LOUISA:

LOUISA SAYS:

The violent and entertaining “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” is a welcome return to Raccoon City for everyone’s favorite justice fighter, Alice (Milla Jovovich). This go around, the resilient Alice is once again battling the evil Umbrella Corporation and hordes of hungry zombies in order to save the human race. Classic cinema it ain’t, but this is still a lively and exciting post-apocalyptic display of mindless movie fun.

Jovovich proves she can still play a dull eyed, ass-kicking heroine with a terrific harmony of athleticism and compassion. She’s a fantastic (if unlikely) action star. Since she originated and has grown with this role over the years, nobody else can touch her in terms of complete credibility. As you’d expect, the majority of the acting is laughable and the plot even more ridiculous and preposterous (several dead characters are conveniently brought back from the grave with outrageous explanations), but does logic really matter with a movie like this?

As is often a major annoyance with movies based on video games or comic books, director Paul W.S. Anderson has made the careless decision to take the lazy way out and feature vigorous editing at breakneck speeds to try to make the film feel more exciting. As a result, all the visual commotion renders many of the action scenes incomprehensible — not a positive feature when most of the audience just wants to see some savage apocalyptic action. The film doesn’t need to take the lazy way out because the visual effects and the fight choreography is great. Such a shame the film doesn’t allow us to see it uninterrupted. (For the record, I think this film is worth seeing in 3D, but don’t sit too close)!

In the end, the film offers some satisfying answers to the previous films’ puzzling elements, wrapping many of them up in a bloody little bow. This is a big, loud and dumb movie, but it provides a thrilling ride (and supposed conclusion of the series) for fans of the franchise.