Alice awakes in Raccoon City, only to find it has become infested with zombies and monsters. With the help of Jill Valentine and Carlos Olivera, Alice must find a way out of the city before it is destroyed by a nuclear missile.
With the first film being a huge profit maker, a sequel was an inevitability.
Paul W.S. Anderson started writing the screenplay immediately after completing the first film, however he bowed out of directing as he was too busy getting ready to direct “AVP: Alien vs. Predator” at the time. Directorial duties were given to first time Director Alexander Witt, I feel for Witt as he had so many people butting in telling him what to do and to stick to Anderson’s screenplay, he hasn’t directed another film since.
I initially had no interest in this film, that was until I was told that the ‘Jill Valentine’ character was finally going to be introduced. This was a spark of hope as finally my favourite character was going to be on the big screen, unfortunately once again I was let down. I don’t blame Sienna Guillory, the actress who portrayed her, but the script and the way her character was written was abysmal.
Seriously, the screenplay for this film is one of the worst I’ve seen, if you told me that Uwe Boll wrote and directed this film I’d have believed you, that’s how terrible I found this film to be. The movie uses elements of the plots of the games “Resident Evil 2” and “Resident Evil 3: Nemesis” but it’s such a mishmash and it looks like no one has any idea of what’s going on properly.
The kicker for me was the character of ‘L.J.’, now I’ve got nothing against Mike Epps but here we had a stereotypical black comedic character being the stereotypical comic relief for the film. It just wasn’t needed at all and I’m still not sure how this character made it on screen, there was no need and it just made cringe so hard and I know it was the same for many others.
“Resident Evil Apocalypse” is an abomination of a sequel and I’ll never understand how it got made, don’t get me started on the awful monster either.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
It was Milla Jovovich’s idea about having the heat wave in Raccoon City as the reason why her character and Jill Valentine are wearing very few clothes. Unfortunately, the shoot was in November in Toronto.
Sienna Guillory based her movements of Jill by watching the way Jill moved in the game Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999).
Oded Fehr had little difficulty in playing a character so familiar with handling guns – he was trained in the Israeli army.
The trailer for this film was one of the most watched on the Internet, with 8.5 million downloads from November 2003 to May 2004.
As in the first film, the zombies were mainly all professional dancers. They attended an “undead boot camp” where two of the cardinal rules were no dragging feet and no outstretched arms.
When Jill, Alice, Carlos, and LJ have Angie and Alice is talking on the phone to Dr. Ashford. Jill is holding her waist like she’s in “Caution”, a term used in the Resident Evil games to show what your health status is. There are for levels of health status “Fine”, “Yellow Caution”, “Red Caution”, and “Danger”. Earlier Peyton was in “Danger” because he had to be carried by Jill and Terri which is another relation to the Resident Evil game Resident Evil Outbreak when you can carry your fellow players by carrying them when they limp.
Although never addressed specifically, the infection had already started since the events of the first film. As the Red Queen had stated, the virus can change form. During the time span between the two films, the virus has spread from the “Hive” to the subterranean area of Raccoon City, apparently via the ventilation system, explaining how the undead rose from the cemetery.
The dogs were not computer-generated. Make-up was applied to them.
When L.J. is driving around the zombie-infested Raccoon City, he runs down a zombie that walks out in front of him, and then yells “GTA motherfucker! 10 points!” This is a reference to the early Grand Theft Auto point system, where the player is awarded money when committing specific criminal offenses (including running over pedestrians). Coincidentally, Capcom, which develops the Resident Evil series, also distributes Grand Theft Auto games in Japan.
“STARS” is the only word ever spoken by the Nemesis, it’s also the only word he ever speaks (repeatedly) in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999).
This ‘Resident Evil’ title was the last to be released onto the VHS format, but the first to be released onto the Blu-Ray format.
The Nemesis suit weighs over 60 pounds. His machine gun, which he had to hold with one hand, weighs about 65 pounds. Stuntman Matthew G. Taylor could only stay in it for periods of up to 15 minutes before it got too hot.
Although never mentioned specifically in this film, the holographic representation of the Red Queen in the first film was modeled after Angie, the daughter of the scientist who invented the T-virus. This was referenced in the first Resident Evil film.That being said, the sixth and final film provides a retroactive explanation about the origin of the Red Queen.
