Survivors of the Raccoon City catastrophe travel across the Nevada desert, hoping to make it to Alaska. Alice joins the caravan and their fight against the evil Umbrella Corp.
And so the franchise continues…
By now the series as becoming a huge cash cow so a third entry was always going to happen, I have to say that out of the entire series this is actually my favourite, that doesn’t mean I think it’s great, it means this was the only one that I managed to enjoy just a little. I think that has to do with the location and also the fact it’s daylight for once, apparently an insistence Director Russell Mulcahy made for taking over.
Despite Russell Mulcahy taking over the reigns as Director it’s still once again Paul W.S. Andersons script so it didn’t exactly leave it with much of a chance. With his sloppy writing once again we are given a feature that has more plot holes than Swiss cheese, and even cheesier. It also manages to rip off ideas from other films and pass them off as their own, *COUGH* “Day Of The Dead” *COUGH* “Mad Max 2: Road Warrior” *COUGH*.
The original conception was that the storyline of this film would take place eight years after the events of “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” but the filmmakers ultimately decided to shorten the time gap between the two films. The story here unfolds five years after the events of Raccoon City, though you wouldn’t know it as nothing much seemed to have happened in that five years time.
Apparently it was a conscious decision to make this the bloodiest of the Resident Evil films, initially it makes you wonder why until you watch it, it’s used as a filler. Also by this entry it was obvious that the films were moving further and further away from the Horror aspect and moving more into the action genre, the Horror is treated like a hurdle it must overcome.
“Resident Evil: Extinction” is an atrocity, it’s only saving grace is the location and scenery of it and even they are a rip off.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
There were unused scenes from the original script where Alice manages to hack into the files of Umbrella. It is revealed that her real name is not Alice Abernathy but Janice Prospero.
The film was not screened for critics
The accompanying music for the first theatrical trailer is The Crystal Method’s “I Know It’s You”. Milla Jovovich provides the vocals/wailing for the song, which was released three years earlier.
Claire Redfield in the video games is in a never-ending search for her brother Chris. When the main plot of the film was planned, the original purpose of the trip to Alaska would be the reunion of Claire with her brother. The Chris Redfield subplot was scrapped and the voyage to Alaska was rescheduled as a simple quest for a safe haven.
Sienna Guillory was offered the chance to reprise her role as Jill Valentine from Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts with Eragon (2006) and the character was then written out of this sequel.
This is the only narration in the sequels that does not begin with the phrase “My name is Alice”.
The nightmares of Alice indicate that she has a mild psychic connection to her clones, since some of their memories are transferred into her subconscious. This element becomes important for the sequels.
There was much speculation that the well-known character from the video games, Leon Kennedy, would make a cameo and his role would expand in the upcoming fourth film. For a long time it was rumored that the known actor Jensen Ackles would be cast as Leon Kennedy, but this never happened.
Alice’s new costume was designed by Milla Jovovich’s clothing line, Jovovich-Hawk.
Ali Larter was cast largely on the strength of her performance in the first two Final Destination movies.
Claire Redfield’s role in the movie is different than in the games. She leads a convoy of survivors across the dead desert, but in the games, she on a mission to find her lost brother Chris Redfield.
The film’s working title was Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), a title later granted to the fourth film in the franchise.
The original script included some flashback sequences depicting the trial in the International Court of Geneva. The Umbrella executives were convicted for the genocide but the hearing came to an abrupt end when an army of undead barged into the courtroom.
The trademark double spiral-shaped injections (representing D.N.A.) now have two liquids instead of one. The one spiral contains the blue liquid (the T-virus) and the other one contains the green liquid (the antidote). The mixture is supposedly capable of bestowing the regenerative features of the T-virus but without succumbing to the atrocious side effects – mutation into an undead.
The idea for the two Kukri knives were from Milla Jovovich’s fight trainer from Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Ron Balicki.
For the crow attack scene, only two crows were used for the entire sequence. The rest of the crows were entered with special effects.
The early draft of the script reveals K-Mart’s real name: it is Elizabeth Jane Case.
One of the few additions in the latest drafts of the script is the initial attack of the desert gang. Originally Alice would discover an abandoned TV station. She would watch old footage on the screens depicting the destruction of the world due to the global infection. Her narration would unfold at that point. When the script was rewritten this scene was dropped and it was substituted with the assault scene. The only remaining hint is the fact that Alice meets the deranged family in a decrepit TV station. Her narration was also rescheduled and it now appears after the title card.
The possibility of a third film in the franchise was first discussed when Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) opened at number 1 on the US box office, earning more than $23 million in its opening weekend.
