Resident Evil: Afterlife - 2010

Constantin Film Produktion, Davis-Films, Impact Pictures

Written and Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Cast:

• Alice – Milla Jovovich
• Claire Redfield – Ali Larter
• K-Mart – Spencer Locke
• Luther West – Boris Kodjoe
• Chris Redfield – Wentworth Miller
• Albert Wesker – Shawn Roberts
• Bennett – Kim Coates
• Jill Valentine – Sienna Guillory

Story: The clone Alice army has destroyed the Tokyo facility of the Umbrella Corporation in a daring move that kills everyone but Alice and Albert Wesker, one of the main leaders of the corporation. Wesker is also infected with the T-Virus, and like Alice, has incredible speed, agility, and healing powers. But as he is escaping from Tokyo, he is about to kill Alice on his escape plane when the plane crashes. Alice survives, even though she has been returned to human status thanks to an injection delivered by Wesker. Sic months later, Alice has located a plane and is flying to Alaska to find Claire and the others from the caravan. When she arrives, she finds only a deserted field with lots of abandoned planes and helicopters, and is almost ready to give up when she is attacked....by Claire Redfield. Claire and the others were captured by the Umbrella Corporation to be used as subjects for further development of the T-Virus. Together, Claire and Alice fly to Los Angeles, where they locate another group of survivors who are also looking for an escape to Arcadia. But Arcadia is not a city in Alaska, it is a ship off the coast broadcasting a signal to offer shelter and food with no fear of infection.

Review: Paul W.S. Anderson returns to direct this fourth installment of the incredibly popular franchise. Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter reprise their roles as Alice and Claire. Kim Coates is offered up as our resident “jerk”, a part he has played so well in so many films. And hats off to Shawn Roberts, who is the best villain of the series so far. While this film is far more expository that the first three, the level of zombie terror is maintained with the addition of mutated zombies who have grown mandibles similar to the Reaper strain in Blade 2. Overall, this film is less satisfying than the previous three, but does resolve some plot issues and returns Alice to humanity. Boris Kodjoe is excellent as the even tempered former basketball star who is trying to keep the small group alive in their fortress, and while Spencer Locke is in the film, her role is so small it barely merits credits. For the adrenaline junkies among us, the opening scenes of the film make the best use of the Alice clones, and the action there is excellent, although brief. The mutated baddie known only as the Axeman is an interesting contrivance, yet too easily done in by Larter and Jovovich. Consider this film a bridge between Extinction and Retribution, which is accented by the brief but ominous appearance of Sienna Guillory (hint: Don't skip the end credits). Rated R for violence and language, like Extinction, if you have them, you have to have this one for the collection.

Resident Evil: Extinction - 2007

Resident Evil Productions, Constantin Film Produktion, Davis-Films

directed by Russell Mulcahy

Cast:

• Alice – Milla Jovovich
• Carlos Olivera – Oded Fehr
• Claire Redfield – Ali Larter
• Betty - Ashanti
• K-Mart – Spencer Locke
• L. J. - Michael Epps
• Dr. Isaacs – Iain Glen

Story: The T-Virus has run amok, spreading faster than anyone would have imagined, and the earth is dying. Alice is staying on the run, trying to hide out from the satellites of the Umbrella Corporation, but there are other evils about. She encounters a small group of people who have gone savage, using a radio distress call to lure victims in to rape and torture for their entertainment. When they are done, they feed them to the mutated dogs in their cellar, but Alice has other ideas. Her powers are growing stronger as well, psychic powers that she has not learned to control yet, but they are growing. After an incident where she loses her motorcycle, she stumbles on a caravan of survivors out in the Nevada desert led by Claire Redfield, and runs into her old friends Carlos and L. J.. She has found there may be hope in Alaska, on a tiny island that is free of the disease, but in order to get there, the caravan must resupply, and that means they have to go to a big city, where the zombies are likely to be. The Umbrella Corporation has also regained their signal on Alice, and are tracking her along wit the caravan. Alice must defeat the corporation once again while trying not to endanger the lives of the survivors.

Review:

Alternative Title:
Hot women with guns taking on zombies and the bad guys responsible for making them.

