By The Resident Evil films have always been a special kind of terrible. While not great films in their own right, each film is part of a larger ambitious tale further spurned on by both fan and creator devotion. Each one might not fare well critically, but it’s never deterred husband and wife duo, Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich, from telling their story. The fact a series of barely qualifying video game adaptations has gotten this far is unprecedented.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is neither for fans of the Resident Evil video game series, nor is it for general horror fans. It’s a film made purely for its own hardcore fan base. They’re the only ones who are going to get anything out of this.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Release Date: January 27, 2017
Rating: R
Much like previous entries in this series (a technique unique to this and the Saw series, hilariously enough), Final Chapter begins immediately after the events of the previous film, 2012’s Retribution. After a failed attack on the Umbrella Corporation in Washington D.C. — causing the deaths of all but one of the remaining characters from the video game series — leaves Alice (Milla Jovovich) alone and broken, she learns of a cure to the T-Virus locked within the corporation’s base from the first film. But with only 48 hours until the last settlements of humanity are wiped out, Alice is forced to race against time and face villains from her past like Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen) last seen in the third film, Extinction. Also Ali Larter shows up.
Final Chapter is an aggressively busy film. The camera is constantly in motion. Whether it’s shaky cam during dialogue, quick cuts of the same fight scene from different angles, or zoom-ins to Jovovich’s face, the camera is rarely still, if ever. Coupled with sound mixing making everything about ten times louder than it needs to be (making the numerous jump scares in the film’s opening much more abrasive than they should be), and the film has a high barrier to entry to those outside of its fan base. Sure it may be ridiculous to assume a person would watch Final Chapter before any of the other films, but I could only assume those without background knowledge of the series would be completely lost. With only a brief primer outlining the series thus far at the opening, there’s not much to latch onto since the story is too bare bones to stand out beyond its technical mayhem.
But while the film is a technical mess, and its story is spread too thin to work anywhere else, somehow Final Chapter’s bits of awfulness coalesce into a workable package. It’s the “so bad it’s good” film conundrum the series has found itself in the past, and pockets of that occasionally pop up here. The film hits such a height of ridiculousness at certain points, I didn’t really know how to react to it. While Final Chapter is indeed taking itself seriously, its punctuated by fun, action film choices. Triple barreled shotguns, rivers of fire, and even fan service like the return of the series famous laser grid. It may all be incredibly juvenile, but I still appreciate seeing Milla tear up the joint. This film reminded me how well the Resident Evil series has focused action films around a female lead, and how much better these films are when Jovovich is clearly enjoying her work.
As for everyone else involved, I couldn’t say the same. While there are other actors in this film, I couldn’t say there were any real characters. The Final Chapter has such a brisk pace, there’s no room for development for other characters than Alice. The Alice-focused narrative works for Jovovich’s performance, but lowers the film’s stakes and tension. Characters fight and die, but there’s little reason to care about any of it. The only performances worth noting beyond Jovovich are Ali Larter’s and Iain Glen’s because they’ve nailed down the strange seriousness they need to deliver their lines. And since I’ll probably never get the chance to mention this again, I just want to declare how much I’ve missed Ali Larter. Seeing her in Final Chapter reminded me how much I loved seeing her on-screen. There may not be any more Resident Evil films in the works (presumably), but I hope she pops up somewhere. Same for Jovovich, too.
Your mileage will vary with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. If you’ve never seen the Resident Evil films, don’t bother. If you’re slightly interested in it because the newest Resident Evil game piqued you curiousity, don’t bother. If you’ve watched the other films but only slightly curious to see how the series ends, you’re better off waiting a while until you can watch it a home with a bunch of drinking buddies.
But for those of you who absolutely love the Resident Evil films, and there are some of you out there, you won’t get a better ending than this. Final Chapter is passionately, crazily built for you, and you won’t get the same care anywhere else.
Sadly, however, this film was released to everyone.