The weather map at the beginning clearly shows Raccoon City as being approximately where Philadelphia is in Pennsylvania. Other real-life towns such as Selinsgrove, Hazelton and Pottsville, all appear in their correct geographic locations.
Sienna Guillory was cast on the strength of her performance in the TV movie Helen of Troy (2003).
Sony put up a faux newspaper which shows Leon S. Kennedy as Jill’s partner being killed by zombies. Leon would later appear in Resident Evil: Retribution (2012).
A scene that was cut in the edition was a marketing ad by Umbrella. The anti-aging cream they had made was hailed as miraculous and the cosmetics products by Umbrella were supposed to be groundbreaking.
As Oded Fehr and Milla Jovovich discuss on the DVD Commentary, the zombie that gets a knife thrown into his head is (ex-)Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody.
The character of Dr. Ashford is named after the Ashford family of the Resident Evil game series. However, unlike the sympathetic film character, the Ashfords of the games were villains.
The film was originally entitled ‘Resident Evil: Nemesis’ after the third game in the ‘Resident Evil’ (aka ‘Biohazard’) video game series, of the same name, which had a similar plot. The title was later changed to ‘Resident Evil: Apocalypse’ after the release (and subsequent box-office failure) of Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).
The church took seven weeks to build.
Aside from archive footage from the first film featuring shots of Eric Mabius, the only person to return after the previous film is Milla Jovovich.
Milla Jovovich was in training for 3 months to get in shape for the film.
The word Biohazard appears many times in the movie. This is a reference to the Japanese versions of the games. In Japan the series of games is called Biohazard.
Milla Jovovich did the last part of the run down the city hall herself. Her stunt double did the first part at about 200 feet above ground.
The only theatrically released film in the series featuring undead children.
In the ending fight, the words “Finish him” are used, this is straight from the Mortal Kombat games, Paul W.S. Anderson also directed the Mortal Kombat movie.
In the scene where the group escapes the building after Alice’s showdown with Nemesis, former Evanescence drummer Rocky Gray is one of the undead in the mob that storm the rooftop right before the missile hits.
According to the writer/producer commentary, Paul W.S. Anderson mentions that the character of Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen) is a homage to actor Jason Isaacs, who made an uncredited cameo as Dr. Birkin and the film’s narrator during the opening credits of the first film.
Gina Philips was originally cast as Claire Redfield, but dropped out before production began. The character too was scrapped from Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) when Emily Bergl dropped out from the role. Claire Redfield would surface as a character in Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), this time played by Ali Larter.
Is the only film in the series to feature the character Angela Ashford, who was based on the character Sherry Birkin from the video games. Although the novelization of Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) gives some insight stating that Alice killed her under Umbrella’s control, the films have yet to provide an explanation.
When the Umbrella agents pull up to the first house of the people they’re sent to evacuate (the female scientist) the commercial playing on the TV screen in her home is a scene from the movie’s own trailer featuring the “Regenerate” product.
The original plan was for Jill Valentine to meet up with Alice. However, this idea was scrapped as Paul W.S. Anderson wanted to have two separate stories occurring at the same time.
The first trailer released for this movie (which was directed by Marcus Nispel) featured an ad run by the ‘Umbrella Corporation’ advertising a skin-regeneration product using a special formula called T-cells. In the movies and video games, the virus responsible for zombie mutations is called the T-virus. All the footage in the advert was either shot specially for the advert or from the original film. There was no footage from the film in this advertising.
Although the word “zombie” is never used in the film, it is featured in the ending credits. German comedian Tom Gerhardt who portrayed the infected father in the gate closing sequence, is credited as “zombie dad”. All other zombies are credited as “undead”.
The Region 1 DVD release contains just under 12 minutes of deleted scenes, many of which are extended scenes.
The first sequence showing Alice waking up in the hospital through to her cocking a shotgun outside, consists entirely of footage shot for the first film.
There are 47 different locations used in the movie.
Nemesis’ weapon in the movie is his trademark rocket launcher and a modified General Electric M134 mini gun that the armorer, Charles Taylor, deconstructed, shortened the barrels to 14″ and added muzzle brakes which divert the burning gunpowder to create a unique plasma effect when firing.
