Resident Evil: Apocalypse UMD-Video Review

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Title: Resident Evil: Apocalypse: UMD-Video For PSP

Region: One

Genre: Sci-Fi Horror Action

Stars: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Thomas Kretschmann, Jared Harris, and Mike Epps

Writer: Paul W.S. Anderson

Based Upon Capcom’s Videogame: “Resident Evil”

Director: Alexander Witt

Feature length: 94 minutes

Extras: Previews

Languages: English, French, Italian, and Spanish Language Stereo Sound

Subtitles: English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Portuguese, and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 28

Sound: Stereo Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2004/UMD Release: 2005

Theatrical Distributor: Screen Gems

Home Video Distributor: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

“Resident Evil: Apocalypse” picks up where the first film left off with Alice (Milla Jovovich) finding herself seemingly alone in a burned out city ravaged by the flesh eating living dead who were once the innocent citizens of Raccoon City now infected with the Umbrella Corporation’s T-Virus. Having walled off the city completely to contain the outbreak, citizens attempting to escape through the lone checkpoint are suddenly cut off and threatened with the use of deadly force when evidence of the virus at the gate appears after a person succumbs to the effects of a zombie bite and consequently attempts to attack the closest uninfected being around him. Umbrella Corporation knows that if the virus should leak out of Raccoon City, there is virtually no way to contain it, but perhaps even more worrisome to the multinational conglomerate is evidence of the secret biomechanical research that was performed underneath the city, which could financially ruin the company. So at dawn the plan is to set off a tactical nuclear device and blame it on a reactor meltdown. Thus the infection and the truth are both neutralized.

Trapped among the hapless living struggling to find a way out of the city are Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), a sexy no nonsense detective that’s handy with a pistol, Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), a member of an elite SWAT like peacekeeping force that has discovered too late that he and his fellow STARS officers are nothing more but expendable assets for the Umbrella Corporation. Mike Epps adds comic relief as a small time hood just trying to stay alive amidst the chaos around him. Our heroes unite through various circumstances to save the young daughter of Dr. Ashford (Jared Harris), the scientist who created the mutating T-Virus and whose daughter was the model for the homicidal hologram “The Red Queen” that attempted to kill Alice in the Hive in the first film. However Alice has changed. Somehow through her own genetic makeup she has a natural ability to assimilate the mutating properties of the T-Virus, giving her enhanced strength, speed, and agility as well as a sense for those infected around her without becoming a monster herself. Unfortunately Matt (Eric Mabius as seen in flashbacks from the first film) was not so lucky. He has mutated into the lethal monstrosity “Nemesis” and the folks at Umbrella Corporation are using this catastrophe as an arena to pit Alice against Nemesis in an urban battle royal.

While the first film was intended as a prequel to the popular videogame series, “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” is a dramatic adaptation based on elements from the games itself. In particular the film reenacts images and situations of “Resident Evil: Nemesis” and “Resident Evil: Codename Veronica” and brings together characters introduced in the videogames for the first time in live action form while also assembling the zombie dogs, lickers, and of course lots of flesh eating zombies. While the first film emphasized the horrific aspects of the game series, this film places the Umbrella Corporation in the forefront as the true villain behind all of the carnage occurring in the story. Produced and written by Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed the first film as well as the “Mortal Kombat,” movie and “Alien Vs. Predator,” Anderson proves again that he has a gift for taking material that normally would seem inadaptable for the big screen, like a video game franchise, and create a popular feature film series that hopefully fans of the film will appreciate while those not familiar with the games at all can still enjoy at face value. Anderson is as much a genre film fan as anyone and I think that is why he is good at what he does. He is passionate about the material and has a gift for making others excited about his projects too. Anderson was heavily involved in the pre-production and post-production of “Resident Evil: Apocalypse,” but he left the directing to Alexander Witt, who has experience working with a number of well known filmmakers behind the scenes.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s UMD edition of “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” presents the film in a modified (1.78:1) aspect ratio instead of presenting the movie in an anamorphic (2.40:1) aspect ratio that would preserve the way the film was exhibited theatrically. I have noticed a few Disney titles have done this too. As I’ve noted before, there are three methods the PSP will playback a UMD movie. If someone wants to see the image in a larger frame they could magnify or simply have the image fill the screen and get nearly the same results. The picture quality is quite good. A somewhat aggressive and well-rounded English Stereo Soundtrack is also encoded onto the disc along with French, Italian, and Spanish Language Stereo Soundtrack options as well as English, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Portuguese, and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the UMD. Trailers for “xXx” and “Spider-Man 2” are also included and the interactive menus are well rendered and easy to navigate.

“Resident Evil: Apocalypse” is available on UMD-Video for the PSP now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

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