Category: Bad

Messages and Meaning

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter doesn’t feel like the conclusion of a series; it seems as though someone simply said, “Just throw something in for the finale so we can check it off the list.”

The film’s central theme is the salvation of humanity and what it means to be a real person, not just another clone. In theory, that’s fine, but in practice, the theme is underdeveloped and leaves you wondering why we’re even bothering with it. A few zombies, artificial intelligence, Alice, clones – the end. It’s as if we just took everything familiar from the series and threw it together haphazardly.

Alice takes the antivirus, but survives because it only killed the infected part of her. Which is nonsense. Alice already had her moment to become human again in the fourth installment, and now that this moment is a repeat – and now that we already know she’s a clone – the scene is much weaker emotionally. Plus, saving humanity comes at no cost, which is nonsense.

Plot

The plot of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is a complete failure. From the epic final scene of the previous film, we cut to… Alice rummaging through ashes. There are no epic battles, Alice has no powers, there are no interesting characters, and once again we’re wandering around Raccoon City for no reason at all. We come up with an antivirus out of thin air and get caught up in politics and cloning instead of dealing with the reality of the franchise.

Characters

Alice – Alice saves the world and survives, but it’s all done in such a clumsy way that it feels emotionally unsatisfying.

Isaac – For some reason, all of his versions – from religious fanatic to cyborg – are completely absurd and out of place.

Claire – For some reason, Claire is here, but the reason remains unclear.

Important details

Alice and Claire meet, but neither of them mentions Chris, which is absurd.

Alice’s powers never return, even though they were one of the most interesting aspects of the series.

Weskir is one of the scariest villains in the movies, but in the end, he’s defeated by… a door.