Resident Evil 2: Apocalypse (2004)

Director: Alexander Witt

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Eric Mabius

Alice wakes up in the Raccoon City hospital after the area has been overrun by zombies, and must now make it out of the city before a nuclear bomb is dropped.

Oh no, what have they done? Everything that made the original ‘Resident Evil’ so unique is absent from ‘Apocalypse’. This film has no atmosphere and no suspense whatsoever. It is filled with cliche upon cliche, with nothing distinguishing it from other zombie films – apart from loads of action.

In ‘Resident Evil’ the T-Virus outbreak – and zombies – was contained to the confines of The Hive. Now it has spread to the entire Raccoon City. I actually have so many issues with this movie, I don’t even know where to begin. Let’s start with the acting. Wow, it was so bad. It was almost comical. So much so that I at one stage believed this to be a spoof instead of a sequel. We now also have the comic relief character, L.J. (Mike Epps), who was so annoying. This character contributed nothing to the movie and was purely for comic relief. So stereotypical Hollywood cliche… Alice (Milla Jovovich) has been given superhero characteristics. She was a good fighter in the original film, but here they’re taking it to the extreme, and I’m not sure I like it. Oh, and she’s killing more humans than zombies…

Everything that was so good in the first film, is overdone in ‘Apocalypse’. The action sequences are completely overblown. Although it looks great on screen, it is mindless and unrealistic. It’s as if the creators themselves didn’t have enough faith in the story, and juiced it up with action sequences. And yup, the story has gone superhero… *sigh*… I also found the photography quite shoddy.

How many times must characters appear from nowhere at the appropriate time to intervene or partake in a conversation? Man, that was so annoying!! There are so many conveniences and plot flaws. We have Alice jumping through a church window on a motorcycle. Why? How did she know to go to the church in the first place? Is there a ramp outside the church? How did she manage to jump through the window? When Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) – a stupid character I hated – opens gas in an attempt to kill her pursuers and her match won’t light, a smoking Alice (yeah, as in suddenly smoking a cigarette!!) appears from nowhere, and flicks her butt to the gas. But how did she know????!! Why did she have a cigarette?? Just why, why, why?? And when they’re walking through a graveyard, zombies emerge from the graves. What? Why? Zombies don’t do that. They don’t lie waiting in graves for just the right moment… Aaarghhhh!!! And why must Alice fight the friggin’ creature just to prove a point? Oh, enough already!

The writer seems to have had too many ideas for one film, and they simply blended everything together and expected it to gel. Well, newsflash, Paul WS Anderson and Alexander Witt, it doesn’t !!! This is one big mess of a movie. I can go on and on about all the improbabilities and plot flaws. Let’s just say this installment isn’t nearly as good as the original. Even the jump scares are forced and not scary at all (because 90% of the time it’s just another character suddenly appearing from nowhere!!). Ugh, this has HOLLYWOOD CLICHE written all over it. Despite all these flaws, it surprisingly was still entertaining to a certain extent. If you like mindless action, you’re bound to enjoy this.

Well, despite what I think, the film was a box office success. It earned $129 million on a $45 million budget. Not quite as successful as its predecessor, but still a hit.

Would I watch it again? Maybe; but only as part of the franchise.