Main cast: Milla Jovovich (Alice), Sienna Guillory (Jill Valentine), Oded Fehr (Carlos Olivera), Thomas Kretschmann (Major Cain), Sophie Vavasseur (Angie Ashford), Raz Adoti (Peyton Wells), Jared Harris (Dr Charles Ashford), Mike Epps (Lloyd Jefferson Wade), Iain Glen (Dr Alexander Isaacs), Sandrine Holt (Terri Morales), Zack Ward (Nicholai Ginovaef), and Stefen Hayes (Yuri Loginova)
Director: Alexander Witt
On the bright side, Resident Evil: Apocalypse is closer to the spirit of the video game that “inspired” it than the previous movie. Just don’t ask for this movie to make sense – like why Jill Valentine would wear miniskirt and tube top that leave her arms and legs bare when she knows that a bite from a zombie would turn her into one – and you’ll be fine.
Set in Raccoon City some time in a future when the Umbrella Corporation monopolizes the industrial world and conducts nefarious genetic tests in secret, this time around the zombies are once more on the loose. Jill Valentine, a cop who is suspended for playing by her own rules, sets out on her own to look into the matter. Meanwhile, our heroine Alice from the last movie awakens from her stasis and is now toughened up and ready to kick ass just like Sarah Connor in Terminator 2. A special operations team led by Carlos Olivera find themselves trapped in the city and abandoned by their comrades. All these people and some hangers-on will eventually meet, having received a desperate summon from renegade Umbrella Corp researcher Dr Ashford who, calling from outside the now shut-off Raccoon City, will show them the way out before the Umbrella Corp folks blow the city sky-high (to cover evidences of their naughty antics) in exchange for them rescuing his daughter Angie who is lost somewhere in the city.
Curiously enough, Sienna Guillory is allowed to kick-ass as Jill Valentine until Milla Jovovich’s Alice shows up, upon which Jill is relegated to a passive secondary character. It’s a shame if there can only be one ballsy heroine in a movie because both women are the best things about this otherwise inane movie. Ms Jovovich proves that she really is one of the most underrated actresses when it comes to playing action heroines. The other characters barely register (or stay alive long enough on screen) although the bitchy anchorwoman has her fun moments.
These kick-ass heroines provide plenty of enjoyable moments in this movie. There are plenty about this movie that makes little to no sense but I don’t think I should expect it to. So for a big dumb movie that doesn’t have anything going for it other than big explosions, some gore, and plenty of action, Resident Evil: Apocalypse is clearly a no-brainer winner.
