RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER

2017 | DIR. PAUL WS ANDERSON | REVIEW BY SHAUN CRAWFORD.

It's that time again. Paul WS Anderson (no, not THAT Paul Anderson, the other one) found it fitting to deliver us another film based on the classic Capcom zombie-fest video game, this time promising it to be the finale to the series that has banked over $1.25billion at the box-office.

​After the regular, and expected, recap of the story thus far, Alice (Mrs. Paul W S Anderson, Milla Jovovich) sets off on a mission to go back to where it all started, 15-years ago, to the underground facility run by the evil Umbrella Corporation, the dastardly empire responsible for unleashing the T-Virus and killing all but 4000 humans on earth, find the anti-virus and undo the mayhem that's been plaguing the planet for a decade

Along the way she may also discover the truth about herself and the cloning fiasco that's haunted her since, well, forever.

​With each new installment of the surprisingly resilient franchise, Anderson's imagination becomes incrementally less tethered to any kind of reality. These films have become multi-million dollar playgrounds for his imagination and a way for his wife to strut her stuff while he banks another couple million bucks.

Nothing wrong with that, mind you, but it would be nice if once in a while there was a little thought given to character. The people populating the films become afterthoughts, they become a modus of delivering new and increasingly grotesque ways of doing away with the hordes of newly designed undead baddies.

​Unlike George Romero's undead series, which had clear and concise political and social commentaries, the RESIDENT EVIL films don't seem to hold that much depth. Indeed, if Anderson's pictures aspire to such lofty ideals as Romero's they're certainly a lot tougher to decipher. And that's always been the RE downfall. Unlike its other multiplex contemporaries 28 DAYS LATER and Snyder's DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, as Anderson's films become more elaborate in scale and scope what little heart and soul it had becomes as lifeless as the zombies he's decapitating. He has nothing left to say.

Regulars from the series pop up again in THE FINAL CHAPTER; Ali Larter and Iain Glen, but they're no more developed than they were 3 films ago, and then there's a new batch of underdeveloped, fresh-faced cannon fodder for the masses including our very own Ruby Rose in the second of 3 major releases for her across 2016-17.

Moderately budgeted at $40-million there's no denying this, the sixth film of the series, looks like it cost twice that. The level of chaos, destruction and anarchy onscreen, even if it is mostly CG, is head-spinningly vast (an Alamo-like siege between an army of undead and humans barricaded in a ruined skyscraper is a particularly impressive sequence).

Canadian cinematographer Glen McPherson, a regular on the series since it started going 3D in AFTERLIFE, is as adept at the sun-scorched landscapes as he is at the sub-terrainian darkness. In fact, outside of Jovovich's impressive dedication to the series' constant physical demands, the way THE FINAL CHAPTER looks is one of the film's few very strong points, borrowing liberally from George Miller's MAD MAX and Stephen Norrington's BLADE... and even a sneaky nod to Paul Verhoven's ROBOCOP.

As daft as it is there's no denying that RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER is a fun ride even if it's only draw cards are its good looks and breakneck pace. Slightly more comprehensible than other chapters, it's admirable for being what it set out to be; a mad dash for the finish line that leave it all open for more. And given THE FINAL CHAPTER was the highest grossing film of the series, it wouldn't be surprising if it graced the screen one more time.
​
Seemingly made only for the fans of the series, those dedicated enough to have stuck with it this far (plus fun-lovin' gorehounds), it'd be a stretch for anyone else. It's a lot of things but boring isn't one of them.