‘Resident Evil’ Film Series Mega Review
I’ve never really been a fan of horror media involving zombies. One friend of mine adores ‘The Walking Dead’ and another ‘The Last Of Us’, but zombies were never something which piqued my interest. That all changed when I started to delve deep into the world of ‘Resident Evil’, a slow process since watching PewDiePie play ‘Biohazard 7’ up to Angel Alyx playing the ‘Nemesis’ remake. It’s got to a point where I’m reading novelisations of the games, listening to the soundtracks, and slowly making my way through all the adaptations committed to screen. After enjoying the first film of six created under Paul W. S. Anderson — the subject of my last review — I wanted to keep the momentum going to review the rest of the films in the series. Here’s what I think to the other five:
‘Resident Evil: Apocalypse’ (2004)
While I can understand calling the film ‘Apocalypse’, with its zombie apocalypse overtones and civilians scrambling for their lives, I personally think it should have been called ‘Nemesis’. The story so obviously borrows from and riffs on the third mainline ‘Resident Evil’ game, which has the same name, and features the Nemesis tyrant as the main antagonist like ‘Apocalypse’ does. Thankfully the lickers have received a visual upgrade in the CGI department, looking far better than their previous appearance. But it’s the character of Nemesis who truly steals the show for me here. Just seeing him in the trailer was enough to make me want to see this film as fast as possible. The prosthetics, his bulky leather-clad build, being armed with such powerful weapons — everything about him screams extremely terrifying and threatening.
‘Apocalypse’ finally gives us some recognisable hero characters from the game too, something I felt the first installment lacked. Carlos, Nicholai and Jill Valentine are all present here which perfectly keeps in line with the storyline from the ‘Nemesis’ game. The movie began painting a picture of Jill being the main character as Alice was absent and recovering from the previous film for a good chunk of the beginning, but when the two women finally meet, it’s as if they try to one up each other as to who is the most badass of the two. Thankfully they eventually clear the air and begin to work together to escape Racoon City before the bomb drops, but there was a missed opportunity in not referencing the “Jill sandwich” line in the film. And much like Alice in the first instalment, Jill suffers from a similar sexualisation here: we see Jill’s legs before her face and she spends the entire film in an outfit that’s not at all practical. At least Alice is more covered up this time, until returning to another treatment facility toward the end.
Added into this film is a plotline of a missing young girl, with several people being recruited to find and return her to her dad. This evokes the Sherry section of Claire’s storyline in ‘Resident Evil 2’, but doesn’t feature the same characters or locations. Jill is one of the people sent on the case, and seeing her interact with Angie is a sweet and heartwarming sight. They both work so well together. Alice rejoins them and also bonds with Angie, but in a whole different way, as we learn both are infected with the T-virus but are seemingly immune to the zombie-turning effects. This sets up a storyline for Alice which I didn’t see coming, plays into the film’s cliffhanger, and makes me feel bad for Alice as she is constantly being experimented on.
More new characters are present in the film, one of them being LJ, who is seemingly added for comic relief and ends up joining forces with Jill and Alice to escape the city. At first I questioned the inclusion of such a random person, but as he navigated through the story, I ended up really enjoying his character. Dr Alexander Issacs is another new character, but is this universe’s version of William Birkin and the person experimenting on Alice. As a casual fan of Iain Glen, it was great to see him cast in the role and I look forward to all that transpires between him and Alice (though researching this did present me with some spoilers, oops).
There are a few heartbreaking moments in the film too. One being Angie sadly losing her dad, who fought so hard to be reunited with her. But the real kicker for me is Alice being forced to fistfight with Nemesis, only to realise he was born through experimentation on Matt from the first movie. Her moment of clarity of the monster before her becoming his fate was a truly saddening one, but after she refuses to fight him more, Nemesis momentarily teams up with her to finally bring down Major Cain. It seems as though there was still a little bit of humanity/Matt left in there after all.
