The evil Umbrella Corporation has yet another viral plan for the end of the world—and this time, they really mean it. Well, mostly, anyway. (Note:
The Final Chapter subtitle would make Jason Voorhees chortle behind his hockey mask.) The last few installments in this series have risen far beyond guilty pleasure status, smuggling in some surprisingly formalist themes among all of the nifty explosions and CGI skin eating. This supposed concluding chapter, however, unfortunately seems impatient to get on with it, jettisoning most of the inventiveness in favor of revisiting the same old zombie-clogged hallways and corridors. Even director Paul W.S. Anderson’s reputation as one of the few filmmakers to really use 3D effectively is stymied by a newly rapid editing style. On a basic genre level, this still mostly works, mainly thanks to Milla Jovovich, who has few peers when it comes to nonchalantly wiping out an entire fleet of ghouls. Fans of the franchise, however, may want to consider just watching the previous one again.
By
Andrew Wright