Milla Jovovich kicks butt and takes names in this third installment of the popular series. This time the virus has spread and has encompassed the world, so Alice is out and about, trying to avoid the undead. Now toss in Ali Larter, the tough, smokin' hot gal from Final Destination and Heroes, add in some Ashanti, and spice it up with the return of Oded Fehr and Michael Epps, and you have an action film that is sure to please. The Umbrella Corporation is well represented, with Iain Glen returning as the infamous Dr. Isaacs, the Frankenstein of all Frankensteins. When he learns Alice is still around, he tries every trick in the book to get her back. Be careful what you wish for, Doc. Great stunts, great action, and every bit as exciting as the first two films, Resident Evil: Extinction is sure to please the fans of the video game and the movies. And for us old guys, there is an "homage" to the King of Horror himself, Alfred Hitchcock, that is sure to please. Rated R for brief nudity, violence, and language, if you have the others, you have to have this one in your collection.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse - 2004

Constantin Film Produktion, Screen Gems, Davis-Films

Directed by Alexander Witt

Cast:

• Alice – Milla Jovovich
• Jill Valentine – Sienna Guillory
• Carlos Olivera – Oded Fehr
• Major Cain – Thomas Kretschmann
• Angela Ashford – Sophie Vavasseur
• Dr. Ashford – Jared Harris
• L.J. - Mike Epps
• Terri Morales – Sandrine Holt
• Nemesis – Matthew G. Taylor

Story: We pick up where we left off in Resident Evil. The city is in a panic as the Umbrella Corporation evacuates key personnel and erects a wall around the city. Alice has managed to find an surplus store and is armed to the teeth. Meanwhile the police are trying to contain the panic, and a team of special officers known as S.T.A.R.S. are working in conjunction with Umbrella Corp. Special Forces to attempt to limit the spread of the disease. The zombies are winning, of course, and Alice is doing what she does best, kicking ass and taking names. When she rescues two STARS officers and a reporter from a mutant demon in a church, they all work together to find a way out of the city. Alice knows the Umbrella Corporation will sanitize the city with a 5 kiloton nuclear weapon at dawn, so they have that long to escape. Meanwhile, one of the scientists who created the T-virus is desperately seeking help to rescue his daughter from the city. He contacts Alice and her team and offers them a way out in exchange for the rescue of his daughter. When they have her, Alice must battle her counterpart, Nemesis, to survive.

Review: Milla Jovovich once again plays Alice, the genetically altered warrior whose powers are growing more and more powerful every minute she is alive. She is literally a one woman army, and her skills are impressive. Milla's character is bent on accomplishing one goal: Destroy the Umbrella Corporation. She exits the Raccoon City hospital and seizes a police shotgun out of an abandoned squad car, and begins to walk down the street littered with cars and other vehicles wrecked and destroyed. Meanwhile, Jill Valentine, a sexy and deadly STARS cop played by Sienna Guillory, is on alert as well, taking the initiative and shooting the zombies in the head. She and her partner are at the only exit from the city when a man becomes one of the walking dead and the gates are closed, sealing the city from the outside world. Oded Fehr and his team of commandos are pinned down by zombies and soon realize no help is coming. Jared Harris as Dr. Ashford has only one priority, to get his daughter out of the city. This film is as good as the first and perhaps a little better. Tina Gerussi and Robyn Ray deserve exceptional mention for their casting. Rated R for brief nudity, language, and violence, this is a must see if you liked the first movie, are a fan of the video game, or just like a good old fashioned high tech bloodbath with plenty of action.