‘Resident Evil: Extinction’ (2007)
I never thought I would ever see a project called ‘Resident Evil’ that felt so unlike ‘Resident Evil’. If anything, it felt like I was watching an episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ with its rugged costumes and desert setting. This film has strayed the furthest from the franchise so far, with only a minimal amount of true ‘Resident Evil’ being left within its structure. Despite it holding hardly any degree of truth to its namesake, there were a few elements I enjoyed and were grateful for. The first being Claire Redfield finally making her way into the series, presented here as the leader of a survivor convoy. Sadly she doesn’t do any raiding of police stations and doesn’t really get a chance to match her video game counterpart. I much prefer Kaya Scodelario’s portrayal of the character too, when it comes to live action adaptations, but what is ‘Resident Evil’ without Claire?
Albert Wesker finds his way into the series in this instalment too, and in true Anderson’s Universe fashion, it feels as though he barely resembles his video game counterpart; here we see him as head of Umbrella, giving orders to Dr Issacs via hologram. Speaking of Dr Issacs, I think the most interesting part of the film comes from his attempt to “domesticate” the infected humans, experimenting on them in attempt to make them “a workforce”. One scene makes this seem plausible, but as can be expected, it all ends terribly. No matter though, as we finally get to see Alice face off against the first big mutation of the series. I never expected Iain Glen to get covered in prosthetics and fake blood, but he really made light work of it here and — much like Nemesis in the previous film — looked absolutely incredible. The CGI for his extended tentacle hands did look a little off, but as the film series has been doing so far, the practical work concerning gore and monster work continues to shine.
I can only deduce Alice VS Mutated Issacs is the Anderson Universe version of Claire VS William Birkin from ‘Resident Evil 2’; Issacs being this universe’s replacement for Birkin only supports this theory. And their fight isn’t the only narrative element which seemingly borrows from ‘RE2’, as Alice explores an abandoned gas station and Carlos tips over a gas tanker in the film — both echoing staple moments from the opening of ‘RE2’. My only gripe with this is how we’re now at the third film of six in the series, and I was hoping it would move past borrowing and riffing on the second game. Going forward, I hope the series grounds itself more strongly in games beyond ‘RE2’ and ‘RE3’.
Despite feeling like a ‘Walking Dead’ rip-off, something I really enjoyed was when the survivor convoy reached the desolate looking Las Vegas. Seeing the infamous Vegas Strip covered in sand and falling apart was something brilliantly realised. I can’t imagine how they brought it to life for the film, but however they did, I really enjoyed seeing the final product. The scale of all the imitations like the Eiffel Tower and Statue Of Liberty were all something to behold, making a great setting for a fight scene, and proving fatal to a few characters too.
Another development in the film surrounds Alice, who we discover has been cloned multiple times in attempt to “domesticate” those infected with the T-virus. While I can buy Alice being cloned, maybe not to the massive extent to which it’s done as it seems a little excessive, but something I really struggled to buy was her having telekinetic powers. Being able to lift rocks and move flames of roaring fire? I find it a struggle to comprehend, as it’s seemingly come from nowhere. A by-product of her experimentation perhaps? I hope the future films can provide some context and explanation to it as maybe then I can get behind it.
We also see Alice reunited with Carlos despite them both leaving together at the end of the last film. When she explains what happened, with her breaking into an Umbrella facility and hacking into them, I couldn’t help but feel as though that is the film I would rather be watching. Rather than splitting the main group of characters up and jumping five years, I wish we got to see everything Alice explains to Carlos on screen. It doesn’t have to be all of it, it could have been split down the middle and the second half unfold in the zombie inhabited desert. But my biggest take-away from this film is, from one piece of dialogue partway through the film, lies something which sounds like a much more interesting watch. At least we got to see Claire, no matter how downplayed her characterisation was, and the first mutation of the series. And it looks like the next film will be taking us to Japan.
‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’ (2010)
After watching the first ‘Resident Evil’ film and working through the subsequent instalments, I kept feeling as though each one that followed was never able to live up to and capture what greatness and spirit the first one had. Sure the first one wasn’t the best ‘Resident Evil’ film adaptation, but against the following movies, it was definitely the best. The sequels had a few personal standout moments like Nemesis looking so good, Jill Valentine being introduced and Dr Issacs VS Alice after his mutation. When it came to watching ‘Afterlife’, I was excited to be travelling to Japan but was prepared for disappointment. I wasn’t sure the Anderson Universe could ever claw back to where it started though.
I had some reservations with the opening. Despite loving the modern aesthetic of the Umbrella HQ in Japan and Alice’s new look, what I didn’t like was her turning up with an army of herself and using her “powers” so much. I still wasn’t buying it after the last film, but luckily got an explanation from Chairman Wesker — Alice reacted so well with the T-virus and it granted her these abilities. Thankfully they were soon ripped from her, to which she remarked “thank you for making me human again”, and a huge wave of relief came over me. Though I was unable to accept her and Wesker surviving so many explosions in close proximity, and a plane crash. They should have died there and then, surely? The film progressed either way and I started to have the sinking feeling again, as it started to feel more like an action movie with very little focus on the zombies/undead traversing the streets.
After a reunion with a hypnotised Claire, she and Alice soon reach Hollywood and land atop a police building. We meet a new cast of survivors, learn the lay of the land and finally get introduced to our Chris Redfield of the universe. It takes a little while, but I soon started to feel things pick up. Axeman is trying to break in, Chris is leading a recon team to the armoury, and after a huge gunfight against the zombie hoard, the last survivors are headed to the sewers. Despite previously complaining about constant borrowing from ‘Resident Evil 2’, I was so glad to see it here with the police station, armoury and sewers. All that melded with Axeman from ‘Resident Evil 5’ made it feel like the series was finally getting back on track to adapt the games somewhat.
The team finally reaches “the promised land” of Arcadia, an abandoned boat in the middle of the ocean, where they reunite with K-Mart from the previous film. This coming after a doubtful Claire reunites with her brother Chris, their only hope of escape, who successfully helps them pull it off. And they should be glad of it too, because Alice is soon face to face with Albert Wesker in a sterile, bright Umbrella environment again. Even though his “seven minutes is all I can spare to play with you” line was another missed opportunity for inclusion, the film borrows further from ‘RE5’ for a Chris VS Wesker showdown — looking like it was pulled from ‘The Matrix’ in the process. The zombie dogs have also mutated too, being able to split in half and somehow look more grotesque and terrifying than ever before. We then finally get a happy ending, with our main characters aboard a boat full of survivors, until a mind-controlled Jill Valentine appears in a mid-credits scene, further escalating the jaw-dropping cliffhanger and building upon content from ‘RE5’.
I must admit I shed a few tears once the credits rolled because what I just witnessed was, in my opinion, a return to form for Anderson’s ‘Resident Evil’ series. It does its own thing while borrowing from the games, bringing in our favourite characters, has a massive level of mystery throughout and an even bigger level of zombie killing. This version of Alice is also my favourite so far too; human again, but also donning an amazing outfit with darker hair. It seems as though Claire learnt from her too, matching Alice’s level of badassery when taking down Axeman. They make an amazing duo. Even the OST by Tomandandy was highly enjoyable, making it the only OST I’ve enjoyed since the one co-written with Marilyn Manson and Tim Skold.
