WARNING: This Review May Contain Spoilers
So just a quick opening disclaimer, I have never played the games that these films are based on so don’t worry, there will be no comparing. I wanted to take a look at whether making six films may have gone a little too far.
Alice
Obviously, I can’t cover these films and not talk about the most important character of the whole franchise. I enjoy that fact that, even though her memory comes back slightly by the end of the first film, we don’t actually find out her name – not until the opening of the second film anyway. Something I’ve always wondered is whether Alice is her real name because she is referred to a few times as Project: Alice.
I know in the later films they start dressing Alice in a way that is much more suitable for combat but I just feel there’s something a little more badass about the red dress and boots combination in Resident Evil.
As the films go on, more experiments and, I guess, upgrades are done to Alice. I have to admit, if I was her I would be pissed off too.
Umbrella Corporation
Why is it whenever something goes wrong, that borders on being world ending, more often than not there is a big corporation behind it all? Wayland Industries, Cyberdyne System, Umbrella Corporation but only one of those three caused a worldwide zombie apocalypse. Of course, we discover that the T-Virus, a creation of Dr Ashford’s (or is it Dr Marcus, I’m not too sure) to save his daughter only to have flesh-eating consequences, has other uses – including military. It is this same virus that mutates inside of Matt in the first Resident Evil film and causes the Corporation to place him in their Nemesis Programme, making him a living, breathing weapon. No surprise that Alice turns out to be his intended target.
Of course, as the saying goes curiosity killed the cat, but this time – it killed the whole of Racoon City and more. I always wonder if these big corporations are deliberately stupid, because they actually carry on messing with the virus.
Wonderland References
I’m probably a little late to the party, and of course I can’t say for certain it was deliberate but I’ve noticed references to Alice in Wonderland while watching the six films, the most obvious being that the lead character is called Alice. In addition to the malevolent and benevolent (that might be little bit of a stretch) A.I.s are named the Red Queen and White Queen respectively. In a weird way, and this is my opinion, the entry into The Hive in Resident Evil is almost a figurative representation of going down the rabbit hole.
Game Characters
I know I said at the beginning that I wasn’t going to make comparisons to the games but I guess I lied, slightly. So, I did a little bit of research. Those of you who have played the games, I’m sure you know that Alice does not feature what so ever and was only created for the films. However, there are characters that appear from Resident Evil: Apocalypse onwards that are actually main protagonists from the games but have been cast as ancillary characters in the films. In Apocalypse, we are introduced to Jill Valentine, a member of the Raccoon City Police Department.
In Resident Evil: Extinction, we are introduced Claire Redfield, the sister of Chris Redfield who is played by Wentworth Miller in Resident Evil: Afterlife. Also, there is Ada Wong and Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil: Retribution. Last, but not least, there is Albert Wesker – the chairman of the Umbrella Corporation, who features from Resident Evil: Resurrection onwards.It’s not clear why this decision was made, but it seems they have decided to rectify this as a reboot of the films is being made in 2021.
Zombie Dogs
Obviously I do not know, but as they turn up in all the films except Resident Evil: Retribution – I am going to assume that these hell hounds are a homage to the games. I only have one question regarding this though, how are they all the same breed? They are all Dobermans! Even the dogs owned by the hillbillies (are we allowed to use that term?) own Dobermans – just like in the lab of The Hive in Resident Evil, in Racoon City School in the second film (why there are dogs in a school I have no idea) and on The Arcadia in Resident Evil: Afterlife.
Transitions
That’s possibly the wrong word for what I am about to talk about but it was the best way to describe it. Since Resident Evil when Caplin opens his laptop to show Alice the schematics of the Hive, we are shown several similar scenes throughout the six films of a blue-print style of any building related to the Umbrella Corporation. What I love about that is that it gives the feel of a game – like when you see a map of the next level you need to complete.
Clone Encounters
We discover in Resident Evil: Extinction that clones are being made of Project: Alice but an even bigger realisation is brought to our attention in Resident Evil: Retribution because we discover that it is not just her likeness they have used. To supplement the Umbrella test centres, there are several clones made, including some very familiar faces which makes me beg the question – were the soldiers in the first two films real people, or were they clones as well?
This also makes it possible for characters such as Isaacs and Wesker to last as many films as they do even though we see Alice kill them.
Changes to History
So here I have a little problem with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Maybe the history they tell at the start of the film is based on that of the game but the question I have is, why suddenly change? In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, we are told that it is Dr Ashford that creates the T-Virus to help his daughter Angelica, and he creates the Red Queen in her likeness. So why suddenly is it Dr Marcus saving his daughter Alicia, and that it’s Dr Isaacs that creates the Red Queen? If any gamers are reading this, I would be really grateful for an explanation…
Unanswered Questions
This is my other issue with the final Resident Evil film. It’s all well and good that we know Claire is still alive following the explosion of the Arcadia at the end of Resident Evil: Afterlife, and the reason why,but what about Chris and K-Mart? Are they dead? Were they captured too? Claire doesn’t mention them at all when she tells Alice the story and you would have thought if she cared about them she would have tried to find out – but it’s as if they never existed.
In Conclusion If I am honest, I was expecting to say that the fifth and sixth films of the Resident Evil franchise were a waste of time and there was no need for them to be made – especially as I did not enjoy Resident Evil: Retribution the first time I saw it. I won’t pretend that I don’t still feel that it is the weakest of the set but it has its place. I enjoy the fact that the story comes full circle, beginning and ending in the same place. Just prepare yourself for unexpected realisations.
