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Resident Evil: The Final Chapter: before this even began I knew that, in a few years, I’d be back in almost the same seat to watch No.7 in the series.
Oddly, this one didn’t start straight after the last one left off (which I expected, since 2012’s Resident Evil: Retribution did exactly that), but it does begin with a quick recap of Alice’s origins, so if you’re new to the franchise, you won’t feel left out. We learn about a girl called Alicia (Ever Anderson) who was given an injection by her father, the contents of which made her body age rapidly, so by the time she was 25, she looked 90… or so that would’ve happened if he hadn’t countered it with the T-virus, which not only made her better, but solved all other kinds of worldwide diseases…
…or so they thought. Hence, the zombie outbreak.
In short, Alice (Milla Jovovich) has to find the anti-virus to the T-virus, which is not-at-all-conveniently-placed under Raccoon City, and she has 48 hours to get to it. So, it’s like the TV show ’24’, but… er… 48. She teams up with a rag-tag bunch, as always, and not all of them will make it as they go from A to B, but it’s one hell of a ride, and it never lets up in the action! Of course, Alice has the T-virus in her, so as she explains in the opening, this is the conclusion to her story because once she releases the anti-virus… that’s it for her too! (if you really believe that!)
At first I was wondering when it might get going, since early on, we saw Alice fighting a winged beast while out and about, but see if you can spot the moment where an explosive device has the words “Front towards enemy”, as they come and go quite quickly. There’s also an inscription on a huge hand-wielded blade, which you can make out as it’s unsheathed, although I had to turn my head to read it, and in 3D that’s not easy, since rotating your noggin can soon take the 3D out of whack.
Iain Glen hams it up brilliantly as the nasty Dr Isaacs, who was also in the second and third films, but those are the two in the canon which I have STILL failed to catch up with. However, I didn’t feel like I was missing out. At one point, I did think I saw part of the set of Resident Evil: Afterlife, as the first four films each made an appearance in Resident Evil: Retribution, so I thought it was going to revisit that path, but it didn’t.
Beyond that, it’s… Zombies. Kick. Punch. Explosion. Shouting. Man gets a spike through the head… Beautiful!
Wesker (Shawn Roberts) also makes a return, albeit in a far smaller role than the last film. And he also drops in a Doctor Who-ism with the line: “Reverse the polarity of the turbine!”
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter has some definite edge-of-the-seat action moments – heightened by the emphatic score, even though you know Alice will come through them, at least until the film’s running time is complete. I saw this in 3D. Sadly, unlike the last two Resident Evil 3D films, this one was NOT filmed in 3D. The conversion is superb, though, and I would still insist on checking this out. However, I saw this in its second week out and the screenings were sparse. For my two nearest Odeons, the Trafford Centre only had it in 3D in the IMAX screen on the Friday and Saturday, while the Printworks screen has it at 10pm until this Thursday. There are 2D screenings, but Mr Jovovich, aka director Paul WS Anderson, really knows what he’s doing with the format, so it is quite a treat. And to make it work despite all the quick-cutting, shows quite a skill.
There’s also a very brief post-credits moment. If you’re going to see it, STAY! If you missed it, then it’s under this spoiler heading:
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is available to pre-order on Blu-ray, Blu-ray Steelbook, Amazon Prime and DVD, and click on the poster for the full-size version. Also, you can buy the Soundtrack CD, Paperback and Kindle book.
(and yes, Ever Anderson is the offspring of Mr & Mrs Jovovich)
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 106 minutes
Studio: Columbia Pictures Corporation Ltd.
Cinema: Odeon, Printworks, Manchester
Year: 2017
Format: 2.35:1 (Redcode RAW (5K))
Released: February 3rd 2017
Rating: 8/10
Director: Paul WS Anderson
Producers: Paul WS Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Samuel Hadida and Robert Kulzer
Screenplay: Paul WS Anderson
Music: Paul Haslinger
Cast:
Alice: Milla Jovovich
Dr. Isaacs: Iain Glen
Claire Redfield: Ali Larter
Wesker: Shawn Roberts
Doc: Eoin Macken
Razor: Fraser James
Abigail: Ruby Rose
Christian: William Levy
Cobalt: Rola
Young Alicia/Red Queen: Ever Anderson
James Marcus: Mark Simpson
Thin Man: Milton Schorr
Emaciated Woman: Siobhan Hodgson
Commander Chu: Lee Joon Gi
Scars: Aubrey Shelton
One Ear: Caroline Midgley
Commander Crunch: Dylan Skews
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.