Clones of Alice (Mila Jovovich) attempt to destroy the Umbrella corporation base @ Tokyo. All the clones get eliminated when Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) manages to escape and self destructs the entire base. However, the original Alice manages to find her way to the aircraft. As she is about to kill Wesker, he injects her with a neutralizer for the T Virus which is responsible for making her super human. Before he can kill her, the aircraft crashes onto the terrain and only Alice emerges from the wreckage. Six months of searching for life and a place called Arcadia leads her to Alaska where she finds the helicopter which Claire (Ali Larter) had used for her escape in the previous edition. Just as Alice is about to give up hope, Claire appears but attacks Alice. Alice manages to subdue Claire and finds a spider like gadget attached to her chest which she removes. When Claire regains consciousness, she is unable to recognize Alice or what happened before.
Claire and Alice take to the air once again searching for life. After cruising through the west coast of Canada and San Francisco, they finally arrive @ LA where they see the first sign of life atop a building. Alice crash lands the plane atop the building and meets Luther West (Boris Kodjoe), Bennet (Kim Coates), Crystal (Kacey Barnfield), Kim Yong (Norman Yeung) and Angel Ortiz (Sergio Peris – Mencheta). These guys have also heard the broadcast of Arcadia but know that it is a ship docked off the coast of LA, visible from the building top. They are disappointed that Alice was not the help they were expecting but they take her into the fold. After a bit, Alice finds out that there are 2 other occupants, a suspected criminal Chris (Wentworth Miller) and another human, Wendell (Fulvio Cecere). Together, they start plotting for a method to get out of the building and towards Arcadia.
REAL is the 4th in the franchise built out of a video game. The absolutely awesome special effects are retained in this edition as well. If anything, it gets better. Despite the fact that the lead pair is made of 2 women, the action is at par if not better than any of the so called “Man Movies” that I keep speaking about. The 3D experience would be totally worth it although I did manage to catch up with just the 2D version. All the action sequences are not brilliant but a couple of them are totally superb. The first one which involved the re-entry of Alice with her clones and the second one which is outstanding is with Claire and Alice taking on the Axe Man.
REAL retains the blood and gore that has come to be associated with the previous editions. And it also retains the gaffes. I have always wondered how Alice and Claire manage to retain their makeup even after they come out of a fight sequence, completely drenched. Some advertisement for permanent lipstick I am sure. Not to mention the fact that their acting talents leave a lot to be desired…. A LOT!!!! The support cast is pretty quite average. But Paul Anderson’s direction helps REAL retain the niche and fan following that it has created for itself. The amount of green screen sequences used would probably take REAL into the record books for sure. If you are a fan of the series then this one is a must watch. Not too many points for quality of movie making but 5 on 10 purely for the action sequences that are quite good. And for those who think this is it, Anderson leaves room for a fifth edition as well. I had mentioned it in the past but at the risk of repeating myself, “A successful franchise is one that is scaleable”. RE definitely is!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment