Resident Evil: Extinction [Blu-ray]

Released: September 21, 2007 / January 1, 2008
Director: Russell Mulcahy

Reviewer: Eric

When I first saw trailers for Resident Evil: Extinction I was worried. The last Resident Evil movie was the worst zombie movie since Flight of the Living Dead. September came around and I was worried so I avoided the movie. When 2008 hit I went out on a limb and bought the Blu-ray version. It turns out Extinction isn’t all that bad.

Extinction reminded me of the good old days with the Resident Evil series. True it didn’t deal with the games too much, but I had a lot of fun watching this movie. The zombies were biting people with force and the ammo was running wild into the zombie’s heads. Finally the Resident Evil movie series has impressed me.

What makes the third movie in the franchise so great is the fact how it pretends Apocalypse never happened. Any sort of traces from that movie have been erased from the characters brains. Thank you to whoever’s decision this was.

Years after the disaster in Raccoon City, Alice is on her own. Aware that things have changed she tries to find other survivors and her ultimate goal, to take down the Umbrella Corporation, led by Albert Wesker. Traveling survivors, lead by Claire Redfield, soon cross paths with Alice, but in a way that could jeopardize every body’s existence.

Out of all the three movies in the Resident Evil franchise I’d have to say Extinction is my favorite. This is the only Resident Evil movie that brings all the action in broad daylight, something that isn’t seen too often in any zombie film. All of the action you would see in other big budget movies is in Extinction. To make things even more impressive all of these sequences are done in open spaces.

Even though I enjoyed this film a lot I was extremely disappointed with the final battle. The final battle is anti-climatic. With the blink of an eye the final battle is over, Apocalypse actually had a longer end battle. This last battle doesn’t ruin the entire movie, though it does make it seem like the movie had no real meaning, if you think about it.

You can tell Sony didn’t mess around when it came to the Blu-ray release to Resident Evil: Extinction. I can’t really compare this to the theater release or the DVD version, but everything on the Blu-ray version looks amazing. The images are crystal clear and the audio will make your ears bleed (in a good way).

Resident Evil: Extinction is one of the first Blu-ray movies that offer the picture in picture feature. Audio tracks and secondary video are in 1.1, allowing both sources to play in the main feature. This feature does work on the Playstation 3 console so there is no need to panic.

This Resident Evil film only offers one commentary track. Director Russell Mulcahy, producer/writer Paul Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt and the gentlemen and talk for this audio track. Most of the time this commentary track is more on the technical side; something movie buffs and inspiring directors would love.

Eleven deleted scenes and a four part documentary on Resident Evil: Extinction is included as well. The documentary is rather interesting and should not be missed by any zombie movie fan. Resident Evil buffs should also note that a trailer for the upcoming CGI Resident Evil movie, Resident Evil 5 and Devil May Cry 3 are also included on this disc.

Final Verdict
I learned to not judge movies on trailers ever again. Resident Evil: Extinction revives the Resident Evil movie franchise to a whole new level. Out of all the movies so far this is by far the best one in the series; it’s fresh and unique to most other zombie movies out there today. The Blu-ray version comes pack with a lot of extras with a crystal clear image throughout the entire movie. This movie is defiantly a must own for horror and zombie movie fans, even collectors of Blu-ray movies.

Rating
8.75 out of 10

Resident Evil: Extinction Trailer