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98 out of 142 people found the following review useful: Pretty Girls, Big Guns, Ugly Monsters..., 1 April 2005 Author: MrRazorz from New Zealand
The sequel to Resident Evil – in which a group of scientists and special forces get trapped in a giant underground facility overrun with zombies and mutants – is pretty much what you'd expect. After being captured by the Umbrella Corporation at the end of the first film, almost-sole-survivor Milla Jovovich (the only supermodel in the world who you can take seriously as an action heroine) wakes up in an abandoned laboratory in Raccoon City to find that the zombie-animating "t-virus" has spread to the surface. Half the city are already zombified and killing the other half, and Umbrella Corporation has sealed off the city limits and is planning to "sanitise" the area. Hooking up with a rag-tag group of survivors, Jovovich makes a deal with a rogue Umbrella scientist who promises to get them out of town as long as they rescue his missing daughter who's hiding somewhere in the ruins. Meanwhile Umbrella has its own plans for the lovely Miss Milla, involving a seven-foot armour-clad mutant called the Nemesis who's using the infested city as a training ground. Much shooting/fighting/exploding ensues, and - just like in the first film - the mysterious cliffhanger ending leaves things wide open for another sequel.Probably because it's based on a Japanese video game, this movie isn't afraid to embrace the clichés that Hollywood's spent the last decade or so trying to avoid. Lurching zombies, machine gun-toting monsters, smarmy suit-wearing villains, hard-as-nails soldiers and a wisecracking streetwise black dude are all essential ingredients, as well as not one but TWO sexy ass-kicking heroines. While Jovovich rides in to save the day on a motorcycle and carries so many guns it's a wonder she doesn't fall over, Sienna Guillory (as tough bitch cop Jill Valentine) has the dubious honour of performing various athletic action sequences in a miniskirt and boob tube. Am I complaining? Hell no.To be honest, it's really quite refreshing to see a movie like this in this day and age. Like the timelessly cheesy horror/action flicks of John Carpenter, the Resident Evil franchise throws realism and political correctness to the wind and just has fun pitting Pretty Girls With Big Guns against Ugly Monsters With Big Teeth. Be honest – unless you're a metrosexual poseur or a card-carrying member of the PC Police, you probably love this stuff as much as I do.
88 out of 126 people found the following review useful: 'Apocalypse' doesn't do everything wrong, but it certainly doesn't do everything right., 30 September 2004 Author: Darth_Nebuchadnezzar from United States
Following the success of the 2002 adaptation from video game to film that was 'Resident Evil', comes its tantalizingly-trailered sequel, 'Resident Evil: Apocalypse'. I have to say, I was entranced by the trailer of this film. I seriously thought that this film had the potential to rise above 'Mortal Kombat' (1995) and 'Resident Evil' as the best cinematic event to spawn from a video game. 'Apocalypse' doesn't do everything wrong, but it certainly doesn't do everything right. Let's start with a brief synopsis. Firstly, this film picks up literally days after the first drops us off. 'Apocalypse' opens with a rehashed explanation of what we learned about the two main characters in the original, Alice (Milla Jovovich) and Matt Addison (Eric Mabius). Again, we are told that this Umbrella Corporation is an international super-power and that Alice is (or more accurately was) the head of security in an underground research facility dubbed "The Hive", which harbored research and specimens pertaining to biological weaponry. After that, we are treated to the scientists who wheeled Addison away at the closure of 'Evil', opening the zombie-infested annals of "The Hive". Immediately before the audience 'knows' what happens (its pretty obvious and is given away in the final shots of the first 'RE') we transition into a militaristic evacuation of important personnel associated with Umbrella Corp. After a few assorted events that do (and simultaneously do not) move the plot line (a 'do not' being the lead-scientist asking how bad the situation is). After this, we are introduced to nearly a half-dozen other characters, including a renegade police officer (Sienna Guillory), the remaining members of an elite task force (Oded Fehr, Zack Ward), a VERY stereotypical Black man (Mike Epps) and a hulking creature (which, if you paid attention to the first 'RE', you would be aware of its appearance) that totes both a rocket-launcher and a hand-held chain gun named the "Nemesis". As far as performances go, the aforementioned actors and actresses do well with the material that they are given. Guillory has Helen of Troy (not from the film 'Troy') on her resume, as Jovovich has Joan of Arc, Fehr has the mummy hunter, Ardeth Bay from the 'Mummy' series and Epps is credible in several comedies. There is no real emotion in the script, so the viewers really can't ask for any emotion from the actors (sadly true). That is where 'Apocalypse' stumbles, and in many places, falls on it's face.The