Recapping The Resident Evil Film Franchsie

With Resident Evil: Afterlife opening this Friday September, 9 we thought it was the perfect opportunity to recap on the film legacy that is Resident Evil. As who would have thought back in 1996 when the original Resident Evil video game was released on the Playstation One, that it would spawn a countless number of sequels, spin-offs, comics, merchandise and of course the successful series of movies.

The success that Resident Evil has gained is nothing short of phenomenal  and now let’s takes a trip back down memory lane to where the franchise first started and recap the films as we all get ready for Afterlife 3D to hit theaters .

So let’s begin;

Resident Evil (2002): This is where it all began, we witness Resident Evil on the big screen and like many of you who played the Resident Evil games, I’m sure you were excited, maybe a little sceptical as video games being made into movies are more often a miss than a hit. Anyway the film hits and we are introduced to Racoon City and the Umbrella Corporation located deep within the city, and we get the first glimpse at the blue viral, the notorious T-Virus and well we all know what happens next. The viral gets smashed by an unidentified thief and seals the room, causing havoc and the initial breakout of the virus killing everyone inside.

The movie is a non-stop action packed horror movie, and we are introduced to Alice (Milla Jovovich) who suffers from amnesia but knows how to kick zombie ass! We witness unstoppable zombies, zombie dogs and the most terrifying of all the Licker and at the end of the movie; we witness how bad the T-Virus has spread when we see Racoon City, empty with signs of chaos everywhere.  Alice holding a shotgun determined to survive whatever mutated creatures Umbrella has created.

Did you know George A. Romero was originally signed on as the film’s director and screenplay writer?  However his script was disapproved and it never came about, instead they hired Paul W.S. Anderson and well, the rest is history. Resident Evil was made on a budget of $33,000,000 and made a staggering $102,441,078!

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) Well how do you top a movie like Resident Evil but stay truthful to the legacy and the fans by making Alice super human?  Resident Evil Apocalypse opens with Alice (Milla Jovovich) recalling events from the first film regarding the T-Virus outbreak. The underground complex is now crawling with zombies and lickers and Racoon City has been sealed off from the rest of the world.

Here fans of the video game series are introduced to Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad) as Umbrella releases the Nemesis program to kill all remaining S.T.A.R.S operatives. The story unfolds more and Nemesis is actually her former friend Matt Addison and after a widely insane battle between Alice and Nemesis she cannot kill her friend and we witness that Nemesis has some human emotion left and they join forces to take out Umbrella.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse was criticised upon its release and some argued it was a waste of time and was only made for money, but if you’re a fan of the series I’m sure you will love it, it upped the ante and the action from the first and introduced new characters and continued the story and involved more from the games. Resident Evil: Apocalypse was made on a budget of $45,000,000 and made another staggering $129,394,835!

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007): In the third sequel it plays out more to a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max feel with zombies and we move away from Racoon City to the Mojave Desert with a group of survivors from Racoon City with Alice (Milla Jovovich) as they try to escape the zombie apocalypse.  Umbrella are out to capture Alice as she has managed to bond with the T-Virus and the effects have enhanced her instead of deforming and destroying her.

We are introduced to more familiar names from the video game series with the evil Umbrella chairman Albert Wesker (Jason O’ Mara) and Claire Redfield (Ali Larter). Albert is a research scientist who has cloned Alices DNA and is trying to create a cure but after many unsuccessful attempts the Umbrella Corporation finally pinpoints Alice’s location in the desert and they set out to capture her.

Dr. Isaacs unsuccessful in capturing Alice and in trying to cure his T-Virus infection transforms into a Tyrant, like the ones in the video games and he goes on a rampage killing everyone in his lab.

Later we see a fight between Isaacs and Alice in which Isaacs meets his demise. The movie closes to find Wesker in Tokyo, Japan announcing he will take control of the experiments in Japan, but Alice isn’t finished, she is coming for them with clones in tow.

Resident Evil: Extinction was made on an estimated budget of $45,000,000 and made $147,717,833

There’s a quick rundown of the events that have happened over the course of the films. What’s in store for Alice and the remaining survivors and the debut of Chris Redfield in Resident Evil: Afterlife? Who knows but I’m sure it will be a kickass ride and as it’s in TRUE 3D hopefully they will utilize it to the fullest and give us an in your face zombie massacre, Japanese style!

Whether you like or dislike the Resident Evil film franchise, you have to admit they are doing something right, I admire them for trying to take a different approach to the films from the video games but I always wanted a Resident Evil 2 movie based on the video game title, but then if they did that I would be complaining they should have done something more original, so it is a tough spot to be in when trying to please fans of the genre.

Anyway here’s to September 10, 2010 and the release of Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D. If you do end up seeing Resident Evil Afterlife please submit your reviews of it. Good or bad we want to hear what you thought! Look for our review as soon as it releases.