As much as I can praise this film though, there were a few things I wasn’t so fond of. The biggest point being such obvious use of green screen, though I want to chalk that up to this film also being released in 3-D back in 2010. Maybe it looked so off and glaringly obvious because I was watching a 3-D film in 2-D? And it felt as though some scenes were written specifically for this 3-D gimmick. Other moments felt like there was an unnecessarily high amount of slow motion, a running theme through the series thus far. As much as I loved Alice’s new look, it did feel a little too Lara Croft, in the same way Axeman felt like the ‘Resident Evil’ version of Pyramid Head. I haven’t seen much footage of the fifth ‘RE’ game and only know a limited amount of content in relation to it, but Axeman was an element I was aware of; once I learnt he was from the fifth game, I did feel a little better about it, but still feel as though he’s the ‘RE’ answer to Pyramid Head — a covered face, massive axe, appears at inconvenient times. You get the picture. But I think all my positives, praise and excitement outweighs these few negatives. And I think ‘Afterlife’ is my favourite film in the series so far.
‘Resident Evil: Retribution’ (2012)
Within an underground Umbrella facility, with an army led by a rouge Jill Valentine, Alice must flee through several city simulations to meet a rescue team breaking her out of said facility. And my overall feeling for ‘Retribution’ is how it felt like a video game. Not in the sense it’s a film franchise based on a series of games, but in the fact the different cities they travel through felt like different levels of a game; even the enemies they faced felt like the “final bosses” needed to be defeated before going onto the next. Within this facility and the fight to escape it, elements of dystopia and allusions to alternate realities were also incorporated via the Red Queen again going rouge, several characters returning, and convincing reconstructions of cityscapes. After watching the trailer the night before, I wondered if we were going to see splintered versions of Alice, Agent One and Rain, etc., but the element of cloning was used to its full potential in the film.
The return of Agent One, Carlos and Rain were personally highly anticipated going into the film, but the extent in which they did was a dissatisfying one. I hoped they’d all be teaming up with Alice again to help her escape rather than trying to kill her alongside a mind-controlled Jill Valentine. We did see a second Rain who was an ally to Alice, but she didn’t survive for nearly long enough. She deserved to live because Michelle Rodriguez is one of my favourite casting choices from the entire series. We were also treated to the introduction of Barry Burton, Leon S. Kennedy and Ada Wong in the film, all working under Albert Wesker — who somehow survived — and are tasked by him to break Alice out of the facility alive. Even Axeman was back in this film too, and there were two versions of him; this only enhanced my feeling of him being the ‘RE’ equivalent to Pyramid Head.
Aside from these fan favourite characters finally arriving within Anderson’s Universe, my favourite new addition was Becky, but I never expected Alice to become an adoptive mother when I began watching these films. Becky’s storyline also reminded me heavily of Leon being tasked to save the President’s daughter in ‘Resident Evil 4’, with elements of the game also being present in ‘Retribution’. Alongside Ada and Leon we see what I thought was a mildly underwhelming attempt at the Chainsaw Guy and a hoard infected by the Las Plagas virus. The evil clone of Rain injects herself with it in the final battle and is able to do some serious damage to Alice and her rescue team under its influence, showing it seriously mutates and enhances the abilities of whoever becomes infected. While the Las Plagas Undead felt a little pathetic, Rain’s being infected showed somebody you really don’t want to mess with. It also launched her alongside Alice with showcasing her badassery as, after escaping into the Tokyo simulation, Alice fights a hoard of zombies single-handedly. She also has another upgraded outfit, which I prefer massively over the last film. This is my favourite version of Alice.
Wesker branching off from Umbrella and working against them is a direct nod to the video game series, as is Jill Valentine being mind-controlled. Rather than working alongside him as in the games however, the movie sees them working against each other instead. One thing I really hoped the film would do is have Alice save Jill from being an Umbrella puppet, which did end up happening — though Alice should have really ripped the device controlling her off far sooner than she did. At least their fight was an epic sight to behold, much like the entire film itself. I think this is the first film in the series where I was totally in awe of the visuals, which isn’t me pushing hate toward the appearance of the last four films, it just looked as though this one was the most visually stunning yet.