plot is paper thin with nearly no real complications for the audience until the last ten minutes (which is a near-complete turn around from the original, which actually evoked SOME thought from the audience). It is basically unleash zombies on the city and shoot 'em up. The small sub-plots really vary from little to no relevance in the story whatsoever. It is pretty predictable that there is some kind of 'oh no, my friend was bitten and eventually, I'll have to kill him just before he bites me' situation, and the big action/set pieces are blatantly set up. The characters are thinner than the plot, with their arcs being straighter than a steel arrow. Alice begins the movie as an ass-kicking femme fatal, and finishes the film being...oh, you guessed it, an ass-kicking femme fatal. Jill Valentine (Guillory) is another one of these masculinely tough females, although sans Alice's super powers. The only real life that is brought to the script is through the epitome of black stereotypes, played by Mike Epps. It was sadly ironic, however that my favorite bit of 'Apocalypse' involved a reference to another video game franchise. Again, 'RE: Apocalypse' is not completely bad. Although few, it has its moments. Mike Epps has his funny lines and his one encounter with the Nemesis brought laughs from the entire audience, which was something needed in the film. The Nemesis was done well a majority of the time (although there is a bit where the big oaf crashes through a wall and his head piece actually shifts visibly on the actor's shoulders) and makes a formidable villain for a good margin of the film (although his closure is a bit weak). Many of the action sequences had great potential...but the majority of those action scenes were fast-cut, much like 'AvP', so much so that it was very hard at moments to see exactly what was happening in the shot. 'Apocalypse' suffices much more as an action movie than it does as a horror film, and it struggles to keep interest, even for someone who has faithfully played the video games. I will be glad to admit, though...'Apocalypse' has the BIGGEST, most unexpected scare of 2004. I won't say when or where...but I am glad to have experienced it. 'Apocalypse' isn't exactly worth all eight dollars of your admission fee, but it doesn't make a bad Saturday afternoon matinee...6/10.
84 out of 143 people found the following review useful: About as good as the first, overall, 1 October 2004 Author: Grann-Bach (Grann-Bach@jubii.dk) from Denmark
After having seen Resident Evil god knows how many times, and being pretty psyched for the sequel, I finally got to see it, and on the premiere night, too. Of course, I knew that the director of the first RE, Paul W. S. Anderson, wasn't doing this, since he was busy making his dream project, Aliens Vs Predator. Luckily, I can cope with changes like that... as long as the change isn't devastating. For this movie, however, it's hard to tell... maybe the mediocre attempts at scaring the audience and providing shocks was Anderson's fault, as he wrote the script, but it may be the new director, first-timer Alexander Witt, who's responsible. Let me say this upfront; I, as many others who enjoyed the first, really liked the ending, the whole foreshadowing thing, and, thankfully, the film picks up exactly where the first one left off. Actually, it goes a little further back, to show us exactly what happened before Alice woke up. The plot is decent, about as good as it gets when it's Paul W. S. Anderson writing it. It doesn't drag... heh, it doesn't drag... heck, it doesn't even leave the slightest chance for it to drag, as it's constantly moving. The movie never allows the audience to catch their breath; apparently, someone(I'm guessing Anderson or Witt) has never heard of the danger of overdoing action sequences. For anything (at all) to be good, entertaining, thrilling, whatever... there needs to be what is commonly referred to as 'buffers'. Without those nice little talky-talky scenes in-between, heck, maybe even a dash of good old-fashioned character development, the action just ends up being trite. And that's pretty much what happens here. They try to squeeze as much action into every single frame as possible, and it ends up annoying the audience rather than exciting. The director also has a horrible habit of blurring the image whenever there are more than five zombies on-screen, apparently to (I guess) cover up a bad job on makeup... or something to that effect. If the first had too much make up and such, this has too little. The acting is decent enough. Milla Jovovich gives the same good performance that she usually does. The rest of the cast are acceptable. The characters are mostly clichés and stereotypes. Of course, by mostly I mean almost 90% of the cases. You got the stupid reporter who just wants to make a story out of all of this, despite her being in obvious danger; The bad-ass cop who's suspended but still takes her duty deadly serious; the half-witted pathetic guy who's obviously only there for comic relief... actually, scratch that last one, as he was actually pretty darn funny. For once the person who's supposed to be there for comic relief works, instead of just being the *most*(or even worse; least) laughable character. The