The city standing in as Racoon City at the beginning (right after the weather news) is of course Toronto. The famous CN tower is just to the left outside the frame. You can barely see its shadow. Most exterior shots were made in and around the city.
Natasha Henstridge was asked to play the role of Jill Valentine, but could not accept due to other work commitments.
Emily Bergl was originally cast as Claire Redfield, but left the project.
Filming took place in Canada and was threatened with shut-down when there was a SARS outbreak in Toronto. This ultimately didn’t affect the production, with filming concluding in October 2003.
Jason Isaacs was set to play Doctor Birkin, but left the project.
The costume for Nemesis was created by Kropserkel Inc. and PJFX Studios, and stands roughly 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m) tall, weighing nearly 100 pounds (45 kg). After production of Apocalypse was completed, the costume was restored and put on display at Kropserkel’s offices.
During the church scene, when Alice fires at the motorcycle to kill one of the Lickers, the slow motion bullets have the Umbrella logo on the rear of the shells.
The exterior shot of Umbrella’s headquarters as seen at the end of the movie is actually Toronto’s Exhibition Place.
The model of the buildings that is blown up in the movie is modeled after Toronto City Hall.
The type of laptop Professor Ashford uses is the Sony Vaio VGN-AX570G.
When Alice, Carlos, Jill, LJ and Angie arrive at the helicopter point, the name Lt. Gen. D. Carmody can be seen on the helicopter that is landing. This is of course, the name of one the producers of the film, Don Carmody.
The film is included on the film critic Roger Ebert’s “Most Hated” list.
The headset Maj. Cain is using is a Sony Ericsson HBH-65 Bluetooth headset.
The shot at the end of the movie is taken directly from the ending from the third ‘Resident Evil’ game, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) (aka.”Resident Evil 3: Nemesis”-USA).
Although never mentioned in the film, promotional material reveals Alice’s last name as Abernathy. This is merely a fake identity for the former Umbrella agent and not the character’s real name. This explains why the Umbrella officers usually call her “Project Alice” both in this film and the subsequent sequels.
During the commentary on the first film in the series, Resident Evil (2002), Milla Jovovich refers to her nipple appearing on screen, saying that this proves her dedication to the film. Director Paul W.S. Anderson adds that had she really been committed (to the project), she would have shown both nipples. In this sequel, she does show both nipples, towards the end while she’s in the tank.
In the final scene Alice wakes up in the aquatic incubator when she hears Angie’s telepathic call. This implies that only the individuals who managed to bond successfully with the T-virus on a cellular level, without any side effects, are the only ones capable of developing supernatural powers like telepathy.
Eric Mabius was due to reprise his role from the first film, with his character evolving into Nemesis. However, Mabius pulled out of the film shortly before production began to be replaced by Matthew G. Taylor.
The idea of Dr. Ashford pulling strings to save people inside a zombie-ridden area contains shades of Trent, a character from the Resident Evil books, written by S.D. Perry. Another similarity is that Trent’s parents, like Dr. Ashford, created the T-Virus for benevolent purposes before it was hijacked by Umbrella.
Although Nemesis is the iconic antagonist of Jill Valentine in the third resident evil game, the two never actually fight or conflict in the film as nearly all encounters with Nemesis occur with Alice. The closest they ever get to actually fighting is when he guns down S.T.A.R.S. member Peyton, Jill’s friend and partner, and she opens fire on him before taking cover and Alice proceeds to attack him after telling Jill and Terri to escape.
Although Nemesis is known for using his tentacles to attack and kill in the video game along with his firearms, he never does so in the film. According to director Paul W. S. Anderson, it would have been difficult to animate the tentacles for the film with the technology at the time (it wouldn’t be possible until Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), where Dr. Isaacs mutates into a tyrant) instead, to compensate, Nemesis uses the fore-arm mounted rail guns along with his rocket launcher, its addition was inspired by the idea of Nemesis “walking around with a gigantic, powerful weapon in each hand and almost indecisive as to which one to use”.
Nikolai is one of villains in Resident Evil: Nemesis. However he is portrayed as a hero. Mikhail from the games is replaced by original character Yuri. Oded Fehr is of Israeli descent, however, Carlos Oliviera is Brazilian (His ethnicity is ambiguous but rumoured to be Pardo or Native Brazilian. His surname is Portugese.)
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