyway, the danger of the zombies around them is nothing compared to what Umbrella is about to bring down upon them.
Nearby, there is a farmhouse in the middle of the wasteland. It is fenced in to keep out the large number of zombies congregating around. Beneath this innocent looking home lies a large underground facility (shown many times via 3-D schematics) housing Umbrella's latest experiments. They are trying to domesticate the zombies (think Day of the Dead's Bub). Well, these nefarious evildoers have found Alice approaching. That is pretty much it. Alice discovers that Umbrella is after her and heads straight to them. You know, save them the trouble and set up some big action scenes along the way.
Article comments
1 - bob
Scientists dedicated to genetic weapons research. A woman who thinks she is an infected freak, who could be the next Eve. A world ended. Plenty of plot there for me
2 - Phillip Winn
Oh, is this out already? I'm definitely going to be seeing this. The preview looks great!