special effects were well done, but not spectacular. Definitely not the best I've seen. The action was good, but really over-the-top. The scenes with the Nemesis range between being some of the best action in the movie to being some of the most pathetic and smirk-inspiring scenes. The cinematography is nothing special. The film introduced an unnecessary amount of characters, most of whom are just fodder for the zombies or Nemesis anyway. The showdown between Alice and Nemesis was somewhat pathetically staged, and probably would have seemed out of place, hadn't the rest of the film been of the same quality(honestly, it seemed like a video-game... and while I am quite a big fan of them, I'm considerably more interested in playing them than watching them). That big ol' hunk o' biologically engineered walking death was simultaneously underdeveloped(for what they had him/it do) and overexposed. The film is noisy and loud, but not as loud as the first film, and while the sound is often horribly overdone, it doesn't distract as much as several other big action hits. The film is also less loud when it comes to the soundtrack; it was nice to have some change from the one-note *loud* heavy metal from the first film. All in all, a pretty entertaining flick, but out of your mind much faster than it got in(and that's saying a lot, believe me). If you liked the first, are a big fan of one or more of the actors, or you just have nothing better to do for 90 minutes, give it a shot. It kept me watching through the end, and, despite a few disappointments, kept my interest as well. It just didn't stay fresh in my head for more than about fifteen minutes after the credits started, which is very little for a film with so much going on in it all the time. I recommend it only to big fans of the first or of Milla Jovovich. I suppose big fans of Paul W. S. Anderson(they must exist, somewhere) will probably enjoy it too. I will say that most who liked the first will probably like this as well, but possibly a little less due to the lesser directing. 7/10
37 out of 50 people found the following review useful: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (of plot), 22 February 2005 Author: Jrdn853 from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Hollywood is known for its summertime action "flicks", and recent action films such as The Matrix began to show a hopeful turn towards a trend of thoughtful plots and interesting stories. Unfortunately, the large success of Resident Evil: Apocalypse may very well be the deathblow to this promising new trend. In a sense, the title speaks for itself; Resident Evil: Apocalypse may very well be the apocalypse of intelligent action movies.After a new virus breaks out in a large industrialized city, citizens begin mutating into cannibalistic, flesh-eating zombies. The Umbrella Corporation, consisting of the people most directly responsible for the outbreak, takes measures to quarantine the city, turning it into a horrific sanitarium. The story follows several characters as they attempt to survive and escape the city with the help of an unseen ally who keeps contact with them from outside the city. Things further complicate when "Nemesis", the movie's biggest, toughest monster, arrives for the sole purpose of killing just about everything he perceives as a threat.The plot of Resident Evil: Apocalypse is, perhaps, the single worst piece of writing recently played out before the eyes of unfortunate movie fans. From the very beginning, the story begs questions that are never answered: who gave the Umbrella Corporation a building permit for a gigantic wall that would circle the city and with which they could, at a moment's notice, lock everyone inside? Why does Alice come crashing into a church through a stained-glass window, on a motorcycle, "armed to the teeth" with weaponry, to rescue the protagonists with perfect timing, despite the fact that she has never met them before and was, in the previous scene, walking around in the street with only a shotgun and no motorcycle at all? These and many more mind-boggling questions are completely ignored; the person who was in charge of this film's continuity should never work in Hollywood again. In fact, Resident Evil: Apocalypse has more plot holes than moldy Swiss cheese. However, even when ignoring the numerous plot holes -- which is almost an impossibility -- the story itself is still laughable, revolving partly around an insipid "fight for survival" that seems to rely on the main group splitting up and one of the subgroups being brutally slaughtered for no good reason, with the other part being about Alice (a character invented by the script-writer, as she was never in the game it is very loosely-taken from) and her relationship with the monster "Nemesis". Surprisingly, the director managed to craft a story that is significantly less interesting the one presented in the video game version. To cap off all the "excitement", the movie reaches its climax a full fifteen minutes before the end of the film! After a handful of survivors have escaped, Alice is caught and put in a lab, where she not only manages to escape, but also to manifest psychic powers while quipping off several lines that were used to advertise the