fine whine

Well, one thing I can say about Resident evil: apocalypse is that it is darker than its predecessor. Much darker, in fact, as the first film takes place in well-lit hallways, and this one in the poorly-lit streets of Toronto* at night.

Gotta love that Canadian film industry.

I never did decide if I liked the original Resident evil, but I'm pretty sure I didn't like this one (and the critics, and the AMG** agree with me). It's interesting to watch, for the action and the effects, but it's more a showreel for the stunt coordinators and makeup people and CGI technicians than for the director or screenwriter(s). Some of it is too cool of an idea for the time they give it: one major scene finds Milla Jovovich apparently running down the face of Toronto's City Hall, an effect done largely in-camera (with a stuntwoman). It's over in a matter of seconds, just before rational thought could kick in about how ridiculous the idea is as well as visual critique that she's leaning backwards (i.e. upward, against both gravity and momentum). It's certainly something I've never seen before.

I've never seen most of the characters from the games, either, but I assume rubber-masked Nemesis is one of them. He's got 'miniboss' written all over him, from the massive guns to ugly visage, and even what looked to be a characteristic weak spot that is never exploited in the hand to hand fighting (unless you think I mean the big guy's deep-down sentimentality) or other proceedings.

Everything moves so quickly that some of the more ludicrous ideas seem appropriate enough, or at least plausible in the sense of the movie. The aforementioned brawl between tiny Milla and the massive Nemesis is an exhibition fight, staged by the evil and overarching Umbrella corporation (how awesome of a name is that?) to test two 'strains' of research against each other. I must admit, taking the time to get real-world testing during a virus outbreak and zombie assault takes a certain dedication to R&D that most corporate leaders, particularly ones with clipped British accents, couldn't deliver.

This single-minded determination and outright eminence of evil actually bolsters the company's onscreen credibility, not weakening it. For a company to be as far-reaching and to have the capabilities that it seems to have would take coordination and motivation on every level of management; there is no chance that the people in charge aren't aware of exactly what they're doing.

Which, apparently, is the development of viruses that create undead killing machines as well as multiple (competing even) methods of making the living into super killers as well. One can but wonder what these weapons are meant for (i.e. other than killing) as such a huge corporation would probably be raking in profits well above the GDPs of the countries/superpowers to which they could sell such weaponry. From the look of it they have the (will)power and resources to just steamroll anybody anyway.

The movie betrays its origin in gaming many a time, or so I assume. The editing is disjointed and the plot breathlessly sprints from one event to the next, often without any explanation up front or ever thereafter. One scene finds a squad of special forces attempting to defend a poorly-chosen position a street corner that turns onto a crossroads of death and destruction. Later we see more so-called S.T.A.R.S. holed up in a theater with a skillful sniper defending the front door, but no apparent defense on the other exits. Which is fine, since those doors only ever open from the inside, right? When people leave the theater, after, or during the movie, which some people probably did during this one.

Of course the movie dispenses with these slightly more intelligent cops with some well placed bullets, thematically a searing indictment of rational thought, a point driven further home by the appearance of Mike Epps for comic relief. As usual, nobody shoots him, and against the formula, he lives for the whole film. That's a nice touch, I suppose, though his character is largely extraneous and slightly annoying.

Which, really, you could say about the movie. It has more than a few interesting bits here and there, but the rock-stupid plot and one dimensional characters and mindless action scenes to bring them together all combine to make Apocalypse much less than the sum of its parts.

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* Or as they call it, Raccoon City. I'm assuming that is the name from the games, but since I have never played any of the Resident evil games*** that's just a guess.

** And wouldn't you know it, but the AMG synopsis for this one is also incorrect. Twice!

...Resident Evil: Apocalypse finds Alice (Milla Jovovich) still battling the living dead who are overtaking Raccoon City. She was immune to the contagion by treatments she unwittingly received from the nefarious and all-powerful Umbrella Corporation. Alice encounters Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), a former member of Umbrella's internal defense team who shares Alice's immunity to the zombie virus. Forming an uneasy alliance... this tiny band of survivors seeks out Dr. Charles Ashford (Jared Harris) ... however ... he'll help Alice and her partners only if [his daughter] is returned to him safe and sound.

and here was my response to them:

Jill Valentine does not share Alice's immunity to the virus; Angelina Ashford does. Jill shares Alice's affinity and skill with guns.

The tiny band of survivors is not seeking out the Doctor, but his daughter, and he is clear about that at the start of their dealings.

I didn't even address the thematic mistakes in the synopsis, as it describes Milla & co. as trying to save the world, not just get out of the city alive. The movie's bad, but not in a 'ten people to save the world' kind of way.

*** I'll admit I played a copy of the Japanese PS1 light gun game Biohazard: Gun Survivor which was eventually imported over here, sans light gun capability, as Resident Evil: Survivor (or Outbreak or something like that). I never played it in English nor did I play it at all after ten minutes or so, so my exposure to the canon is, as I mentioned, virtually nil.