Resident Evil: Extinction is number three in the franchise. The world is even more bleak and the infection is hyper-epidemic proportions. Milla Jokovich is surviving off the grid and the Umbrella Corporation is still performing clandestine experiments and operations.I just saw a trailer for the latest Resident Evil which prompted me to freshen up on the franchise. I also just saw Kate Beckinsale as Selene in Underworld: Blood Wars and she is a hard act to follow. Alice (Milla Jokovich) is nice. She's skilled, strong and a major badass in her own right but Selene is a notch above.Besides the Selene/Alice comparison, I think I'm suffering from zombie fatigue. I've seen countless zombie movies and what... seven seasons of The Walking Dead? I still like the zombie genre but the Resident Evil zombies are too strong and fast for my liking (not too mention the fact they were climbing structures as well). Besides Alice's new found abilities there was nothing to really distinguish this movie.

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007): Dir: Russell Mulcahy / Cast: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Mike Epps, Oded Fehr, Iain Glen: As with most zombie films these days the norm here seems to be an ongoing parade of violence and disgust. It regards the end of mankind and a band of survivors seeking escape from these flesh eating terrors. Forget the zombies and track down a decent screenwriter. Director Russell Mulcahy can film action but can his writers actually write a decent script? I've seen more creativity written on washroom stalls. Milla Jovovich plays the cloned Alice who slaughters the zombie population like a lawn mower. She has starred in every one of these films and despite her dominant and graceful presence she is still giving a by- the-numbers performance. Ali Larter, Oded Fehr and Mike Epps kill a lot of valuable time. These are people whom Jovovich must stick her neck out for because they are all about as useless as sh*t. They either get attacked and eaten by zombies or they survive because Jovovich is the only one who can kick zombie ass, and she does so with such flare and great bolts of energy that the screenplay never applies. These films exist more or less for violence, action and gross special effects and makeup. It is a pointless and disgustingly gross film that should be torn to shreds by zombies until it meets extinction. Score: 3 / 10

Five years have passed since the events of the previous instalment of this zombie franchise. The T-Virus has spread around the planet; this has not only turned most of the population into zombies, it has also affected wildlife and caused almost global desertification. Alice is travelling alone through the American West where she meets up with a convoy of survivors just as they are being attacked by a giant flock of infected crows. She manages to help them but there are inevitably casualties. They find evidence suggesting that there are areas still unaffected by the T-Virus in Alaska but that is a long journey that will require a lot of fuel. With the smaller filling stations now drained they will have to brave the city of Las Vegas if they are to get the required fuel.While Alice is helping these survivors the Umbrella Corporation is still looking for her; Dr Isaacs needs her blood for his experiments to create a serum that will create tame zombies. He has also been working with clones of Alice which he tests to destruction. His schemes don't exactly go according to plan and he becomes infected after one of the 'improved' zombies he created bites him; he gets the antidote but mutates into a new more powerful creature; inevitable Alice will face him as the film reaches its climax.I think this film was a step up from the second in the series despite the absence of Valentine who seems to have gone AWOL since the end of the previous film. Things start well as we are introduced to Dr Isaacs' Alice clones in a scene that is so similar to the start of the first instalment that I wondered if I might have put the wrong disc in! When we get back to the real Alice it is quickly established that there are some survivors who are almost as dangerous as the zombies when she meets a family that behave as though they've just come off the set of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. That isn't the only film similarity; the convoy of survivors is an enjoyable nod to 'Mad Max 2' and the crow attack is clearly inspired by 'The Birds'. This scene is one of the best in the film as there is something inherently frightening about being attacked by something as common as a crow. The effects for this scene were pretty impressive. On the down side the creators' desire to take things to another level went a bit far; now Alice isn't just an awesome fighter, she has telekinetic powers and the final fight against the mutated Isaacs felt as though because this is based on a series of computer games it must end with a 'boss fight' against something much more dangerous than the regular zombies. The cast did a solid enough job, by now Milla Jovovich has almost become defined by her role as Alice and Iain Glen is pretty good as Isaacs. Overall this is a decent enough sequel with some great action and some nicely scary moments although you really need to have watched the earlier films, especially the first, to know what is going on.

I think critics were unfair on this addition, my guess is that they just assumed it's another Resident Evil that will be like the others in their opinion. In actual fact, Extinction is far better than Apocalypse and more exciting than the first film because the story is better developed, the writing is solid and the characters are richly constructed, especially Claire Redfield's convoy who are essentially one big caring family trying to survive. The action is breathtaking too, Alice' powers really come to full effect, and the Las Vegas scene sets an uneasy atmosphere and the whole construction of that set is stunning. The infected crows scene is bloodily glorious, and when Alice uses her powers to deflect the flamethrower it looks incredible and shines bright, just like the Air-Brushing the editors used on Jovovich' face. This is the strongest in the franchise for story and character, and the balance between the two and action is brilliant.