Resident Evil: Extinction

The third, and one would hope final installment in the Resident Evil saga (though unfortunately this looks highly unlikely at the conclusion of this film) is dubbed Extinction. The T-Virus has transformed the world's population into a global zombie horde which a small band of survivors, forever forced to keep on the road in convoy, must evade in their continuing hope of forging a new life in a place untouched by the virulent strain. Under the watch of the Umbrella corporation and the evil, yet hilariously camp Dr Isaacs (Iain Glen in a shamefullly scene chewing career nadir), biogenic Alice (Milla Jovovich) encounters these nomadic road warriors and forms an unlikely alliance.

Any sense of back story and connection to the previous films, especially Resident Evil: Apocalypse, is jettisoned at the earliest opportunity as characters (Mike Epp's L.J. in particular) seem to forget that they have met our ass-kicking heroine before and the viral contagion is immediate in some infectees yet nigh on the duration of the movie for others. Writer Paul W.S. Anderson steals from himself (the tracking blueprint shot from both the original film and also Aliens Vs Predator) and shamelessly from countless other (superior) films such as Alien Resurrection (the cloning of Alice) and Day Of The Dead (attempting to reawaken the undead's human neurons) and with Romero himself making such an assured return to form with Diary Of The Dead and the recent 28 Weeks Later pushing genre boundaries, this outing feels unnecessary and dated. And that's before the zombies reach Vegas (seriously!). Loud and uninvolving, this franchise is crying out for a bullet in the head to put it out of both its and our collective misery.

Released 12th October 2007 by Sony Pictures Releasing.

Written by Simon Cole.