Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) |
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Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Action |
Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Dolby Digital Trailer Audio Commentary-Filmmakers Audio Commentary-Cast Audio Commentary-Writer And Producer Featurette-Game Over: Resident Evil Reanimated Featurette-Game Babes Featurette-Symphony Of Evil Featurette-Corporate Malfeasance Deleted Scenes Outtakes Theatrical Trailer Teaser Trailer Gallery-Poster |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2004 | ||
| Running Time | 89:57 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4,5 | Directed By | Alexander Witt |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Milla Jovovich Sienna Guillory Oded Fehr Thomas Kretschmann Sophie Vavasseur Razaaq Adoti Jared Harris Mike Epps Sandrine Holt Matthew G. Taylor Zack Ward Iain Glen Dave Nichols |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | ? | Music |
Elia Cmiral Jeff Danna Him |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English Spanish Danish Finnish Hindi Norwegian Portuguese Swedish English Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | Yes | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
In an era in which the zombie movie has been re-animated, with the likes of Resident Evil, 28 Days Later, and Dawn of the Dead, Alice returns to Zombie-Land in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. As with any movie based on a video game, don't expect any subtlety. That said, this movie has some of the coolest scenes I've seen since the first Matrix movie.
"My name is Alice, and I remember everything".
Apocalypse opens with a quick recap of the first film, and then picks up the story where that one ended. As a sequel, the producers seem to have decided that character development was not required in a movie aimed squarely at a target market of young men, who (like me) have spent their adult life happily blasting away on first-person-shooter video games.
As for the story: Alice (Milla Jovovich) wakes up from heavy sedation in the underground Umbrella labs to find that she has been genetically modified to gain superhuman abilities. Meanwhile, above ground, Raccoon City has been quarantined and closed off, as it has been overrun by flesh-eating zombies (I wonder if there are any vegetarian zombies?) BTW: Is it my imagination, or wasn't Raccoon City destroyed in the first film?
Anyway, Alice quickly arms herself in a military surplus store and teams up with a few human survivors, including the very Lara Croft-like Jill Valentine. Along the way, they pick up a stereotyped ghetto-wise-cracker for some comic relief, and begin their search for a little girl who could be their ticket out of the city. There's a lot of posing, posturing, and cocking of shotguns. It's a bit like Escape From NY meets Dawn Of The Dead.
Paul W.S. Anderson has made a career bringing computer games to the big screen. Anderson directed Mortal Kombat, and wrote and directed Resident Evil and Alien v Predator. He is currently producing the third instalment of Resident Evil, titled Resident Evil: Afterlife (to be released next year), and Driver (yet another video game adaptation). For Apocalypse, he has vacated the director's chair for Alexander Witt.
Witt is known as the king of Hollywood's second-unit directors, and he has directed action sequences for many films, including Speed, Twister, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, The Bourne Identity, xXx, The Italian Job, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Witt is no stranger to the action movie, and he expertly provides a series of highly stylised, blood-spattered set pieces that all come at a breakneck pace. Indeed, this movie has some of the coolest scenes I've seen since the Matrix.
Apocalypse is distributed by Columbia Tristar, and once again they've provided us with an expertly authored DVD.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, 16x9 enhanced.
The sharpness, black level, and shadow detail are all excellent. For example, consider the crisp images on the computer screens at 78:07, or the detail in the shadowy scenes in the church at 19:20, or in the school at 50:48.
The colour is also excellent, and the film uses coloured lens extensively to help create the various moods. The skin tones are accurate.
There are no problems with MPEG or film artefacts, but some film-to-video artefacts appear in the form of a slight shimmer on objects at times. Some edge enhancement is also noticeable occasionally, but I never found either of these issues distracting.
English, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, English Audio Commentary, Spanish Audio Commentary, and English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are present. The English ones are accurate.
This is a dual-layer disc, but the entire film (all 28 chapters) happily fits on the first layer. The second layer is used exclusively for the many extras.
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As with the first film, the audio is excellent, but sadly, unlike the first film, there is no dts audio. There are the following options: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), and three English Audio Commentaries, all Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).
The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent on the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.
The musical score is credited to Jeff Danna, with additional music by Elia Cmiral. The heavy, techno-flavoured music really suits the film and grungy mood.
Prepare yourself for one of the most aggressive surround sound experiences that you will enjoy in 2005! The surround activity is as unrelenting as the action, and the rear speakers are used effectively to help carry the score, such as at 58:15, and to provide ambience, such as the fire-fight at 14:41, or the circling helicopters at 70:20. There is also a great deal of panning between the speakers, which helps create a very immersive listening experience.
The subwoofer is also hammered throughout, such as during the deep, rumbling thunder at 18:59.
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There are plenty of genuine extras.
There are a series of themed, animated menus with audio.
Audio Commentary-Filmmakers
A screen-specific commentary provided by Director Alexander Witt, Producer Jeremy Bolt, and Executive Producer Robert Kulzer.
Audio Commentary-Cast
A screen-specific commentary provided by actors Milla Jovovich, Oded Hehr, and Sienna Guillory. Jovovich becomes a bit annoying, as do Hehr's continued attempts to be funny.
Audio Commentary-Writer And Producer
A screen-specific commentary provided by writer/producer Paul WS Anderson, and Producer Jeremy Bolt.
Featurette-Game Over: Resident Evil Reanimated (49:42)
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio, the cast and crew provide an overview to the production of the sequel.
Featurettes
Deleted Scenes (11:57)
There are 19 deleted scenes, and one alternative ending.
Outtakes (2:53)
A short gag reel
Apocalypse Trailers
Poster Gallery
The five winning submissions in their online poster design contest.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
Apocalypse was released on DVD in R1 in December 2004, as a two-disc Special Edition.
The Region 4 DVD misses out on:
The Region 1 DVD misses out on:
As a package, I would say the R1 nudges ahead by a nose. However, in terms of the feature itself, I would favour our PAL version.
Okay, so there are plot holes an entire Zombie army could march through, but Apocalypse has plenty of action, hot chicks with guns, hungry flesh-eaters, and enough action scenes to please its target audience.
The video quality is excellent.
The audio quality is also excellent.
The extras are plentiful.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using S-Video output |
| Display | Grundig Elegance 82-2101 (82cm, 16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Sony STR DE-545 |
| Speakers | Sony SS-V315 x5; Sony SA-WMS315 subwoofer |