Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Sony Pictures
Screen Gems
Directed by: Paul W. S. Anderson
Produced by: Paul W. S. Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Robert Kulzer, Samuel Hadida
Written by: Paul W. S. Anderson
Based on: Resident Evil by Capcom
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Shawn Roberts, Ruby Rose, Eoin Macken, William Levy, Iain Glen
The Good
Milla Jovovich once again solidifies herself as a legit action star. There are a couple of notable scenes where she gets to show off her kick-butt skills. As you can come to expect with these films, there are a couple of jump scares to keep you on your toes. Luckily, you’ll probably see them coming so you won’t have too bad of a heart attack.
Unlike the other Resident Evil films, The Final Chapter actually does a nice job of drawing from the same style and feel of the first film. As you can probably see from the trailer, the story comes full circle. As a matter of fact, the plot is more sound compared to the last couple of movies. We do get a few twists in the story and some interesting connections revealed at the end.
The visuals for this film are also a highlight. There’s plenty of action and gore with the zombie creatures. The combination of zombies and explosions give the impression that this film definitely had a higher budget and wasn’t afraid to let loose.
The Bad
Right off the bat, the biggest disappointment I have with this film is that it merely skips the huge battle from the end of Resident Evil: Retribution. While the film does try to catch you up with a little bit of narration covering all of the previous films, starting the movie without even showing the big fight scene was a little discouraging. Another issue was the pacing of time within the movie itself. At one point in the movie, time is quickly running down, and then toward the end, time simply crawls (despite a lot of events taking place.)
Another disappointment is the character Wesker. In the previous two films, Wesker is a formidable opponent and villain. Without going into too much detail, he is a completely wasted character. I don’t even know why he is in the film.
The Reason
If you’ve been invested in watching the previous five films, I know what you may be thinking: “Was this better than the first two movies?” Well, I think it’s safe to say that the first two Resident Evil films were easily the best of the franchise, and The Final Chapter comes right into third place. It wasn’t as good as the first two films, but it wasn’t as bad as the last three. If there was ever a The Walking Dead movie directed by Michael Bay, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter would be it.
I saw the film in standard 2-D and not in 3-D. I didn’t feel like I missed a thing, so if you want to save some money don’t feel overly pressured to see it in 3-D. I do think that it’s worth the watch in theaters at a discounted price or matinee at the very best. I don’t believe that fans of the series will be disappointed in this.