Leaving the residency
How is it that a franchise such as the live-action Resident Evil movies still manages to put out more sequels and yet make a profit despite being apologetically bad? For me, the franchise took a turn for the worst when the fourth film came out, and the fifth film was just too painful to watch. Clearly, from my opening sentence you can tell I wasn't looking forward to seeing the sixth and "alleged" final film in the series'...uh..."sextology"? Well, whatever "ology" it is, one thing I've come to accept about the series is that it embraces itself for what it is, warts and all. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter gives a brief recap of all the events that have occurred leading up to the finale as we see Alice (Milla Jovovich giving it 110% as always) racing towards Washington in hopes of finding a solution to ending the Undead nightmare caused by the T-Virus outbreak. What she comes across instead is a hologram of the Red Queen (Ever Gabo Anderson) informing her that an airborne anti-virus exists within the Hive back in Raccoon City where the T-virus first broke out; the catch though is that Alice must retrieve the anti-virus within two days before the remains of the human population becomes non-existent\. At this point in the series, I pretty much know what to expect watching a Resident Evil film; zombies, sick-looking monsters, cheesy acting, blood and guts, questionable cinematography, etc. I can't say that I was blown away with what I saw but to my surprise I didn't expect to be satisfied with the end result. Don't get me wrong, the movie is far from being one of my favorites or a good one for that matter, but given how these movies have always shot for low standards that it could easily be mistaken for a B-movie on the SyFy channel, The Final Chapter actually makes an effort to bring the story full circle. The film has its' moments if laughable at best but for from where it's been before, I consider it an improvement if slightly. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is strictly for the few fans that actually the live-action adaptations, and although the film could have been better, it also could have been a lot worse, warranting a rental if nothing more.