Resident Evil: Extinction mini-review

I finally got around to watching Resident Evil: Extinction on DVD, and to be very honest here I admit to finding myself entertained by it. I had to remind myself that this is merely a loose adaptation of Capcom's Resident Evil video games franchise, but seriously, I was genuinely pleased. As far as Mad Max style action films goes, it wasn't too over the top - but it did have balance and it didn't overuse their martial arts choreography that Hollywood loves. Gory effects were liberally edited but appears moderately - something that I do appreciate - but the pacing of the story could have been better.

I did lower my expectations, but even then I have to say it was one of the better 'do not require brain cells Friday night popcorn' films (how ironic) that I missed from last year. Despite the lower budget and restrained narrative, I found the Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) directed film far more entertaining than Michael Bay's Transformers and slightly more entertaining than the amazingly dull Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and weird Spiderman 3. Regardless Extinction is easily the better film within the trilogy and a massive improvement over Apocalypse.

Even if you are hell bent on hating Extinction, the film is still worth watching purely for Milla Jovovich alone.