Resident Evil - 2002

Constantin Film Produktion, Davis-Films, Impact Pictures

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Cast:

• James 'One' Shade – Colin Salmon
• Alice – Milla Jovovich
• Rain Ocampo – Michelle Rodriguez
• Matt Addison – Eric Mabius
• Spence Parks – James Purefoy
• Chad Kaplin – Martin Crewes
• Red Queen – Micheala Dicker

Story: We enter on a scene of someone operating Waldos in a laboratory, placing double helix shaped tubes carefully into a metal suitcase. As the individual retrieves the case from the sealed area, he heads toward the door and tosses a lone tube in the air. As he closes that door, the tube shatters on the floor. Within moments, alarms are going off, people are panicking, and the scientists and workers at “The Hive” are sealed off from the world and beginning to die. Cut to a young woman lying on a shower floor, the curtain draped in front of her. She wakes up, wanders through the rooms, and suddenly there is a policeman, dressed in civilian clothes. Moments later, a team of commandos enters by rappelling and smashing through the windows. They take the police officer into custody, and the leader is holding the young woman by the shoulders saying “I want your report, soldier. I want it now!”. Alice soon discovers she has been hit with a special nerve gas by the Red Queen, a computer system that controls The Hive. Two hours ago the Red Queen went homicidal, and the team is there to find out why. Since Alice is one of the two security agents assigned to protect the secret entrance to The Hive, she must accompany them on a journey into death, destruction, and corruption far deeper than anyone suspects.

Review: A movie based on a Video Game? Really? Let's face it, Doom sucked (No offense intended, Dwayne), Tron was so-so (Oh wait, that's right, the movie was the basis for the game.) and Lara Croft, well...Hmmm, maybe I better shut up at that. After all, Angelina is one of the hottest women on the planet. Speaking of really hot women, Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez are certainly in the top twenty or so. This film is a no excuses romp through all the zombies and evil creations any modern Frankenstein could dream up, and the players are all well versed in the action adventure genre. This is one of those films that brings together all the phobias of evil corporations, illegal experiments, and scientists backed by the military to produce horrific weapons of mass destruction that, as always, backfire. James Purefoy is the greedy bastard that starts everything in motion, but the Red Queen, a computer with the holographic persona of the designers daughter, is HAL and Skynet rolled into one times ten. One by one the rescuers succumb to either the Red Queen or the Zombies, and we are sitting on the edge of our seat waiting to see if anyone survives. Rated R for violence, language, and some brief nudity/sexuality, this film has spawned four sequels and who knows if more are coming. Powerfully entertaining and thrilling, I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a good scifi flick with all the elements to keep it interesting. Definitely collectible.

The Prophecy: Forsaken - 2005

Castel Film Romania, Dimension Films

Directed by Joel Soisson

Cast:

• Allison – Kari Wuhrer
• John Reigert / Satan – John Light
• Dylan – Jason Scott Lee
• Stark – Tony Todd
• Simon – Jason London

Story: Allison is living in Romania, protecting the book, when the angels come again to recover it so they can know the name of the antichrist and kill him before he begins Armageddon. This time an angel named Stark is using a hit man named Dylan to do his “wetwork”, but Dylan is one of the resurrected and slowly dying who is acting out of duress. When he meets Allison, he does everything he can to foil the angel's plan. Allison heads toward the only ally she has, Satan. But Satan has his own agenda and is not in the mood to protect her. The battle between the forces of good and evil continues, and soon Allison is revealed as the only weapon needed to foil the angel's quest.

Review: In this second and final episode of the Prophecy “homage”, all the confusion and blanks spots from “Uprising” are filled in. When you realize that both films were released in 2005, and went straight to video, you have to wonder if Soisson was doing all this to fluff up his resume. The first ten minutes are the same footage from the first film, so our next actions are “in media reas”, and Satan is once again walking to and fro about the earth, causing trouble. The cast now includes the excellent Jason Scott Lee as Dylan, the reluctant hit man trying to protect Kari Wuhrer, and the exceptional Tony Todd, an often underestimated character actor who shines in this performance. Overall, the film moves well, and the action is much smoother in this second installment. But one question comes to mind. If Allison is a Nephalim, why would she still have a scar on her cheek? In the third Prophecy film, the Nephalim was said to have spontaneous tissue regeneration, so the scar should have healed years ago. Okay, okay, I'm nit picking, but let's face it, if you can't point out the obvious errors, where is the fun in that? Rated R for violence, language and a semi amusing scene of nudity with a young lady whose film credits include ONE film...this one. Collectible? Hardly, unless you are a fanatic Prophecy fan.