movie in commercials. What was the purpose of this 15-minute epilogue? To set up the next movie in the series - a completely unnecessary task, as the film has already made it clear that there is absolutely no help for the next sequel in terms of quality. In a way, it could be said that the one thing the plot truly accomplished was setting the stage for even more cinematic fodder in the future.The acting was not bad, and, in general, was as good as it could have been, given the material the actors had to work with. Although Alice is mildly interesting (do largely to her reflections) and well played by Milla Jovovich, the rest of the characters were mostly stale archetypes. The most blatant example is the character of L.J., played by actor Mike Epps, who embodies every "black" stereotype that is popular today. This character's only true purpose is comic relief, and to that respect, he does it dryly.The cinematography offers a wide variety of different camera shots, as well as providing a constant supply of "eye candy". In what is easily the highlight of the film, Resident Evil: Apocalypse shows some impressive-looking stunts, such as a scene of Alice running down the side of a sky scraper with either the intent to kill, or the intent to break her legs. Either way, the scene was a joy ride for the vision. Truthfully, the only badly shot scenes that come to mind are the blurry scene (unnecessary, ugly, and pointless), and the climatic fight scene at the end (badly cut and confusing). Overall, though, the cinematography was decently good, which is likely the cause for this film making so much money in the box office.The setting was exactly what you would expect for an apocalyptic zombie movie - a big city with lots of undead people. The sets maintained a Gothic look throughout, and few scenes took place in daylight. Thankfully, the lighting was very well done, so the film maintained a dark, night-time look while simultaneously allowing the viewers to perfectly see all that was happening. Sets based on real buildings, such as schools and police stations, all looked exactly as they should. Resident Evil: Apocalypse had a big budget, and that fact is made apparent by the great sets and props.Unfortunately, nothing saves the movie from its horrible plot. A plot should provide any movie with its base, and with a plot so holey and incoherent, everything that could have made Resident Evil: Apocalypse good simply falls apart. Despite the big budget, some reasonably well-known actors, and a license and subject-matter with a cult following, nothing can gloss over the essential flaws that keep this movie from any kind of greatness. People who prefer to see mindless exaggerated action sequences, devoid of any decent plot, will likely enjoy Resident Evil: Apocalypse. However, those interested in intelligent, well-written stories will do well to look elsewhere.
70 out of 119 people found the following review useful: Two babes with big guns killing zombies, 19 February 2005 Author: Dr. Gore (drgore@hotmail.com) from Los Angeles, California
*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*Lethal megababe Alice, (Milla Jovovich), is back. The Hive gets reopened for some reason. The zombies take advantage of the human's blunder and pour out into Racoon City. Alice and another hot chick decide to bring the war to the zombies. The rest of the movie is one long fight scene with zombie dogs, slobbering creatures and a big monster with a rocket launcher all wanting to waste the killer babe squad.While "Resident Evil 2" is light on plot, it is heavy on kills, explosions and various other forms of mayhem. I definitely felt I got my money's worth. There are really only two differences between this movie and the original "Resident Evil". One, this movie introduces a new monster, the Nemesis. It's a big monster with bad teeth wearing an overcoat and wielding a rocket launcher. The other difference is that they added another hot woman to the zombie killing mix. Alice needed some babe backup. Overall, I was pleased with this one. It's worth a look.
37 out of 56 people found the following review useful: IMDb should allow a vote of 0, 26 January 2005 Author: Todd Ramirez from Australia
This movie is so bad I couldn't finish it. Normally I am patient with bad movies, hoping that the ending would salvage them. But RE2 is one exception. The script is atrocious, clichéd, or just plain juvenile. Character development is non-existent, so the scene where the two main female characters meet for the first time was quite appropriate: Jill asks Alice, "Who the **** are you?" I kept asking the same question throughout. This new character of Jill was probably the biggest mistake here. There just is not enough room for the two female characters to co-exist.Bad acting (which to me translates to bad directing) is commonplace in RE2. Case in point is when Alice, after blasting away some zombies, spins her two guns, a la John Wayne, before putting them back in the holsters. I laughed out loud at that ridiculous scene. From that point on, I just couldn't take the movie seriously.What a waste of money (I actually bought the DVD, shame, shame, because I liked the first RE). Don't make the same mistake, unless you wanna to be annoyed.
