DVD review (region 1)
Directed by Alexander Witt
Starring Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Thomas Kretschmann
Release date Out now

Military agent Alice (Milla Jovovich) awakens to find that zombies are taking over Raccoon City. After picking up some powerful weaponry and figure-hugging clothing, she hooks up with a group of survivors and sets out to find the daughter of a brilliant scientist…

Based on a video game that features players fighting off marauding zombies, Resident Evil: Apocalypse throws in a variety of disparate elements to keep things moving. There are two ass-kicking babes, a seemingly endless army of flesh-eating zombies, some environmentally unsound bioterrorists and a nosy reporter who is practically begging to be offed in a brutal fashion. Add some deadly dogs, unstoppable mutants, extravagant martial arts and sinister government conspiracies and you have a film packed with ideas, though few are original.

Director Alexander Witt sporadically shows some flair. There’s an expertly tense sequence set in a church, while the zombie children are, as you might expect, pant-soilingly creepy (as kids in horror movies always are). Yet the story tries to cram in far too much into its brief running time, and the thinly drawn characters prevent Apocalypse from being much more than an endless sequence of jumps and jolts.

Jovovich, whose brooding performance is solely based on how she good she looks when pissed off, faces stiff competition in the kick-ass heroine stakes from Sienna Guillory’s Jill Valentine, a tough cop in a tight-fitting blue top and practically invisible miniskirt. Her initial entrance, wherein she strolls into a police station, offs some zombies and strolls out, sets the agenda for the rest of the film.

This latest DVD release includes a competent selection of making-of featurettes and a commentary by Witt, Paul WS Anderson (who stuck to scripting duties this time round) and the film’s tough girl stars. Jonathan Wilkins

VERDICT: 5/10
While the original Resident Evil movie is a minor triumph, this sequel is a bit of a mess. It sparks to life occasionally, but for the most part the film is as empty and lifeless as one of its many zombies.