Plot: What’s it about?
As most anyone who reads this site with any frequency, you’ll know that I have a theory on where we get all of the ideas for our new movies: sequels, comic books, remakes, old television shows and video games. Odd, in the midst of a writer’s strike, that Hollywood has a seemingly bottomless pit of which to grab movies and if 2007 was any indication, that trend won’t be reversing anytime soon. Admittedly, I’d never really heard of “Resident Evil” the video game before it became a motion picture in 2002. After some research, the game is actually quite fun and critically-acclaimed (the same can’t really be said for the films, but we’ll get there soon enough). After conferring with my girlfriend’s son (who is 14), he assures me that there’s only a few actual characters that are in the movie that were seen in the video game. Ok, all that aside what are the “Resident Evil” movies all about?
The movies are based on the premise of a fairly dismal future in which a worldwide corporation called the Umbrella company (read as much symbolism into that as you will) controls everything. Raccoon City is the hub of everything and the expansive underground catacombs is where the majority of the first movie takes place. We meet Alice (Milla Jovovich), who was an experiment in the first movie as she awakens in the exact same manner we first met her in. After a bit of trickery, we finally learn that the virus that overtook Raccoon City has now taken over the world and there’s only a scant amount of the population that hasn’t been turned into flesh-eating zombies. Alice is a loner and literally rides the highways of the Western US in search of something and anyone. We also meet Claire (Ali Larter) and her rag tag group that’s managed to eek out an existence in the desert. They’re on their way to Alaska, under the guise that the disease hasn’t spread that far north and to hopefully live in peace. Yeah, right – that’ll happen. Will the Earth fall victim to the disease and wipe out life as we know it or will Alice and company find a way to save the day?
I have to admit, though flawed, the “Resident Evil” movies are pretty fun to watch. Like any zombie, vampire or monster movie out there, there’s frills and excitement in pretty much every scene and with roots as a video game, the sky’s the limit in terms of plot. Jovovich has made such a name for herself as a star of Sci-Fi movies (The Fifth Element, Ultraviolet and the Resident Evil trilogy) that it’s hard to picture her in anything else these days. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. If you can do something well, do it. “Resident Evil: Extinction” goes back to the roots of the first in the trilogy (the second one has only been released in the box set), and giving audiences what they want. Seeing as how there are at least four installments of the video game, I’d say we might see Alice and crew again in the future, dismal as it may be.
Video: How does it look?
The first “Resident Evil” movie was released in a few instances on standard DVD, one of them being a Superbit release and though this installment has gone right to Blu-ray (and standard DVD), I have to say that none of the movies have really impressed me in terms of picture quality. Now why is this? You would figure that a fairly big-budget movie like these would have a sparkling transfer that would leave the viewer breathless. You would be wrong. There are some truly grainy scenes in this Blu-ray release and though it looks like archived footage from the first movie, several of the darker scenes seemed to have an artifacting problem. The 2.40:1 AVC HD transfer isn’t all bad as a majority of the movie takes place in the Nevada desert, so we get a very washed out look and feel to it – which usually translates to a good overall picture. While “Resident Evil: Extinction” isn’t the shining example I thought it would be, it’s not bad but for a movie this new I was expecting a lot more.
Audio: How does it sound?
The polar opposite from the video quality is the audio. We get a Dolby TrueHD uncompressed soundtrack that, quite simply, rocks. Sony has been known for mainly putting PCM tracks on their releases, but I was happy to see (hear) a TrueHD track. The movie is loud. I mean loud. There are several scenes that contain typical “horror movie” music and we’ll see a scary face or some other horrible, grotesque face and the intended reaction is for the audience to jump. I did. There are plenty of battles with a plethora of bullets whizzing by that makes for a truly active soundtrack and as we might expect the dialogue doesn’t suffer in the least. For those wanting to immerse themselves in a good soundtrack, this might be what you’ve been longing for.
Supplements: What are the extras?
“Resident Evil: Extinction” comes to Blu-ray with an assortment of features, the most notable being a commentary track with director Russell Mulcahy, writer Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt. The trio makes for a good track and Anderson, who directed the first movie, has a lot to offer. Fans won’t be let down by this one. There are also a few delete scenes as well as a sneak peek at “Resident Evil: Degeneration”, the upcoming CGI feature film. There are also four featurettes that take a look at various technical aspects of the film: “Alice Vision: Pre-Production”, “The Big Bang: Shooting Resident Evil: Extinction'”, “Bigger, Faster, Stronger: The Undead Evolve” and “Vegas Visual Effects: Minatures”. Exclusive to the Blu-ray disc are some neat HD only offerings like “Blu Wizard” in which you can literally customize the features and watch them in the movie. You can pick and choose which featurettes you want to watch or even get a picture-in-picture offering via the “Under the Umbrella” feature. These are available on the first “Resident Evil” disc as well (though with different offerings, obviously).
