Rating: 3 Pulses

Rated R

The newest installment in the Resident Evil series is a bit of a surprise. It came in No. 1 at the box office during its first week by grossing $23.7 million. And even more surprising, it’s actually a good flick.

I realize this may come as a bit of a shock considering Paul W.S. Anderson wrote it (he has written all three installments of the series and directed the first, as well as Alien Vs. Predator and Mortal Kombat). But if you enjoy a good action movie with a decent plot, this really is worth seeing.

The movie once again centers on Alice (Jovovich), who was a project of the evil Umbrella Corp, before their T-Virus got loose and basically destroyed the entire world. Now Alice is left wandering the U.S., trying to stay alive as Umbrella tries to pick up the pieces by hunting her down to use her as a lab rat once again.

Eventually Alice comes into contact with Claire (Larter) and Carlos (Fehr), who are heads of a large convoy of nomadic survivors, as they try to avoid the massive army of undead roaming the land. Several members of the convoy were characters in the second movie, Apocalypse, so it’s a bit easier to understand the movie if you’ve seen the first two.

The conflict in the movie arises when Alice’s powers alert Umbrella of her presence. The evil Dr. Isaacs, who was also in the last movie, needs Alice to complete his research and hopefully domesticate the zombies that have become Earth’s population.

Now that you know the plot, know this: the action in the movie is spectacular. Being a fan of zombie movies, I really enjoyed it. Alice has been a killing machine throughout the series and continues to impress with her hand-to-dead combat.

As far as a plot, it’s more than the mindless excuse for violence that moviegoers have come to expect from Anderson. There are elements borrowed from several famous horror movies of the past including Hitchcock’s The Birds and Romero’s Day of the Dead.

The film’s one shortcoming is the abrupt end to the climactic battle. The last half of the movie builds the anticipation of a big fight and it almost seems like the special effects budget dried up so they just scratched in a new, cheaper ending. If you can get over that, you should have no problem with the movie.

With the surprising success of this film, and the Internet buzz already asking for a fourth installment, the filmmakers left room for another movie if they choose. Hopefully they follow through with the last minute of the movie and continue the zombie head crushing at least one more time.