In the uncomfortably near future, that pesky T-virus has gotten out of control (yet again), zombifying most of the human race and wrecking pretty much everything else. Now the planet is full of the undead roaming around sun-baked deserts, hungering for the perfect tan.

A small community of survivors is traveling through the wasteland in a convoy of reinforced trucks and spiked buses, on the lookout for gas and food. Eventually they run into their lone, gritty, well-armed savior ... Mad Max! I mean, Alice (Milla Jovovich), making her own way while trying to avoid the menacing clutches of the Umbrella Corporation. As the shady Umbrella people try to do various amoral, restorative, or evil things that don’t make much sense, our desperate heroes face increasingly tough odds as they’re forced to take on the ultimate city of sand and sin, Las Vegas...

Personally, I’m a sucker for postapocalyptic settings as well as zombie flicks. Filmed in what must be some truly arid regions of Mexico, the third installment of the Resident Evil series achieves a mood of tangible lifelessness. Although it takes place mostly outdoors, I honestly don’t remember seeing so much as a single green plant.

For fans of Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Iain Glen returns as the sinister Dr. Isaacs, and Mike Epps is back as L.J. in a more serious turn for the character. I was glad to see Oded Fehr, as Carlos, given more to do than just run around in body armor; I like him as an actor, and he seemed natural in the desert again. I know many folks will see this movie primarily for the Milla Jovovich eye-candy factor; while covered up more to protect her from the elements, the beautiful Alice is back in all her butt-kicking glory, along with perpetually tweezed eyebrows, strangely glowing skin, and ever-increasing abilities.

As before, Jovovich conveys both strength and vulnerability quite effectively. In an improvement over the previous two movies, the useless machismo has been toned down significantly for Extinction. (When characters are ultimately one-dimensional, smartass tough talk doesn’t make them more likeable.) Some of the better moments involve tastes of what existence is like in this wasteland, such as the distribution of dwindling food and cigarettes; it’s interesting seeing how people might adapt to lacking what we take for granted. (I can’t call it realistic, however; in a world that’s all sand and dust with no showers, there was nary a smudge on anyone’s face. Alice didn’t even seem to have pores.)

Of course, this is still a Resident Evil movie, so there are certain staples we can’t avoid no matter how silly they might get: high-tech underground facilities, crazed zombie dogs, an infected bite victim who stays with the group, a butt-ugly monster, and Milla Jovovich waking up naked. The new setting helps distract from the fact that the movie recycles much of the structure and key elements of the previous two films, but at times it still feels a bit tired. In addition, some of the elements could’ve been borrowed from other films, and anyone who has seen Day of the Dead will experience some serious déjà vu. The same issue was quite forgivable with, say, 28 Days Later, because that film was really scary and had more to say; but like the first two installments, Resident Evil: Extinction remains ultimately shallow and often dumb despite the scale of destruction and anti-corporate-evil message, and the points of unoriginality don’t help here.

However, the battle scenes are decent, the settings and zombies look good, and there’s some great Hitchcockian suspense. If you’re craving mindless action, zombie fleshmunching, worldwide devastation, or Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil: Extinction is good for a fix.

Review Rating:
6.5 out of 10 times I expected Alice to start juggling those machetes.

Resident Evil III: Extinction was better than 2, but not as good as 1. There was a lot to dislike in this one, like mainly for the blatant times it rips off Day of the Dead, the "Bub" scene is almost a shot for shot remaking, and some of the fight sequences were laughable, not to mention some of the story line was nothing better than a bad Bond movie.

There was some good in this one as well. The infected crow bit was pretty nifty, the isolation factor was good, the zombie effects were well done and some of the carnage is off the charts, so not everything smells like a seven day old rotting corpse.

Worth a look if you're a fan of the series or nothing else is playing you want to take in, but I would like to know where I could get ahold of one of those Milla clones for personal use.

5 of 10