In a world ravaged by a virus infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety. Her deadly battle with the Umbrella Corporation reaches new heights, but Alice gets some unexpected help from an old friend. A new lead that promises a safe haven from the Undead leads them to Los Angeles, but when they arrive the city is overrun by thousands of Undead and Alice and her comrades are about to step into a deadly trap.
The Resident Evil (film) series hasn't always had particularly amazing reviews, not unlike many other game to film franchises.
I guess the best way to approach these films is to not expect a scare a minute type movie. The games had a lovely way of keeping you up for hours after setting down the controller, I have a particular memory of my brother watching me play Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and having to sleep in my room with me because he was too scared to be alone.
The films don't deliver the same tense atmosphere but they are certainly entertaining! Milla Jovovich was a fantastic choice for the title character of Alice and she delivers in every instalment.
The fourth instalment looks to be as action packed as the first three. I had planned on watching it in 2d rather than in the widely advertised 3d. However, after reading about it in more depth it seems that the film has been incredibly geared towards the 3d showings so I guess it'll be contact lenses at the ready! (Wearing 3d glasses over your regular glasses doesn't seem like a fun way to watch a film).
It seems to be set 5 years after the third film (?) and Alice has journeyed to Alaska (Where the survivors from the previous film flew to 'safety'). The only survivor she finds is Claire with a spider like contraption embedded into her chest (for those of us who played Resident Evil 5 we will know a bit about this little contraption). We find out that Wesker is behind it (more about him below) and they both go about looking for survivors.
We get to see Claire Redfield have it out with The Executioner in a highly anticipated fight scene(don't worry if this doesn't make sense, the trailer is below). It's nice to see that other people get to have more of a hands on role in the film, rather than Alice doing all the work. It's also worth mentioning that Alice no longer possesses her psychic abilities in this film.
With many of the main cast from previous films having been killed off we will also see the return of Jill Valentine who was popular amongst the loyal game fans.
Albert Wesker has a role in the fourth film too, seemingly being infected (maybe a lá Resident Evil 5 the game?). He shows of his 'kickass' moves in a fight with Claire Redfield and Chris Redfield(!).
It looks like the makers have decided to include more of the games in this next film which is great. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed Resident Evil: Extinction, the premise that it all took place in daylight completely took any horror element out of the film. The makers did say that it was filmed in daylight as to break away from the usual darkness of most horror films but who's afraid of daylight?
Hopefully this film will bring back the horror element to the franchise, if not I certainly know that it'll be on action packed ride!
