Apocalypse arrives with purpose
- by Josh Rouse: Sports Editor

Halloween has not arrived yet, so that begs the question: why are zombies and monsters running amuck? Survey says: Resident Evil: Apocalypse has finally arrived, and arrived with a purpose.

Possibly the most popular of Paul W. S. Anderson’s movies, Resident Evil debuted in 2002 with $17 million on its opening weekend. Considering the previous records of video game adapted movies such as Super Mario Bros. ($8 million), Double Dragon ($1 million), and Street Fighter ($6 million), this was a success. It was only a matter of time before the highly popular game franchise made another stab at the silver screen. Grossing $26 million on its opening weekend, Resident Evil: Apocalypse is the surprise of the post-summer season. Its competition, Cellular, only managed $8 million.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse picks up where its predecessor left off. Alice (Milla Jovovich) is one of a few survivors left in the desolate Raccoon City after the deadly “T-Virus” escaped from its containment in the Hive, an underground research facility where the T-Virus wreaked havoc in the original movie.

Alice soon finds herself with abilities unlike a normal human and uses these to kick some zombie tail. She soon runs into Jill (a familiar character from the game series) and the remaining members of an S.T.A.R. team that were cutoff after the evil Umbrella quarantined the city. Together, they must survive against unforeseen creatures and the dreaded Nemesis.

Now movie monsters have become commonplace since the 1950s with the giant insects and lizards. Paul Anderson and company took the monster to the next level in Apocalypse. The Nemesis, as it is called, is big; it’s bad; and it’s loaded with enough weapons to take on China. This bad boy is a walking arsenal in itself and is like an organic tank. It is going to take a lot of work to take him out, as fans of the games already know.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse is in no danger of being a threat to the great Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 (insert sarcastic laugh here), but it is a great shoot ‘em up action movie.

For fans of the games, it’s only another notch in the Resident Evil franchise. Look for this movie to spawn another sequel in the near future.