Resident Evil: Apocalypse (DVD)
Special Edition,2-Disc
APPROX. 0 MINS. - PROD. YEAR: 2004 - MPA RATING: R
" ...despite the fact that Jill tells everyone to shoot the zombies in the head, a lot of bullets are pumped into body parts other than heads.
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The "Resident Evil" line of video-games is so popular with video-game players that it inspired 2002´s "Resident Evil", an expensive-looking action movie that was too loud and too nonsensical to be worth its budget. "Resident Evil" generated enough money to yield a sequel, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse". "Resident Evil" was a prequel to the video-game series, and "Resident Evil 2" takes place during the video-game narrative.
In "Resident Evil 2", the Umbrella Corporation decides to release the T-virus to all of Raccoon City. That way, a state-of-emergency can be declared, allowing Umbrella´s scientists to use Raccoon City as a battleground for two fighting machines that it has bred. The first one is Nemesis, a huge monster who can take a lot of bullets in the chest. The other warrior is Alice (Milla Jovovich), a woman pumped full of chemicals that make her capable of doing a lot of things without the usual training that even the most-talented soldiers have to endure.
As she battles Nemesis, Alice encounters people who also haven´t turned into zombies yet--a soldier (Oded Fehr), a little girl (Sophie Vavasseur), and Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), one of the heroines in the "Resident Evil" video-game series. For an hour and a half, you get to see a lot of people shooting at a lot of zombies, though despite the fact that Jill tells everyone to shoot the zombies in the head, a lot of bullets are pumped into body parts other than the heads.
Sienna Guillory, who plays Helen in the recent TV miniseries "Helen of Troy", is prettier with black hair than she is with blonde hair. When she has blonde hair, she looks like a blank sheet of paper. Black hair gives her face a frame, which ultimately accentuates her fine bone structure. Despite having fewer lines, having less screen time, and showing less skin than Milla Jovovich, Guillory managed to deliver a performance that hinted at possible character development.
You know a movie´s in trouble when a viewer thinks more about what kind of hair color an actress should have than he does about the movie.
Video:
"Resident Evil", like "Spider-man", was framed at 1.85:1. "Resident Evil 2", like "Spider-man 2", was framed at 2.35:1. "Resident Evil 2", like "Spider-man 2", is better than its predecessor. However, "Resident Evil 2" is no "Spider-man 2".
Nonetheless, this disc´s 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen video transfer shares many qualities with the DVD video transfer of "Spider-man 2". While the image is entirely free of any physical defects (probably because it was taken from a digital source rather than a film print), it often looks soft and blurry. Therefore, some of the CGI looks awful. There´s also a plastic or glass sheen that makes the actors look less real than you know they are. On the other hand, contrast levels are pretty good, allowing you to differentiate between objects despite the generally dark look of the movie.
