Reviewed by Johnny McNair 

Sony Pictures – 1 hr 34 mins – 2007 – Rated R – 1080p Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40: 1 – TrueHD 5.1

Resident Evil: Extinction marks the third film in the franchise, which spawned from the popular Capcom videogame series. Again Milla Jovovich plays Alice, the only woman who can save the world from the evil unleashed by the villainous Umbrella Corporation. Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed the first Resident Evil film now acts as the producer and writer, passing the directing torch to Russell Mulcahy, who’s previous films include Highlander 2 and The Shadow.

The film takes place a few years after the events of the last movie, where the Earth has been consumed by zombies, and the remaining survivors are on the run desperately trying to find safe ground. Alice is now a loner who has to keep moving to avoid being captured by the Umbrella Corporation, who is combing the planet attempting to find her whereabouts. Eventually she re-teams with returning characters, Carlos and LJ, played by Oded Fehr and Mike Epps, who are apart of a well-armed convoy traveling through the desert through the devastated Las Vegas, with the hopes of making it to Alaska; the only place on Earth where the zombie infestation has not been traced. In this band of rebels we are also introduced another character from the videogame franchise Claire Redfield, played by Ali Larter.

RE: Extinction does not try to hide the fact that it is copying The Road Warrior, right down to the quest for gasoline and the final truck chase. The film also borrows from other classics like The Birds, and of course the George Romero Zombie films. I personally liked the first Resident Evil film, but thought that the second movie was a mess. While the third film is a definite step up from the second, it still doesn’t capture the videogame feel that was well emulated with the original.

What does make stand out is the photography, which instead of taking place at night like the previous films, focuses more of daylight actions scenes, with sun drenched settings and zombies that are more vicious and swifter. RE: Extinction is not attempting to put a scare in the viewers, instead concentrating on the movie being one big chase with the action taking the spotlight over horror.

Resident Evil: Extinction is not trying to win any Oscars, and as long as you accept it for what it is, you will have a lot of fun; especially when Alice turns on her kick-ass mode and zombie body parts are flying everywhere. Like all films that claim to be only “trilogies” there’s always a chance that there’s a fourth Resident Evil movie in the pipeline, especially considering how the new games in the series have changed structurally, the film franchise can be easily re-invented.

VIDEO

Resident Evil: Extinction looks fantastic, demonstrating what a perfect high definition transfer should look like. Presented in 1080p in its original 2.40: 1aspect ratio with images that will practically leap off of your HDTV. Being that most of the scenes were shot outdoors, utilizing natural daylight is a major plus, because a higher concentration of detail is allowed to stand out, because nothing could be hidden in the dark. Most of the desert scenes were purposely washed out, making certain things look golden as if scorched by the sun with muted colors. Overall everything is sharp, right down to grains of sands that are sticking to the faces of the actors.

SOUND

Like most action related films, sound design is very important to immerse the viewer into the world of the movie. Resident Evil Extinction offers a TrueHD track as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix for those who don’t have a TrueHD enabled sound system. Either way, your speakers will get a workout with the sounds of heavy gunfire, explosions, and the roar of engines as vehicles trample through the desert terrain. The crow attack scene is a sound effects showstopper that would make Alfred Hitchcock smile, featuring hundreds of birds attacking the rebel camp. And of course what would a zombie flick be without the howling groans of the undead, especially during the quiet spots when one will leap into the frame and make you and your speakers jump.

EXTRAS

Resident Evil: Extinction delivers plenty of extras slammed onto the disc, with the biggest being the long awaited arrival of the profile 1.1 feature that enables Picture-In-Picture (PIP). Those of you who have a Playstation 3 can easily download the current software update and make use of these capabilities. Anyone who has a stand-alone Blu-ray player must check with the manufacturer to see if your machine is capable of utilizing these features.

To start there is an audio commentary track featuring Director Russell Mulcahy as well as producers Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt. With the exception of one or two tidbits, this commentary is just your basic talk-and-look show that you’ll find on any other disc.

There are 9 minutes of deleted scenes, which unfortunately are only shown in standard definition. None of these 11 scenes offer anything new to the story, and it’s obvious why most were omitted. But these scenes will show you the difference in image quality between what the standard DVD looks like against the Hi-Def version.

Beyond Raccoon City: Unearthing Resident Evil Extinction is a half hour behind the scenes making off that dives into the production of the movie, all presented in full HD.

Here we get a collection of backlot stories from conception to post production featuring the cast and crew, who discuss the trials and errors of shooting in the desert and dealing with the heat, as well as stunts, visual effects and zombie tactics.

Blu-Wizard 2.0 is a feature that you can only get in the Blu-ray version of the film, which allows you to bookmark scenes and play them back in any order you choose. It’s nice that this capability is offered, but realistically you can do the same thing quicker and easier by switching to the scene selection and clicking on the part you want.

Under the Umbrella takes advantage of the newly enabled Blu-ray profile 1.1 capabilities that allows a streaming Picture-In-Picture display to play in the corner area of your TV screen along with the movie. Being that this is one of the first Blu-rays to use this feature, there are bound to be issues. The main being that the PIP is very small, and even on my 42 inch TV I had to squint to see what was going on in the tiny box. It’s weird why this was an issue, considering another Blu-ray film that also offers this feature, Sunshine, displays a perfectly sized quarter screen PIP box that can be viewed nicely at any angle.

Once a scene triggers the PIP clips in Resident Evil, the sound from the movie drops and the audio from clip is raised allowing you to experience background info of the scene taking place, or interviews with the filmmakers and actors describing what went into the scene. Most of these clips are snipped from the making of features that you can view in full HD, so the PIP doesn’t really add anything here. Again, this is still a first for Blu-ray, and it’s obvious that future films will take further advantage of this feature.

For you hardcore Resident Evil fans there’s also a teaser trailer of the new CGI feature film Resident Evil: Degeneration, shown in full HD glory, which should be coming out in the later half of 2008.

BOTTOM LINE

Resident Evil Extinction is good dumb fun that makes for perfect Saturday evening viewing. Anyone who owns the first two films on Blu-ray will not be disappointed by the third. It’s an excellent transfer with great sound and extra features, and though not for everyone’s taste, those who enjoy this genre will want to add it to their HD collection.

SCORES (Out of 5):

The Movie: 3.0

Video: 4.5

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 4.5

Bottom Line: 4.0