The Milla Jovovich Resident Evil movies are officially over thanks to this reboot. Her husband, Paul W. S. Anderson, didn’t write or direct this one (producer only), so we should be in the clear. Maybe I’m speaking too soon since this latest installment was a giant stinking bomb. In a decade or so, they will bring back an aging Milla, still doing L’oreal commercials, to once again take on the Umbrella Corporation…I would watch it.

Everyone’s problem with the Milla films was that they didn’t follow the games at all. The characters were there in the sequels, and it did overall keep the tone of the mega-popular gaming franchise, but the stories were completely separate. Neither the movies nor the games’ plots made sense, so that’s the most common point. It’s still a very popular brand, so Hollywood has to capitalize on it even though the movies are way behind the video games. In the games, you are now fighting werewolves and vampires in a foreign country, and Raccoon City has long been destroyed, whereas the movies are still in Raccoon City, and the year is 1998.

It’s in that year because this movie desperately wants to follow the games. Mega corporation Umbrella owns Raccoon City, where they do their experiments on the citizens to create bio-weapons. We observe many characters from the games, such as Claire, Leon, Chris, etc., as they try to escape the dying city and investigate a mansion that belongs to the owner of Umbrella. The movie essentially takes the plots of the first two games and merges them into this movie which is one of its many mistakes.

Johannes Roberts takes over as writer and director. He directed those 47 Meters down movies which are cheap shark movies. Judging by this movie, I’m sure those movies are bad also. I can’t believe this was released in theaters since it has all the qualities of a direct-to-streaming or DVD movie. Everything about it ranges from bad to amateurish, whether it be the writing, directing, cinematography, acting, action, gore, and especially the visual effects. It’s telling when the visuals are much worse than the original 2002 movie. Look at both versions of the Licker from these movies, and you’ll see the difference in quality.