The Prophecy: Uprising

Dimension Films, Neo Art & Logic

Directed by Joel Soisson

Cast:

• John Reigert / Satan – John Light
• Dani Simionescu – Sean Pertwee
• Allison – Kari Wuhrer
• Simon – Jason London

Story: In Eastern Europe, a priest has hidden an angelic bible deep in the mysterious room where only he can find it. This bible is not finished, but as the priest leafs open the pages, new words begin to form on the final pages. This is the completion of the book of Revelations, the book that will reveal the name of the Antichrist, the man who brings the earth to Armageddon. The priest dies a horrible death, and the book is given to Allison, who is the long lost half sister of Dani Simionescu, a policeman who steals from drug dealers to give the money to the church. John Reigert leads Dani on a quest to find Allison and reveal to her the truth of her nature. As always, the forces of heaven and hell are at odds with man over the outcome.

Review: While based on the original “Prophecy” movies, this fourth installment features new characters and an interesting plot twist. Unfortunately, the film opens slowly and does not give us the same introductions as the first three. You have to stay with the film through some pretty uninteresting footage for about 20 minutes before the story takes hold. Missing is the comic element of the original, as well as the appeal of Christopher Walken, who has personally saved more than 20 films simply by being in them. I offer as evidence Suicide Kings and The Rundown, to name just two. John Light does a very passable job as Satan, although that isn't revealed until late in the film, and Sean Pertwee presents well as the man attempting to atone for his sin of informing on his parents to the communists when he was a child. Kari Wuhrer is the character who will join us in the fifth film, and she does a fine job of preparing us for the character to come. Jason London as Simon is interesting, but lacks passion in his performance. Overall, this film is less than adequate to follow in the footsteps of the original trilogy, which is why it lacks the numeral sequence to identify it. Rated R for violence, disturbing images, and language, I don't see this as becoming collectible, even to fans of the original series. But if you liked the first three, you'll probably enjoy this new venture into the battles between angels.

The Prophecy 3: The Ascent - 2000

Dimension Films

Directed by Patrick Lussier

Cast:

• Gabriel – Christopher Walken
• Zophael – Vincent Spano
• Danyael – Dave Buzzota
• Maggie – Kayren Butler
• Joseph – Steve Hytner
• Zealot – Brad Dourif
• Pyriel – Scott Cleverdon
• Mary – Moriah Shining Dove Snyder
• Madge – Sandra Ellis Lafferty

Story: The Nephalim is fully grown and preaching. Young Danyael, who was orphaned when Molotov cocktails were thrown through the window of his home, is preaching against God to the homeless and disenfranchised when a zealot in the crowd opens fire and shoots him. Gabriel, who is mortal, defends the young prophet, and takes steps to clear his path as he comes back from the dead. Maggie, his companion and mate, is disbelieving, but soon realizes Danyael is not merely a “talking monkey” like the rest of us. The rebellious angels, now led by Zophael, must prevent Danyael from defeating Pyriel, the angel who has been chosen to lead the human race into genocide. When Danyael travels to meet Pyriel, he meets Mary, the native American girl, who prophecies to him. As Gabriel travels to observe the battle, he stops in to the same roadside cafe as the first movie, and has a meeting with Madge, the waitress. In the end, Nephalim and Angel must battle for the future of mankind.

Review: This final chapter of the trilogy brings together all the unanswered questions of the first two films. Walken, Hytner, and, delightfully, Sandra Ellis Lafferty reprise their roles with amazing clarity. Walken is the mortal Gabriel who was cast to earth after the final scene in Prophecy 2, and he makes it apparent whose side he is on. By becoming one of the “talking monkeys”, he now understands the value of their existence and realizes he can no longer oppose God's plan. Dave Buzzota, in his premier performance, is intense and powerful as the Nephalim who soon discovers he has been “kicking against the pricks”. When his destiny is revealed, he throws himself into the role with such vehemence that you get caught up in his mission. The characters are consistent with the first two films, and the overall feel of the movie is enticing and thrilling. Rated R for violence, language, and some brief nudity, this is a good film for followers of modern horror and a must see for anyone who enjoyed the first two film. Collectible with the set, meaningless without the others.