Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Alexander Witt

Writer (WGA):

Paul W.S. Anderson (written by)

Release Date:

10 September 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

You're all going to die

Plot:

After an outbreak in a top-secret facility, Umbrella ponders on covering up their mistakes by releasing the deadly Nemesis to eliminate surviving STARS members in Raccoon City.

Plot Keywords:

City | Undead | Corporation | Escape | Rescue

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 11	1:00 AM	OXYGEN
Sat. July 11	8:00 AM	OXYGEN

Cast

Milla Jovovich	...	Alice
Sienna Guillory	...	Jill Valentine
Oded Fehr	...	Carlos Olivera
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Major Cain
Sophie Vavasseur	...	Angie Ashford
Razaaq Adoti	...	Peyton Wells (as Raz Adoti)
Jared Harris	...	Dr. Ashford
Mike Epps	...	L.J.
Sandrine Holt	...	Terri Morales
Matthew G. Taylor	...	Nemesis
Zack Ward	...	Nicholai Ginovaeff
Iain Glen	...	Dr. Isaacs
Dave Nichols	...	Captain Henderson
Stefan Hayes	...	Yuri Loginova
Geoffrey Pounsett	...	Mackenzie

Also Known As:

Resident Evil 2 (USA) (working title)
Resident Evil: Nemesis (USA) (working title)
Resident evil - L'apocalypse (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for non-stop violence, language and some nudity.

Runtime:

94 min | 98 min (extended version)

Country:

Germany | France | UK | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Malaysia:18SG | France:-12 | Brazil:16 | Iceland:16 | Mexico:C | Sweden:15 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 (cut) | Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M (original rating) | New Zealand:R13 (DVD rating) | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #41009)

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Constantin Film Produktion

Trivia:

During the church scene, when Alice fires at the motorcycle to kill one of the Lickers, the slow motion bullets have the Umbrella logo on the rear of the shells.

Goofs:

Continuity: After L.J. crashes his Cadillac, the reflection of fire can be seen in the window. When he gets out in the next shot, the reflection is not there.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Alice: My name is Alice. I worked for the Umbrella Corporation, the largest and most powerful commercial entity in the world. I was head of security at a secret high-tech facility, The Hive, a giant underground laboratory developing experimental viral weaponry. But there was an incident. The virus escaped and everybody died. Trouble was... they didn't stay dead.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Resident Evil: Apocalypse - Stuntman Set Tour (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Digging Up the Corpses

More elements of the game included, worth a matinée.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I think that's what makes IMDb such a great site for reviews. When a movie trailer peaks my interest, one of the first things I do is come to this site to see what others have thought about the film. Usually there are a variety of opinions ranging from "excellent" to "pure crap" for any movie, no matter how ridiculous it may seem to me and I respect that. It's very disappointing however, to check the reviews and see that virtually no one appreciated a movie that I had high hopes for but have yet to watch. It happened with AvP, in which complaints of bad lighting, bad angles on combat scenes and a general absent-mindedness for logic in the plot ruined any anticipation that built up when watching the trailer over and over. But as I have said, everyone has an opinion and that's what makes sites like this worth checking out. I have benefited from fair reviews in which the critic still disapproves of a movie, but lists it's merits as well as it's faults.

I hope to give a fair review for Resident Evil: Apocalypse. First off, I liked this movie, a little better than the first actually. Apocalypse had a sense of urgency that I thought kept the plot rolling at a nice pace. The actor's performances were alright, I mean really, there was nothing too challenging about their roles. They just had to be convincing at looking scared, angry and eventually dead. The story was laid out decently enough, nothing too innovative or complex, but then again there was nothing innovative or complex about the games in which this movie was based from. I was a fan of the games, for the action and the sheer expasiveness of the settings where the game was played. And that's what I think made this sequel so enjoyable. There were more references and subtle details thrown into this movie making it a more complete game to movie conversion. The action scenes were okay, entertaining and not dragged out. The special effect scenes involving the lickers, explosions, etc were par for the course really, but it was nice to see the slow-mo bullet sequence appear here as it has become a staple of any movie in which a gun is used since the success of the first Matrix and whatever movie the Wachowski Bros ripped it from. The overall location and set of this movie are fantastic, which is it's real claim to fame here. Eerie atmosphere, labyrinthine city, danger around every corner gave the movie the edge that the first didn't quite nail. And finally, the costumes were passable. I liked the Nemesis design, very true to the game and brought to the movie with the same intensity as it had in RE 3. And finally, what everyone thought sent the movie overboard was the Uber-Alice. Did it ruin the movie? Not really. Could the movie have ended the same way if ALice didn't have these powers, I think so. But it would have taken some thought. They destroyed the mutated licker in RE1 okay enough without super powers. Why not just steal Nemesis' bazooka?

The review is getting long here, so I'll wrap it up quickly. Resident Evil Apocalypse is a good movie if measured in terms of action, explosions and atmosphere. It's not going to win any awards for acting at the Oscars, and it's certainly not getting any attention in the horror genre for new and innovative ways to kill people. It's just a flat-out good flick worth a matinée price.