You know where you stand in a hell hole. Folks lend a hand in a hell hole.
You know where you stand in a hell hole. Folks lend a hand in a hell hole.
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Resident Evil 2 is the sequel to Resident Evil, and a spin off from the successful Resident Evil video games.
We pick up the story with Alice (Milla Jovovich) waking up in the Umbrella Corporation's Raccoon City Facility. Umbrella is the tyrannical corporation responsible for the T-Virus. The T-Virus has escaped into the general population, turning them into flesh-eating zombies. Umbrella main-man, Major Cain (Thomas Kretschmann) quarantines the city, trapping millions of civilians within its walls. This isn't just to contain the T-Virus. Kretschmann intends to use Raccoon City as a testing ground for his Nemesis Project. Alice soon hooks up with Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and special ops macho man Carlos Oliveira (Oded Fehr). They are contacted by Dr Ashford (Jared Harris) to rescue his daughter, who is trapped somewhere in Raccoon City.
This film is a case of good, bad and ugly. I felt that the story was convoluted, and spent the first twenty minutes of the film wondering what was happening. The plot (and sub plot) cover so much information, and therefore take such time to explain, that I felt that the story-telling was crammed in between action sequences. The action itself is great; lots of guns and bombs and stunts and fire and martial arts. It looks really good. However the protagonists spend so much time fighting with Umbrella henchmen, that the zombies merely become an afterthought, sporadically popping up as though a crew member has said "we haven't seen a zombie for a while." The acting is good, with all the cast doing the best for their characters. Unfortunately the script is awful. When Alice tells Jill that Umbrella intends to drop a nuke on Raccoon City, Jill's response is "what yield?" Not the normal reaction to being told you're going to be blown up. The clichés keep on coming, one of the special ops guys comes out with the timeless "We're assets; expendable assets" line. I thought that the costumes in the film were super, for the most part. Alice, Jill and Carlos look cool. The zombies are good too. However the film is let down by the Nemesis costume, which is the sort of thing Hannibal Smith used to wear on the A-Team, and the Umbrella troops. The baddies all wear black motorcycle helmets. Presumably they are the same extras or stuntmen appearing over and over, and therefore need to have their faces covered, but a bulk buy of black motorcycle helmets looks cheap in my opinion.
There are plenty of extras on the DVD, and I think that's great. You can have commentary by the director, Alexander Whitt, or by Milla Jovovich, or by writer Paul WS Anderson. There's some bloopers showing actors forgetting their lines, falling over, and so on. You get loads of deleted scenes, and a "making of." I thought that the extras were good, and a worthwhile addition to the DVD.
You can buy Resident Evil 2 for six quid from Blah DVD or Amazon.co.uk. However I can only recommend this film to hardcore fans of Resident Evil. If you're a committed horror or sci-fi fan, look elsewhere; there's nothing for you here.
Pictures of Resident Evil 2 - Apocalypse (DVD)
Alice
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Production Year: 1998 - Horror - Director: Stephen Norrington - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson, N'Bushe Wright, Donal Logue, Udo Keir, Traci Lords, Udo Kier
I wish the film was more like the game! then it would rock
super-t 10.08.2007 11:39
Love the title! great review
dvdsprks2 22.06.2007 10:43
Great review, I love both of those films, I think that the first was the best though so was slightly disappointed in this one which is what you put over in your review. I have this dvd and will watch it again. Keep up the good work
2002's popular video-game-derived hitResident Evildidn't inspire confidence in a sequel, ... more
butResident Evil: Apocalypsedefies odds and surpasses expectations. It's a bigger, better, action-packed zombie thriller, and this time Milla Jovovich (as the firs...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
After narrowly escaping the horrors of the underground Hive facility, Alice (Milla ... more
Jovovich, Fifth Element) is quickly thrust back into a war raging above ground between the living and the undead. As the city is locked down under quarantine, Alice join...
2002's popular video-game-derived hitResident Evildidn't inspire confidence in a sequel, ... more
butResident Evil: Apocalypsedefies odds and surpasses expectations. It's a bigger, better, action-packed zombie thriller, and this time Milla Jovovich (as the firs...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
My name is Alice and I remember everything... The sequel to the 0 million hit Resident ... more
Evil: Apocalypse is again based on the wildly popular video game series and picks up where the first film ended. The zombies are back and so is Alice (Jovovich). S...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days