Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Alexander Witt

Writer (WGA):

Paul W.S. Anderson (written by)

Release Date:

10 September 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

You're all going to die

Plot:

After an outbreak in a top-secret facility, Umbrella ponders on covering up their mistakes by releasing the deadly Nemesis to eliminate surviving STARS members in Raccoon City.

Plot Keywords:

City | Corporation | Escape | Undead | Rescue

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 4	3:30 PM	OXYGEN
Sun. July 5	1:00 AM	OXYGEN

Cast

Milla Jovovich	...	Alice
Sienna Guillory	...	Jill Valentine
Oded Fehr	...	Carlos Olivera
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Major Cain
Sophie Vavasseur	...	Angie Ashford
Razaaq Adoti	...	Peyton Wells (as Raz Adoti)
Jared Harris	...	Dr. Ashford
Mike Epps	...	L.J.
Sandrine Holt	...	Terri Morales
Matthew G. Taylor	...	Nemesis
Zack Ward	...	Nicholai Ginovaeff
Iain Glen	...	Dr. Isaacs
Dave Nichols	...	Captain Henderson
Stefan Hayes	...	Yuri Loginova
Geoffrey Pounsett	...	Mackenzie

Also Known As:

Resident Evil 2 (USA) (working title)
Resident Evil: Nemesis (USA) (working title)
Resident evil - L'apocalypse (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for non-stop violence, language and some nudity.

Runtime:

94 min | 98 min (extended version)

Country:

Germany | France | UK | Canada

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Malaysia:18SG | France:-12 | Brazil:16 | Iceland:16 | Mexico:C | Sweden:15 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 (cut) | Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M (original rating) | New Zealand:R13 (DVD rating) | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #41009)

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Constantin Film Produktion

Trivia:

The word Biohazard appears many times in the movie. This is a reference to the Japanese versions of the games. In Japan the series of games is called Biohazard.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Several errors were made regarding nuclear power. First, no nuclear weapon detonation could ever be mistaken for an accident at a power station - power reactors cannot create nuclear explosions like weapons. Second, "critical" describes a reactor at normal, steady state operation, it does not mean an accident is occurring or imminent. Finally, the "accident" is described in the movie as the worst accident since Chernobyl. According to the UN, Chernobyl has only caused 56 deaths to date and the final death toll for the accident will be around 4,000. The destruction of a city the size of Raccoon City and the death of all its inhabitants would be far worse than the Chernobyl incident.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Alice: My name is Alice. I worked for the Umbrella Corporation, the largest and most powerful commercial entity in the world. I was head of security at a secret high-tech facility, The Hive, a giant underground laboratory developing experimental viral weaponry. But there was an incident. The virus escaped and everybody died. Trouble was... they didn't stay dead.

Movie Connections:

References Psycho (1960)

Soundtrack:

Nymphetamine

Pretty Girls, Big Guns, Ugly Monsters...

The sequel to Resident Evil – in which a group of scientists and special forces get trapped in a giant underground facility overrun with zombies and mutants – is pretty much what you'd expect. After being captured by the Umbrella Corporation at the end of the first film, almost-sole-survivor Milla Jovovich (the only supermodel in the world who you can take seriously as an action heroine) wakes up in an abandoned laboratory in Raccoon City to find that the zombie-animating "t-virus" has spread to the surface. Half the city are already zombified and killing the other half, and Umbrella Corporation has sealed off the city limits and is planning to "sanitise" the area. Hooking up with a rag-tag group of survivors, Jovovich makes a deal with a rogue Umbrella scientist who promises to get them out of town as long as they rescue his missing daughter who's hiding somewhere in the ruins. Meanwhile Umbrella has its own plans for the lovely Miss Milla, involving a seven-foot armour-clad mutant called the Nemesis who's using the infested city as a training ground. Much shooting/fighting/exploding ensues, and - just like in the first film - the mysterious cliffhanger ending leaves things wide open for another sequel.

Probably because it's based on a Japanese video game, this movie isn't afraid to embrace the clichés that Hollywood's spent the last decade or so trying to avoid. Lurching zombies, machine gun-toting monsters, smarmy suit-wearing villains, hard-as-nails soldiers and a wisecracking streetwise black dude are all essential ingredients, as well as not one but TWO sexy ass-kicking heroines. While Jovovich rides in to save the day on a motorcycle and carries so many guns it's a wonder she doesn't fall over, Sienna Guillory (as tough bitch cop Jill Valentine) has the dubious honour of performing various athletic action sequences in a miniskirt and boob tube. Am I complaining? Hell no.

To be honest, it's really quite refreshing to see a movie like this in this day and age. Like the timelessly cheesy horror/action flicks of John Carpenter, the Resident Evil franchise throws realism and political correctness to the wind and just has fun pitting Pretty Girls With Big Guns against Ugly Monsters With Big Teeth. Be honest – unless you're a metrosexual poseur or a card-carrying member of the PC Police, you probably love this stuff as much as I do.