Day Three: Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Something I
forgot to mention about the first Resident Evil film becomes increasingly
relevant as the franchise plows along. Specifically: Milla Jovovich.* In many
ways these films are like “action porn” for Milla fans. Indeed, by the time you
get to the latest the films have to offer, it’s pretty obvious that the
Resident Evil trappings are just there to frame the tale around the adventures of
Alice, who of course is played by the best female action star to appear this
century. The fact that her character takes center stage from the get-go, and
all other characters, including the ones named after characters from the games,
are there to serve as a frame and foil to her exploits becomes strongly evident
with the second film and onward. She’s not quite a Mary Sue…yet….but she’s destined
to be, if only for a short time.
Released in
2004, Resident Evil: Apocalypse starts the day after the last film ended,
keeping pace (so far) with the chronology of the games (barring the 1998 date
of the games vs. the “not too distant future” implied date of the films). A bit
of back story reveals that not all is well in Raccoon City, and introduces us
to Jill Valentine, or a version of such modeled after the actual Jill from the
game universe. This Jill dresses similarly and is quick to shoot zombies as
they pop up in the police precinct where she has just been drummed out of
service with the STARS (Special tactics and Recon Squad) on trumped up charges.
STARS are a sort of SWAT group for the Raccoon City set, and it’s never clear
in the movie universe if they are some local independent group or some sort of
special deal set up with Umbrella’s approval. In the game universe it’s sort of
unclear, too. Almost as if the game were written by Japanese authors with only
a loose notion of how US law enforcement worked, or a concern with how to
justify why half a dozen heavily armed special ops agents are investigating
what seems to be a private mansion conducting modest bioresearch in the middle
of nowhere.
The movie
then proceeds to break down rapidly in terms of pacing, over-the-top action and
an utterly implacable plot with herky-jerky pacing that feels like someone
writing the script was trying to squeeze as many elements of the game in as had
been explained to them by a third party who had talked to someone who had a son
who had played it and explained the plot. Sort of.
All of the
story credits on the Resident Evil movies go to Paul W.S. Anderson, who has a
list of credits that include a variety of films I’ve never seen, with the noted
exception of these movies plus the Death Race film (which was fun but also
nonsensical). He also wrote Pandorum,
which means much to me as I plan on watching and reviewing it soon, too. In any
case, if I had to guess, I would say that Paul probably didn’t play the RE
games before working on his scripts. And if he did, he was probably hampered by
two factors: the first being how to translate the game plot to screen, the
second by the fact that I’m pretty sure someone behind this movie had the hots
for Milla Jovovich. I wonder who. Hmmm. The fact that Paul happens to be her
husband makes me a tad suspicious. Also, a tad jealous. (To my lovely wife if
you are reading this I mean that in the least offensive way possible!)
Yeah so
anyway, keeping in mind that this entire franchise has been co-opted for films
to serve as a churning engine of Milla Jovovich action flicks helps to frame
what happens from here on out to the series. This is very important, because
this is the film that jumps the shark, and it does so by making Milla’s
character Alice a super hero. A horror super hero, yeah, but dress it up
however you want: she can do super kung-fu, wire-fu, and before the end of the
movie she’s even pulling a note from Akira and F.E.A.R. by giving people
psionic nose bleeds and “hearing” thoughts occasionally. Oh, and she has this
all thanks to being genetically ideal for bonding with the t-virus, making her
a compatriot to the Nemesis himself. Yeahhhh…
Still, this
movie has moments that work when its characters aren’t being too ridiculously clichéd
or one-note for their own good. The best part of the movie was when they were
looking for the little girl in the school. The second best part….hmm. Well,
okay then. So that was the part that felt most like Resident Evil.
The end
sequence was fun, too, if head-scratching. It was also a continuance of the
tradition started at the end of the first movie, where the story runs past “stop”
and carries on with the frame for the next movie installment.
In the end,
this movie is about an event which begins with the tale presented in a game and
then rapidly spirals into utter oblivion, ending as a completely new franchise
about a psychic super warrior named Alice who just so happens to have some
coincidental relations with another universe that it left almost completely
behind.
If I had to
rank it, I’d give it a D+. The D is for managing to take what could have been a
much, much better “zombies invade rural America” film that has been done so
much better so many other times, and instead making it kind of a crazy,
outlandish wire-fu action hero flick with barely a nod to its source material.
That’s okay, though. Later films will make this one look downright canonical
and respectful of the IP.
Oh, and the Mary Sue? She's not quite there....yet. But she will be. Oh yes, she will be...
Next up: Resident Evil – Extinction Review
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