The new licker, though it was obviously a CGI creation, looked so well designed and rendered it looked convincing as a terrifying monster — a huge improvement over the first time we ever saw a licker. Though some parts were obviously green screened, they too looked so well realised and edited it didn’t detract or throw me out of immersion too much. Tomandandy also composed the OST for the film which I again enjoyed, not as much as that in ‘Afterlife’, and the music during Alice VS Jill’s fight scene feeling a little too repetitive is my only critique towards it. The final shot of the final scene also gave huge ‘Stranger Things’ vibes, and set up what I hope to be a massive final instalment and conclusion to the series.
‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ (2017)
Released just days before ‘Resident Evil 7: Biohazard’, the game which redefined and changed the game series its based on, ‘The Final Chapter’ closed out and concluded Paul W. S. Anderson’s own vision and story of ‘Resident Evil’. As it was the grand finale, I hoped to see a massive return in supporting cast members — much like in the previous film, but where all who survive are on Alice’s side in her fight against Issacs and Umbrella. Sadly only Claire Redfield was able to make it, alongside a new group of survivors she’s leading, but Alice and Claire proved to be my second favourite duo of the series — Ada and Alice being my first. ‘The Final Chapter’ must have also been released during the era where Ruby Rose was everywhere and inescapable, as she too was part of Claire’s team of survivors. Unaware to Alice and Claire however, there appears to be traitor in their midst.
Albert Wesker also returned and had switched sides yet again, as we now see him reunited with and working alongside Dr Issacs, of which there are two in the film: the real Dr Issacs and a religious clone covered in and surrounded by crucifixes. This did offer up a perfect parallel to be raised between the T-virus sweeping across Earth and the story of Noah’s Ark from the Bible. We also learn how the true Dr Issacs has inherited similar powers to Wesker, in addition to some far more useful. As well as being able to move at ‘Matrix’ speeds, he’s also able to predict the outcome of dangerous situations. Both of which came in clutch for some great scenes between Alice and Dr Issacs toward the end of the film. Watching this also made me realise how, in the few things I’ve seen Iain Glen in, I’ve never seen him play anything sinister and serious. His role as Dr Issacs is the most sinister I’ve ever seen him play, and I loved every second. He’s definitely one of the highlights of the series for me, and I wish he was featured a lot more.
Viewers are also treated to such high levels of gore and brutality too, with several members of Claire’s survival team being eliminated in such intense ways: crushed by propellers in an air vent, head bitten off by a mutated biohazard monster. In terms of slimming down the cast, there is no holding back, and I loved every second of that too. Another example of gore in the film which really stood out to me was a hanging skeleton with the ability to still move and scream. Alongside the again mutated (redesigned) zombie dogs, there’s some serious nightmare fuel scattered throughout. But as the team are picked off one by one, it soon becomes easy to tell who the traitor is if you’re paying attention. Alice even figures it out too, and is able to help subdue them in the most Alice way possible.
We see Alice return to the Hive facility too. Where it all started is the perfect place to end it all. With this comes the return of the laser corridor, housing an Alice VS Issacs fight amplified by ten in comparison to the first time we see it in action. I was sat with bated breath for the entire duration. What really shocked me was the huge twist reveal even I didn’t see coming, connecting perfectly to Alice explaining the origins of Umbrella during the opening. Once it started to intensely focus on Alicia Marcus, I knew there would be an importance to her — but I could never have predicted what. And like several films in the series, it takes a little while for the action to really set in after the first twenty minutes or so, often-times feeling a little drawn out or useless in my opinion. Even though a lot of the camera work during the fight scenes were very messy, making it hard to keep track of the action, I did think this film looked very stunning visually. Not as much as ‘Retribution’ as I am a sucker for modern city/urban environments, but a special shout-out needs to go to scene and imagery of ignited petrol flowing down the sides of a decaying, dilapidated high-rise building.
