It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The word "extinction" points to an end, the dying out of a species, the final full stop after a long story, usually coming after a series of disasters that drive home the finality of the situation. And what better way to do that to a movie franchise based on a video game than to totally disregard anything to do with the source material in favour of a clichéd mish mash of other well loved movies. We are in familiar post apocalyptic territory as the events of the previous RESIDENT EVIL APOCALYPSE has led to a global T-Virus outbreak which is implied to have caused lakes and rivers to dry out and the land itself to die, turning the whole continent into a barren desert. Las Vegas is covered to its buildings' rooftops in sand, zombies roam the land, cannibal gangs lie in wait for unsuspecting victims, survivors form convoys to stay alive and on the movie. Good golly, it's MAD MAX all over again and every other post apocalyptic movie ever.Some time has passed since the end of RESIDENT EVIL APOCALYPSE and the virus has spread, slowly killing the world and mutating its population. Alice, now cursed with psychic powers, wanders the desert of central USA searching for survivors. A convenient twist of fate puts her back together with former allies Carlos Olivera and L.J, along with new companion Claire Radfield and her convoy of survivors heading toward the ruins of Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the Umbrella Corporation is desperate to replicate the special powers that manifested in Alice, creating clones and putting them through conditions that replicated the events of the first RESIDENT EVIL movie. Another series of convenient twists put Alicia back on Umbrella's radar and head scientist Dr Issacs will stop at nothing to recapture his lost Super weapon. Ties to the video game are nearly non-existent here as we are throw into a rather generic post apocalyptic wasteland type of tale. The cast does their best with the material they were given but they never go beyond generic archetypes. It is hard to distinctly describe each character only because they are so bland. Newcomer Ali Carter barely resembles Claire Radfield from the video games. This is a major disappointment after how Sienna Miller perfectly portrayed the video games' Jill Valentine in live action. Which brings me to my other pet peeve: where's Jill? Where's the little girl from the previous movie? All this is never explained. Instead we are treated to a half hearted attempt at a character arc with Alice feeling more disconnected with her human feelings thanks to her growing powers. Some form of digital correction seems to have been applied to Milla Jovovich's face, giving this slightly off focus effect. Maybe it was meant to make her seem less human but it just serves to emphasise her lack of emotional range, keeping her stern stare and neutral expression looking even more artificial than usual. What makes up for all these short comings is the amazing production design and the action sequences. The costumes, vehicles and facilities are uniquely crafted and just screams "badass". And this movie sports some of the best looking action sequences courtesy of director Russel Mulcahy (of Highlander fame). His wide crane shots and sweeping cinematography make the otherwise generic fight scenes look a lot better than they should. With connection to the games all but severed, we could call this movie "Alice in Zombie Land" or "Fight of the Limping Dead" instead of "Resident evil". It is the best looking entry in the series with the best fight choreography and camera-work but Character development and motivations take a back seat to sweeping action pieces and one too many convenient twists.

Resident Evil Extinction manages to dumb down the plot, action, and characters since the last film, which is an impressive "accomplishment". As hard as I try to get invested in this post- apocalyptic series, the series just keeps getting dumber.'Extinction' picks up a few years after the end of 'Apocalypse' as Alice left her group in hopes of keeping them safe from the remnants of Umbrella Corp, who are tracking Alice in order to produce more of the anti-virus. Meanwhile, Alice's life of solitude has apparently given her telekinetic abilities. Yes, it's just that ridiculous. But even with another new setting in the desert (ala Mad Max), the plot never takes any exciting twists and turns. In fact, I'm not entirely sure what any of the characters were ultimately trying to accomplish.Characters that I thought were supposed to be important are either non- existent or given anti-climatic deaths. Plus, the zombies (or whatever they are calling the undead creatures) are now able to run around and climb on top of cars and buildings? I don't know about that.Do I enjoy seeing Milla Jovovich in this role? Of course. She's been a constant bright spot through each of the first three films, but I find it hard to believe that it's enough to give a film like this a positive review. Iain Glenn is fittingly over-the-top, but why in the world does he turn into a prototypical monster in the end? At that point, the film is expectedly off the rails. Well, that's enough ranting about a film I could care less about.+Milla always impresses-What is the arc for the movie? Or any character at all?-Nothing unique4.6/10

Resident Evil: Extinction is number three in the franchise. The world is even more bleak and the infection is hyper-epidemic proportions. Milla Jokovich is surviving off the grid and the Umbrella Corporation is still performing clandestine experiments and operations.I just saw a trailer for the latest Resident Evil which prompted me to freshen up on the franchise. I also just saw Kate Beckinsale as Selene in Underworld: Blood Wars and she is a hard act to follow. Alice (Milla Jokovich) is nice. She's skilled, strong and a major badass in her own right but Selene is a notch above.Besides the Selene/Alice comparison, I think I'm suffering from zombie fatigue. I've seen countless zombie movies and what... seven seasons of The Walking Dead? I still like the zombie genre but the Resident Evil zombies are too strong and fast for my liking (not too mention the fact they were climbing structures as well). Besides Alice's new found abilities there was nothing to really distinguish this movie.

I think critics were unfair on this addition, my guess is that they just assumed it's another Resident Evil that will be like the others in their opinion. In actual fact, Extinction is far better than Apocalypse and more exciting than the first film because the story is better developed, the writing is solid and the characters are richly constructed, especially Claire Redfield's convoy who are essentially one big caring family trying to survive. The action is breathtaking too, Alice' powers really come to full effect, and the Las Vegas scene sets an uneasy atmosphere and the whole construction of that set is stunning. The infected crows scene is bloodily glorious, and when Alice uses her powers to deflect the flamethrower it looks incredible and shines bright, just like the Air-Brushing the editors used on Jovovich' face. This is the strongest in the franchise for story and character, and the balance between the two and action is brilliant.