Resident Evil: Extinction
There are two types of people to whom this mindless bit of fall diversion will appeal: video-gamiacs and zommeliers. The former may well be satisfied to see their favorite icons and plot lines from the "Resident Evil" series writ large a third time. The latter will be saddened to discover that better zombies can be found prefab in party stores for Halloween.
Following the thread from both the games and the previous films (2002's "Resident Evil" and 2004's "Resident Evil: Apocalypse"), a virus that turns living humans into flesh-eating zombies has ravished first America and then the world, all but exterminating the human race and plunging the Earth into an age of deserts. One woman, who has escaped the grips of both death and undeath, is on a mission to protect the few remaining survivors from total extinction.
Milla Jovovich is Alice, the no-nonsense protagonist whose blood contains the missing link for the antidote that might finally triumph over the virus. Wearing more makeup than any one of the undead extras, Jovovich has kicked, snarled, and slashed her way into the hearts of fanboys everywhere with this franchise. Despite the limitations of a role that insists she wear hot pants while firing pistols with both hands, Jovovich manages to charm with the occasional subtle expression or glance (and a glance is really all it takes - the fanboys are right about that much). The hordes of infected, however, are cheesily and predictably outfitted with stringy hair, bloodshot eyes, gray-green skin, and cranial protrusions. Aside from the occasional "boo!" effect, they offer little in the way of fear factor.
The plot smacks of the film's gaming roots: Alice faces and overcomes an obstacle, continues to hightail it with the caravan, is met by someone or something that provides information about the next leg of her journey, and proceeds toward that end. Mercifully, rather little is said over the course of an hour and a half (unless we count the infected army's grunts and growls), and the few lines exchanged by Alice & Co. are as ham-handed and clunky as the legions of zombies wandering through the desert.
It's all so much more fun when you're the one with the controller, telling the heroes what to do: Watching this stuff unfold onscreen is like sitting by while someone plays your video games without you.
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