Review: Resident Evil - Extinction

The third incarnation of the series is in the books, and the reviews are.. eh. For anyone who hasn't seen the previous two films, here's a quick recap:

SPOILERS OF FIRST TWO MOVIES HERE, PLEASE SKIP IF YOU HAVE SEEN THEM!!!! SCROLL DOWN TILL YOU SEE MORE BOLD TEXT!!!!

The Umbrella Corporation has created a mutagenic biological weapon known as the T-Virus. Being researched at the hive underneath Raccoon city, the Red Queen (intelligent computer running Raccoon City) decides that the only way to save the whole is to kill those inside the hive. It also wipes the memory of Alice (seen left). Alice ends up in the hive, where all of the staff are now infected, and undead. After destroying the Red Queen, Alice and one other manage to escape, though they are captured by the Umbrella Corporation to be used for additional research towards the T-virus. Alice later awakens to find Raccoon city in ruins, and seemingly abandoned.


In the second installation, an Umbrella Corporation returns to the hive (roughly half a day after the first one ended) to open it up and find out what happened. They are quickly slaughtered by the T-virus infected zombies inside. With the doors to the hive now open, the undead quickly overrun Raccoon City. As citizens attempt to make their way to the quarantine areas, the infection reaches them, and they are ordered to go back into the city or be killed by the Umbrella Corporation. Meanwhile Alice awakens, and having been experimented on by the Umbrella Corporation, has developed superhuman abilities from the T-virush. Inside the city, several STARS and Umbrella soldiers realize that Umbrella has betrayed them. They strike a deal with the scientist who developed the T-virus, rescuing his daughter in exchange for escape. Alice aids them, but as they are about to be extracted, Nemesis appears and tries to kill them. Alice defeats Nemesis, and they escape. Raccoon city is then destroyed by a nuclear warhead. Alice's escape helicopter is caught in the blast, and she is impaled, presumably dead. The film continues to show her brought back to Umbrella and again experimented on. She is "rescued", but her eyes flash the Umbrella logo, setting up the next film.

PLEASE CONTINUE READING HERE-----

The third film picks up where the second one left off..duh. Umbrella is unsuccessfully trying to use Alice's blood to create a cure for the T-Virus. Lots of blood and gore ensue. I'm not going to spoil it because there are some of you out there who WILL see the movie.

I will tell you that I did enjoy the movie. It wasn't the greatest, but the director did a good job of creating moments where you knew you would jump. It has a sense of predictable fear to it. You kind of know what will happen before it does, but it works. The story is decent, nothing spectacular, and does work to explain more what is going on with Umbrella. This third installation does keep the "feel" of the other films, so if you didn't like those, its likely you won't like this one. However, there is some good blood and gore, and Milla does a decent job.

Good movie for getting the ladies to jump into your arms guys. ;-). Ladies, an excuse to get close to that special guy, ;-).

I'm giving it a 6 out of 10. If you see it, let me know what you think! Oh, and at the end of the credits, there is something that is somewhat creepy... kinda creeped me out a bit.

Movie Trailer Effectiveness

First off, I'd like to throw a shout out to Chaseblogger and thanks for the plug I got on his blog!

Movie trailers.. either you love em or you hate em. I personally love em. I love seeing what new movies are going to come out and get an idea of what I'm in for, or what to avoid. A website that always has great movie trailers is Apple. Now I know a lot of people actually plan what time they go to the movies by when the trailers will end. I never understood this! Trailers are an important part of seeing a movie! There is the other end of the spectrum also. Anybody remember Wing Commander? Nope, but some people remember that there was a trailer for Star Wars: Episode 1 before it! Now I wasn't working at the movies then, but I heard that some theatres actually had to make sure people weren't buying tickets just for that purpose. Funny huh?

Now what made me think about this topic?

Well recently a co-worker and I were discussing trailers, and the difference between Red Band and Green Band trailers. What is the difference, you might ask? Well, here's what Wikipedia's article has to say about it:

A green band is an all-green graphic at the beginning of the trailer, usually reading "The following PREVIEW has been approved for ALL AUDIENCES by the Motion Picture Association of America," and sometimes including the movie's MPAA rating. This signifies that the trailer adheres to the standards for motion picture advertising outlined by the MPAA, which includes limitations on foul language and violent, sexual, or otherwise objectionable imagery. Trailers that do not adhere to these guidelines may be issued a red band, (which used to be blood red) which reads "The following PREVIEW has been approved for RESTRICTED AUDIENCES ONLY by the Motion Picture Association of America," and may only be shown before an R-rated, NC-17-rated, or unrated movie. (The Amityville Horror (1979 film) carried this banner^[1]). A yellow band is a yellow graphic that reads "The following PREVIEW has been approved ONLY for AGE-APPROPRIATE internet users by the Motion Picture Association of America" (for example, the trailer for Halloween). The MPAA also mandates that trailers not exceed two minutes and thirty seconds in length, and each major studio is given one exception to this rule per year.

Does this make a huge difference in the film's appeal? Well I'm going to take a recent example where I think it did, with Resident Evil 3: Extinction. First, here is the green band trailer:




Makes the movie look pretty tame. I mean, you can tell that there are some action sequences and it gives you an idea what the movie will be like, but wait. Here is the red band trailer: Keep in mind that it may not be appropriate for all audiences.. you have been warned.



For those of you who watched it, there is quite a difference in the two huh? I had already planned on seeing the movie before, but after seeing the red band trailer, I knew I would see it, because it seemed so much more exciting. Weird how different those two trailers are huh? Most theatres won't be caught dead playing red band trailers, since there are green band trailers out there which already cause complaints with parents and others. However, I feel that when used in the right setting, red band trailers can be extremely effective!

What do you guys think? If you watched them both, which do you think would be better for the movie's promotion? Sorry I don't have an example of a yellow band trailer to show...