Synopsis: Alice returns to where the nightmare began: The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the Apocalypse.
In the 6th installment of writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson’s film series Resident Evil we are reunited with franchise alums Milla Jovovich (Alice), Ali Larter (Claire Redfield), Ian Glen (Dr. Issacs) and Shawn Roberts (Wesker). As “The Final Chapter” begins, we pick up where Alice left off in Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) when our battle tested survivor arises from an ashy Washington D.C. monument to witness the aftermath of a massive assault from the Diabolical Umbrella Corporation. “The Final Chapter” wastes no time unleashing the action on it’s audience as Alice is immediately met by a rogue deformed zombie and a giant winged creature in succession. When our heroin of strife inevitably survives these vicious attacks, she comes across a computer projected hologram from the Umbrella Corporation’s evil computer entity known as the “Red Queen”, played by child actor Ever Gabo Anderson. Being the object of the Queen’s destruction in previous Resident Evil installments, Alice is surprised to find out that this time around the “Red Queen” has reasons of her own to take down the Umbrella Corporation as well, and wants to now help Alice fulfill her life long destiny. With this new information, Alice heads off to Raccoon to infiltrate the “Hive” where our saga all began 10 years ago in the Resident Evil Universe.
Alice’s journey to Raccoon City is filled with non-stop, epic, and non-sensical action sequences. Most of her threats come from the aforementioned Dr. Issacs, and his band of Umbrella Corp soldiers trying to prevent her return to the Hive. Alice eventually finds herself teaming back up with Claire Redfield (Larter) and a new group of rag-tag, one dimensional characters trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. As the body count rises, we witness some cool CG moments and throwbacks to Resident Evil films past, including a chase scene featuring the zombie hounds from hell, made famous from the franchise’s early installments. Ultimately our heroine finds herself back beneath the surface at “The Hive,” learns the true origin of the Umbrella Corp’s ungodly plan, and her own personal backstory.
This is the first Resident Evil movie that I failed to view in a neighborhood movie theatre, so I opted to rent the Blue Ray. The CG effects are passable, but not great. “The Final Chapter” has it’s moments, but I probably should have went to the show like I always do for these movies in order to fulfill my visual needs. In regards to the direction of this film series, I haven’t expected great acting or deep character building since Resident Evil: Apocalypse. During the last two installments, I haven’t been too disappointed with the lack of depth. That being said, this movie went even lower than my expectations with that aspect. The make-up and action scenes are fun to look at. Milla Jovovich is always fun to look at it. And this film does provide plenty of action. However it’s not a good film. Hopefully, entitling this movie “The Final Chapter” will kill any possibility of another installment, but I fear a spin-off, or future sequel will be upon us in the coming years. After all, the franchise has totaled net earnings of nearly $1 billion dollars world wide. And lets face it, Hollywood is only about the bottom line these days. And who could blame them? No-one goes to see any independent films anymore.
I rate this film 4 stars out of 10.
