Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

Witt’s rambunctious sequel is equally excessive, idiotic, and enjoyable as the first film, with a superficial broads-and-bullets extravaganza that proudly wears its stupidity on its sleeve. The critic singles out the adrenalized techno-metal score, Jovovich’s sultry intensity, and Witt’s muscular action choreography as elements that keep the brain-dead film heartily alive.

The sequel benefits from low expectations as a follow-up to a mediocre video-game adaptation and ultimately delivers enough B-movie thrills to be worthwhile. It takes too long to ignite but peaks with strong action sequences featuring Jovovich battling the monster Nemesis and a clever cynical twist at the end.

The sequel does nothing to improve on the original and is undone by its first-time director's poor handling of action and plot. Alice remains kick-ass but the film lacks any emotional connection to its characters.

The film plays so much like a videogame that viewers will reach for a joystick, but without an interactive element it offers only a few glimmers of undead fun and the ever-watchable Milla Jovovich. The director provides visual razzle-dazzle but the pace deadens when zombies are offscreen.

The film is tedious and inept in marginally different ways to the original, with a worse script despite slightly better direction. It is a soulless, scare-free zombie drone that exploits its fanbase.

The critic calls this the deeply inferior sequel to the first film. A corrupt biotech corporation unleashes zombies in Raccoon City, forcing Milla Jovovich and Sienna Guillory to fight their way out amid exploding skyscrapers.

The critic finds the setup efficient for delivering sub-Lara Croft-style action but deems the execution by Witt uneventful despite the body count. Prospects for a follow-up leave the heart plummeting.

The sequel is calamitously uninspired and borderline incoherent, lacking even the fleeting pleasures like humor from the first film. The critic singles out the first-time director's underlit and overcut action sequences as a major flaw.

The film is an utterly meaningless waste of time with no reason to exist beyond profit, a dead zone lacking interest, wit, imagination or entertaining effects. The critic singles out the boring zombies and spectacularly shallow characters for complaint.

The critic finds the sequel unnecessary and mixed in focus between superhero fantasy and survival horror, criticizing it for being full of shocks but disappointingly light on actual horror, with sanitized violence and an awkward narrative.

The film is muddled and frenetic even by the franchise’s standards, with much of the action shot in darkness and rain that renders jump scares less effective. It benefits from the addition of game characters like Jill Valentine and Carlos Olivera along with some Nemesis action.