As a conclusion to the film series, do I respect it? Again, it felt to me as though it began to lose its way but soon managed to pick itself up before dropping the biggest plot twist. Even though a few personal favourite characters of mine were missing, I feel like it rounded the story and series off nicely. There was extreme gore, a decent explanation as to Umbrella’s origins, lots of shocks and a return to where it all began. The perfect place to close the series, taking it full circle, before shortly handing it over in 2021 for an entirely new cast and reboot. What did I think to Anderson’s ‘Resident Evil’ Universe overall though?
Final Thoughts:
To me it’s crazy how these movies spanned fifteen years and I never knew anything about them. Even though I wasn’t an ‘RE’ fan until recently, and have only been into horror since 2017, I’m usually aware of things through cultural consciousness. These slipped past me completely. I also can’t understand how each film sold so well upon release, but they’re all negatively reviewed and criticised. If they’re truly “so bad”, why did they keep making them? With them all deviating so far from the source material too, it really raises a point of what should a film adaptation of a game truly be? An extension of or an expansion into the universe of the game it’s based around; telling the same story with every plot beat and character, or just riffing on the core ideas?
By this point the ‘Resident Evil’ universe has been expanded in both ways, but it started with a universe expansion. As I said previously, it feels as though this film series took basic plot points and characters to turn into its own world, universe and story. Very rarely does it feel like these films are deeply routed in ‘Resident Evil’, only going as far as using main characters and recognisable plot elements — which feel like a reward when you spot/point them out. As I watched deeper into the series though, it did start to feel as though each sequel was being written as they progressed, rather than having an overarching story already planned. I’ve read how a lot of plot points were retconned throughout the series, and when watching ‘The Final Chapter’, it did feel as though this was never the intended finishing point since film one.
I do have to commend the originality though. Even though these majorly deviate from the games, I was very interested and intrigued as to where the story was going and would end up. I do really like the story overall, but once I got researching and thinking, a few cracks began to show. K-Mart was an original character I loved, one of the few elements of ‘Extinction’ I actually really enjoyed. Past this film she’s hardly seen though, which left me disappointed. I wish she could have been in ‘Afterlife’ more and alongside Claire in ‘Final Chapter’ — having K-Mart be the Umbrella insider would have been a MAJOR twist, for instance. Alice also feels like she has a natural progression through each of the six films and, if anything, presented a new strong leading female character to look up to.
While it is Alice began being sexualised, alongside other female characters like Jill, the early films were a product of the early 2000’s so it’s understandable. Which is not me condoning such behaviour by the way. As we moved through the series, I felt a strong bond to her and a large investment in the storyline. It had me wondering how much of the game content was going to be implemented, how would it end, when is X character going to appear? Even though I do prefer ‘Welcome To Racoon City’ from 2021 in terms of source material dedication, there is absolutely no denying these six films hold so much the reboot didn’t do and probably couldn’t if it tried. As much as I love Avan Jogier as Leon Kennedy, I also love Li Bingbing as Ada Wong and Michelle Rodriguez as Rain — all existing in two parallel universes so different from each other that couldn’t possibly collide.
Each new film in the Anderson Universe personally gave me so many reasons to pick my jaw up off the floor, so many things to be excited for when it came to watching the next one, and so many questions I couldn’t help but try to figure out or wait to be answered. These versions of some characters aren’t my favourite, but they still hold a special place in my heart. And over six consecutive nights, it was so much fun to watch everything progress from one film to the next: characters, story, set design, casting, music, locations, SFX. It was so much fun to watch this film series grow and progress so much in such a short amount of time — experiencing fifteen years in six nights.
These may not be the best or most dedicated film adaptations of ‘Resident Evil’, but there’s something about them I loved, appreciated and really enjoyed. I wouldn’t even call them a guilty pleasure because I do adore them all fearlessly. If I had to rank them in order of my favourites, it would go like this: ‘Afterlife’, ‘Resident Evil’, ‘Retribution’, ‘Apocalypse’, ‘The Final Chapter’ and ‘Extinction’. I look forward to watching them all again, and am even more excited to sink my teeth into the 2022 Netflix show.
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