Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

That red dress was cramping my style.

Rating: 7 out of 10 (Enjoyable)

This sequel begins immediately after the events of the first movie. The zombie outbreak quickly reaches Raccoon City, a fitting start that echoes the video game, Resident Evil 2. Also borrowed is the plot (and monster) of Nemesis, the 3rd game in the franchise, with Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) joining the cast to give Alice (Milla Jovovich) some competition and some help.

I'm leaving town. I suggest you do the same.

Guillory is stunning as a S.T.A.R.S. operative, giving the best performance as she instructs others, "Try to shoot 'em in the head" after firing off a head-shot flurry on zombie perps at the police station and lights up a cigarette in her blue tube top, black skirt (that shows off her sexy legs) and holster. Jovovich bares less skin than in the first movie but her nipples blatantly show through her sheer top and undershirt, nearly excusing an underwater nude scene in the film that doesn't flatter her.

To make up for it, the film has topless zombie strippers.

AND THIS GUY.

This sequel is penned by Paul W.S. Anderson, who gave the director's chair to Alexander Witt this time. I find it amusing how Anderson did not follow the video game plot in the first movie, saying fans would not find it exciting due to familiar material, despite the fact that faithful adaptations are generally met with success, hence the love/hate relationship between fans and the first movie that strayed far from a spooky mystery in a mansion. Anderson meshes his own spin on the story well with the source material, leading to a frenetic action flick with good visuals, chilling atmosphere and solid fight choreography.

My name is Alice. And you're dead now.

Character depth is superficial at best, especially for Alice who undergoes the most change (even on a cellular level) but you can't expect more from this genre when characters exist for little more than to be killed off on a scene-by-scene basis. One plus is Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) as one of the  commandos deployed into Raccoon City by Umbrella to neutralize the zombie threat. He pulls off some cool martial arts and a neat helicopter rappel stunt when he isn't flirting with Alice, and Mike Epps is a civilian with custom-made guns that supplies nice comedic relief.

Bros before brains...

Alas, Apocalypse fails at playing to its strengths. The film zooms by at 98 minutes rather than dwelling on the spooky atmosphere, the panic, tension, and the horror that would accompany a real zombie outbreak. Instead, it opts for silly stunt scenes that defy physics and take viewers out of the movie. Regardless, it is my favorite of the series because it avoids the absurdity levels of the rest.