‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ Review: A decent farewell

Being the seventh and supposedly the last in the movie franchise that started in 2002, it’s apt that The Final Chapter begins with a refresher of what has already transpired since more than 15 years ago. 

Durable and poetic drag

The summary does exactly what it needs to do.

It shows how a father, consumed by his desire to cure his daughter Alice of her rare and debilitating disease, has created a virus that will eventually turn most of humanity into murderous zombies. The introduction quickly segues to present-day Alice (Milla Jovovich), who looks like she has matured considerably after surviving the endless franchise, fighting off the undead in ruined Washington D.C.

It’s all surprisingly poetic.

The unexpected result is Jovovich’s character staying alive only to witness the world suffer from a blight she inadvertently started. The weirdly durable drag of persisting through redundant storylines and haphazardly staged action sequences has created the mythology behind the indestructible heroine. 

Growing with the franchise

By force of repetition, Paul W. S. Anderson has similarly grown with the franchise.

The Final Chapter is an unexpectedly stylish take on everything that Anderson has done before. The story’s straightforward. Alice is instructed to go back to Raccoon City where the cure to the worldwide zombie epidemic is supposedly hidden. There, a group of rebels helps her infiltrate the heavily guarded headquarters of the Umbrella Corporation, capping her self-appointed mission.

Anderson borrows from other films. The tank ride where a chained Alice is first chased by zombies before fighting her way on top of the massive vehicle is reminiscent of George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). There’s a siege that feels like it was cribbed from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). Underground, where Alice and her crew are avoiding booby traps, otherworldly purple light pervades the frame, making it seem like the sequence was inspired by Dario Argento’s Suspiria.

Indisputable juvenilia

Sure, The Final Chapter hardly has the elegance or novelty to be worth remembering for years to come.

However, its being a mishmash of cheap and heavily computer generated reproductions of scenes from better films gives its indisputable juvenilia a certain sophistication that is sort of charming. – Rappler.com

Francis Joseph Cruz litigates for a living and writes about cinema for fun. The first Filipino movie he saw in the theaters was Carlo J. Caparas’ Tirad Pass. Since then, he’s been on a mission to find better memories with Philippine cinema.