Raccoon City is clearly Detroit, Michigan from the graphic about 6-7 minutes into the film. The Detroit river and Belle Isle are clearly discernible, as is the half moon shaped industrial park to the North (towards the left in the film).
The White Queen was originally planned to appear in the first film but was excised from the screenplay. She was supposed to be the Artificial Intelligence controlling the main headquarters of Umbrella and not just the “Hive”.
Prints were shipped to some theaters under the fake title “Raccoon City” – which is the name of the city featured in many of the video games.
Temperatures would often be excess of 130 degrees on the Mexican locations. Various members of the crew frequently would have to be treated for dehydration.
This is the second movie Linden Ashby collaborated with Paul W.S. Anderson, the other was Mortal Kombat (1995), Linden Ashby played Johnny Cage.
Domesticating the Zombie in the beginning of this film is clearly a reference to George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985) when “bub” did virtually the same thing with an older phone.
The White Queen is never called specifically by name in the entire film.
The film was originally intended to be filmed in the Australian Outback but was changed to Mexico.
The Blu-Ray release was the first Blu-ray movie that offered the ‘picture in picture’ feature.
This is the first Resident Evil movie not to be released onto the VHS format, all the other movies were.
There is no dialogue at all for the first 5 minutes of the film.
In the Tokyo scene the sign next to ‘Tokyo Metro’ reads ‘Zatoichi Square’ an obvious nod to the fictional Japanese film and television character.
The crows sitting on power lines and attacking in large numbers pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds (1963).
The production still of Alice (Milla Jovovich) holding two Kukri knives is a visual reference to Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)’s Poster.
Ashanti’s first horror film.
Charlie Clouser was a last minute addition to the crew when the film’s original composer unexpectedly dropped out.
Both director Russell Mulcahy and second unit director Douglas Aarniokoski have directed films in the ‘Highlander’ series. Mulcahy directing Highlander (1986) and Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), while Aarniokoski directed the fourth installment Highlander: Endgame (2000).
There’s a sneak preview of the next Resident Evil movie Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008) in the bonus material of the DVD.
Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy and Cindy Lennox were all rumored to appear with Charlie Clausen as Chris, Jensen Ackles as Leon and Debra Marshall as Cindy.
The only entry in the series to be directed by a gay director.
Las Vegas indeed has miniature monuments representing the Sphinx, the Eiffel Tower etc.
The only film in the series to feature the character of the White Queen. No explanation has been offered for her absence in the rest of the series.
The name of the terrifying mutation that Dr Isaacs morphs into during the final sequence is never mentioned in the film. The creature however is lifted directly from the video games and is called Tyrant. The complete name of the deadly virus is Tyrant virus. T-virus is just an abbreviation.
There are 96 dead Alice clones filling up the trench at the start of the film.
The initial script explained that shortly after the events of the second film Angela Ashford was killed in an attack by Umbrella soldiers. While this was left out of the film and instead the novelization explains that Alice, under Umbrella’s control, killed her, the films have yet to provide an explanation.
The opening scene which recreates a sequence from the first film was scripted to be longer. Apart from finding the picture of the married couple , Alice would discover the rest of the clues seen in the first film, namely the hand written note or the drawer containing the weapons. Then she would enter the Red Queen’s laser chamber. For pacing reasons the scene that appears in the finished film was trimmed down. It is noteworthy that after Alice sees the picture and hears a gust of wind, she simply looks at the statue. This is the only clue that the scene is just a simulation and not an exact copy of the first Resident Evil film. The original Alice asked “Hello” after she turned to the hall with the statue.
The original script implied that the reason for the global outbreak is that rats spread the infection. Apparently the fact that these rodents live mostly underground helped them survive. Although this subplot was discarded, there is still a shot of rats dwelling in the sewers of Tokyo in the final scene of the film.
Detroit is not Raccoon City. Right around the Crow attack scene there is a reference to Alice escaping from the Detroit facility. The Umbrella Corporation has facilities in every major city.
Contrary to popular belief the chronology for the third film is definite. Although trailers and the official website reveal that the story is set five years after the Raccoon City incident, the viewer does not have to rely on promotional material. The time period that has passed by since the beginning of the global infection is actually referenced in the film itself. When the convoy enters a decrepit Las Vegas they observe that it is covered by desert sand. Alice’s lines draw attention to the fact that for 5 years there was no one left to clean up the city.
In Game of Thrones, (2011) Iain Glen’s character , Mormont’ is touched by a “stone man ” and starts a transformation also, albeit much slower. Season 5 Episode 2 “Kill the Boy” In “Resident Evil: Extinction” (2007) Iain Glen, who plays Dr. Issacs transforms into the “Tyrant” beast.
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