20 out of 26 people found the following review useful: Makes Uwe Boll's efforts look fantastic., 15 February 2006 Author: argentobuff from United States
The first RE had a lot going for it.Nice cast.Good fx.Some suspense and general scares.A nice visual style.And a surprise ending that set the stage for a lot of promise to build on toward making one hell of a Horror flick.But a lot of people griped that Re was not like the game enough.Well the bad movie gods heeded their collective whine and have given them what they wanted.While the rest of us are still reeling from this disaster.Its really a big screen version of the now-classic Playstation game RE 3.It takes place right after the first.Things start out okay.We're introduced to Alice,Jill,Carlos,Nemisis,etc.But after the opening 10 minutes it is all downhill from there.For starters why give Alice Super powers?It takes away from the first movies realism,makes her shallow,and a grade z matrix wannabe.The stakes go from high to low.Whereas the first you never knew who was gonna live or die.Where is the tension?The Nemisis is kinda fun to watch.They got him right.But even he is sabotaged by the random shots that reveal him to be an over-sized Stuntman in a rubber suit.A competent director would know to shoot around this.Even the Roger Corman cheapies know how to do that on a tenth of this flicks budget.Where are the zombies?For the most part they are again sabotaged by the director,who keeps them out of focus most of the time.Its like they are ashamed to say this is a horror flick?Where is the freaking logic here?The characters do the stupidest things?There is some howling dialog here.Its hard to sustain interest upon hearing what comes out of the cast mouth.Why the hell would they bring a kid along on a rescue attempt?The action sequences resemble MTV videos from 1986.Milla is okay as Alice.I would watch her in a soup commercial.But she comes off as really pompous here.Sienna Guillory and Oded Fehr are about the only ones that come off well in RE 2.Mike Epps,Thomas Kretschmann,and Jared Harris are wasted here.The cast all come off as kind of smug in my book,and its hard to like them.The directing,scripting,and visuals all look terrible here.I don't wanna be hard on Witt.But I would have went with Anyone else but him. I suspect its not all his fault though.I was never part of the I-hate-Anderson-crowd.But I think the fault here lies with him and the producers.He ruined AVP.Now this!I think he owes me 20 bucks now for paying to see the combined dreck that is AVP and RE2.In the same year no doubt!!!RE2 held a lot of promise that has sadly been flushed down the proverbial toilet.Ever more cringing is the fact that a RE3 is on the way.
17 out of 22 people found the following review useful: Worse written than the games, and that's saying something., 26 February 2005 Author: phonicpod from Australia
Badly scripted, acted and shot. Everything feels really rushed, especially the pacing of the shots... one minute a character is fighting off a zombie, only 3 seconds later he's 40 paces down the street... it seems the director really liked the matrix but had no idea what he was doing... the cut scenes in the video game are better directed.The plot has been rewritten from the games, but instead of refining it, they have taken the games premise and just added ludicrous plot points. The video game was better written, and that's saying something.Spoilers BELOW ****By the end of the film the story has gotten so dumb, The main bad guy of the film, "Nemesis" becomes good (?!), and the main character Alice has strangely gained mind powers and she seems to be able to kill people just by looking at them!!?!?!?!Utterly stupid... don't waste your time with it.
53 out of 94 people found the following review useful: A Decent Horror-Action-Thriller, 11 September 2004 Author: tabuno from utah
The sound effects, the fast paced action, the blur of violence, the plot are provided good exposure in this sequel, sequel. This entertaining horror-plenty of action thriller flick was an above average horror genre with a little for everyone one who likes these movies. There is the tender, emotional rescue, the comedic relief, the unanticipated deaths (so to speak), and twist at the end. This movie captures the titillating show of reveal leg, and kickass martial art moves, the evil scientists, and strong female leads. While the movie suffers from a few plot weaknesses, the fantasy, video nature of this movie allows for some flexibility. The zombie-like creatures seem to fade some in an odd illogical way (for the script's sake)...people seem to survive by luck in some cases or die in other cases (as guess just as in real life). Some of the movie is contrived, some some characters obvious set up for oblivion with recourse to rational sanity. All in all, this movie did its horror and thrills more and bigger and whizzier. Seven out of Ten Stars.
29 out of 47 people found the following review useful: worst movie i spent money on, 14 February 2005 Author: phobophile6-1 from United States
WOW. I remember the first movie was okay so i decided to see the second one ONLY BECAUSE the trailer made it seem like she was in the same setting as the resident evil 2 video game. The game rocked! Within the first 5 minutes of me watching RE: Apocalypse, I knew it would suck. How crappy was the first scene with those astronauts entering the vault and getting the parasite lose. The movie sucked. Oh my god, i cant stress the fact enough. How is it that you cant shoot one of those licker things in the church with bullets because they dodge them, but the hero of the story can jump off of her motorcycle and crash it into the monster sending both the motorcycle and the monster 100 feet into the air... Then blowing the motorcycle up, a perfectly good vehicle to use during this chaos. This movie was so bad, i thought i was infected with the T-Virus when i had a strange urge to eat the brains of the people next to me in the movie theater... but they wouldn't mind, they were watching the most brainless movie ever.
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