[REVIEW] Resident Evil: Apocalypse

One of the most enjoyable things about Resident Evil: Apocalypse is that the part of Raccoon City is played by a quite recognizable Toronto: Raccoon City Hall is the same Toronto City Hall that I pass by on a regular basis, the skyline in outline and in detail is the same one that I know, the Bloor viaduct and Don valley make a good perimeter for the doomed city, and Pizza Pizza has apparently managed to make it to the region of the Arklay Mountains. There's something amusing about seeing zombies ravaging my city in daylight, just before the mushroom cloud of the five-kiloton tactical nuclear weapon obliterates everything.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse is a by-the-numbers movie, entirely predictable in the manner of all horror movies. As I said last night to G., I knew that Dr. Ashford's expression of concern for his daughter's well-being would shortly thereafter be followed by a scene showing his daughter's endangerment in the course of the Umbrella Corporation evacuation. Even though its depiction of a corrupt and managerial technoculture that is capable of unleashing, by accident, the worst possible catastrophes is something that was done already and better in the first Resident Evil, I still had an enjoyable hour and a half in front of the Samsung widescreen. I just really like the zombies overrunning Toronto--that's classic.