Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ... Kill, kill, kill

THE Resident Evil series thrives on incessant violence, and the violence in Resident Evil: (hopefully) The Final Chapter puts to shame the gore in Saving Private Ryan and sword-and-sandal flicks. Knives cutting through bodies like butter and decapitations are the norm. A laser slicing off a few fingers is considered mild by the film's gory standards.
  Our beloved heroine Alice (the lovely and indomitable Milla  Jovovich) is on the warpath again, eliminating everything and anyone who stands in her way.
    She survives two horrific car crashes early on without even wearing her seatbelt, and all she gets for her troubles is a small scratch on her cheek, which she carries with her like a red badge of courage for the rest of the film. She's like a female Rambo: cold and battle hardened.
   She also can't remember much about her life before 10 years ago when Umbrella Corp spread the zombie virus.
  The editing is fast and vicious, and this will keep viewers on the edge of their seats. The film doesn't give you a moment to catch your breath. It's as if writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson is bludgeoning you into submission.
  For her final adventure, Alice has 48 hours to get to The Hive in devastated Raccoon City, before Umbrella Corp gets rid of the last human survivors. Her digital watch conveniently informs her and viewers about the time left before Armageddon is unleashed on Earth.

Alice (Milla Jovovich) is on the run, again.

   Her motivation is to find an airborne anti-virus that will kill all infected zombies, including herself. But she's willing to go all the way to save humanity.
   Her nemesis is Dr Isaacs (Iain Glen of Game of Thrones), whom she believed she had killed in the last film, but is back to haunt her and provide decent opposition to her quest to save the world. Dr Isaacs, like most film baddies, doesn't appreciate challenges to his authority and removes them with alacrity.
   He is often seen surrounded by swaying crucifixes; in one scene, he keeps his guns together with a collection of crucifixes in a locker. This may help viewers decipher his motivation for wanting to eliminate humanity. Again, his twisted Christian reasoning is not a new thing affecting baddies in films.
   Breaking into highly-guarded facilities is a bread-and-butter idea for films, and nine times out of 10, the people doing the breaking-in succeed.
   Alice is aided by a bunch of ragtag fighters, including Abigail (Ruby Rose), Claire (Ali Larter),

Alice stares down the opposition. 

Christian (William Levy), Doc (Eoin Macken) and sole black person Michael (Fraser James). They're there to provide fodder for Umbrella Corp's policy of extermination.
   There's a twist at the end regarding Alice, which is similar to that in Morgan (2016).
   (Spoilers ahead).
   I observe two themes in this film. The first is regarding Alice's identity. "I know who I am," she tells Dr Isaacs. Viewers will realise that memories play a vital role in humans' self-identity.
  The second theme is Umbrella Corp's reasoning for wreaking havoc on the world. The firm, seduced by greed and power, sees itself a biblical flood that will wipe out mankind, and that only rich ones will rise. "We can reboot our world in our image," says Dr Isaacs.
   In 2012 (2009), the wealthy pay abhorrent sums to stay on a Noah's Ark to survive gargantuan natural disasters.
   Resident Evil: The Final Chapter moves like lightning, and all viewers will feel at the end is a

The calm before the storm.

scratch on their cheeks.
 
 2 1/2 out of 5 stars