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Fans of the terrifying Japanese survival horror video game Resident Evil were able to witness the hair-raising and gory story on the big screen with the thrilling film adaptations. Milla Jovovich stars in the spectacular installments, kicking major zombie butt and showing off her impressive physical prowess in the hit series. The accomplished actress appeared as the tough, killing-machine heroine Alice in the blockbuster franchise, with the character having been specifically created for the cinema adaptations. She would go on to fight the undead and evil Umbrella Corporation for six adrenaline-pumping films, interacting with beloved characters from the video game along the way.
After the financial success of the original six movies, a reboot of the series was released in 2021 entitled Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, earning praise for its faithfulness to the games but failing to make a splash like its predecessors did. Regardless, the epic franchise has grossed over $1.2 billion and has amassed a passionate fanbase, with many eager for more zombie content.
The popularity of the franchise helped make Jovovich a distinguished action star and further cemented the series as a lauded horror triumph, with the Chicago Tribune commending the pictures as “one of the few video game movies to truly re-create the gaming experience.” The zombie-focused flicks have become must-sees for the genre and continue attracting new audiences to this day. Let’s take a closer look at each of the installments in the Resident Evil franchise, where chronological and release order happen to be the same.
How to Watch the Resident Evil Movies in Chronological Order and By Release Date:
Resident Evil
Kickstarting the epic zombie franchise was the first installment of the enduring series, with 2002’s Resident Evil introducing audiences across the world to the resilient, zombie-slaying heroine Alice as she goes head-to-head against the nefarious Umbrella Corporation. In the action horror flick, Alice suffers from amnesia after waking up in an underground facility, and must reluctantly join forces with an elite unit of commandos in order to contain the zombie infection known as the T-Virus. As the stakes get increasingly higher and more people fall victim to the undead, Alice begins to realize she is a highly-trained killing machine.
In the pulse-pounding film, Alice must contend with not only zombies but also a powerful artificial intelligence known as the Red Queen and terrifying mutant creatures known as Lickers that are lurking beneath Raccoon City. Milla Jovovich delivers a career-defining performance as the butt-kicking Alice, training in kickboxing, combat and karate in preparation for the role. She would go on to reprise the character in five subsequent films, beginning with the 2004 follow-up Resident Evil: Apocalypse.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Picking up directly after the events of the first film, 2004’s Resident Evil: Apocalypse chronicles Alice’s efforts to escape a zombie-ridden Raccoon City after making it out alive from the Umbrella Corporation’s underground facility, with the killing-machine protagonist banning together with fellow survivors to reach safety. After Umbrella tries and fails to quarantine the infested city, its residents as well as Alice are sealed in with the zombies, and they must hurry to find a way out before a nuclear bomb is detonated.
The installment introduces audiences to prominent characters from the video game like STARS operative Jill Valentine, mercenary Carlos Olivera and the frightening supersoldier Nemesis, tying the adaptations in more with their inspiration source. Alice learns from Umbrella researcher Dr. Charles Ashford that she herself was augmented by the T-Virus and was a test subject, granting her superhuman abilities. More of Alice’s backstory and identity is revealed in future films, most notably her ties to Umbrella and the circumstances surrounding her amnesia.
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Resident Evil: Extinction
After sacrificing herself to save her fellow survivors at the end of Resident Evil: Apocalypse and seemingly dying during their escape from Raccoon City, Alice awakens in an Umbrella facility after being revived from a new stain of the T-Virus. She manages to breakout of the building after realizing she now has telekinetic abilities and regains her memories, learning that the corporation made countless clones of her in an ongoing experiment known as Project Alice in order to replicate her powers. After the virus outbreak spreads globally and causes mass devastation, Alice wanders the country alone in order to evade Umbrella.
In Resident Evil: Extinction, Alice meets Claire Redfield (a major character from the video games) and a convoy of survivors including her ally Carlos Olivera and former Raccon City resident L.J. Wade. The film also features the appearance of notorious villain Albert Wesker, the Chairman of Umbrella who wants to see the destruction of humanity by any means necessary. Alice and Claire fight to protect the survivors as they travel across the Mojave Desert to Alaska where they hope to find refuge, but must battle against newly created super zombies and the monster Tyrant before they can.
Resident Evil: Afterlife
At the end of the previous installment, Alice helped Claire (Ali Larter) and the remaining survivors escape the desert and discovered her clones in a facility, prompting the heroine to warn Umbrella that they were coming for them and would get revenge. In Resident Evil: Afterlife, Alice makes good on that promise when they attack the corporation’s Tokyo headquarters and eliminate everyone at the branch besides Wesker, who manages to kill her clones and inject Alice with a serum that eliminates her powers before escaping. Six months after losing her superhuman abilities, Alice heads to Alaska in search of a safe haven known as Arcadia.
She reunites with an amnesic Claire Redfield, whose memory had been wiped out by Umbrella, and decide to head to a desolate Los Angeles where they discover a prison with survivors hiding within. The film introduces a familiar face from the video games with Claire’s brother Chris (Wentworth Miller) showing up, and Jill Valentine also makes an appearance; Alice, Claire and Chris team up to break free from the prison and learn that Arcadia is not in fact a refuge but an Umbrella research facility forcing experiments on survivors.
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Resident Evil: Retribution
In the penultimate film of the adrenaline-pumping franchise, Alice is held captive by the Umbrella Corporation and forced to find a way out of a underwater Russian facility despite still not having any of her powers. Resident Evil: Retribution once again introduces new characters from the video games that had previously not appeared, with Ada Wong, Leon S. Kennedy and Barry Burton all joining the series. Alice also is confronted with people from her past when she learns that her ally from the first film Rain Ocampo and her close friend and love interest Carlos Olivera have been cloned after their tragic deaths.
The installment is jam-packed with characters from the games, much to the delight of devoted fans everywhere. Seeing them all be brought to the big screen really tied the film in with the Japanese media franchise, and it was exciting seeing the characters battle it out alongside one another. In Retribution, Alice takes on Umbrella and a mind-controlled Jill Valentine, finding an unlikely accomplice in the stealthy Wesker, who helps the gang escape and returns her superpowers. This pivotal and shocking moment helps set up for Alice’s final showdown with the evil Umbrella Corporation.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
For the final installment of the original film series, Alice is joined on her crucial mission to destroy Umbrella by her close comrade Claire Redfield, with the zombie-killing duo doing anything it takes to put an end to their terrifying madness. In Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Alice is betrayed by Wesker when he and the entire corporation set out to eliminate the T-Virus survivors once and for all. The action horror flick marks Milla Jovovich’s final appearance in the thrilling franchise, with Time Out noting in their review that the actress “has only gotten better, seasoning her long-legged athleticism with a commanding stare.”
The film went on to become the highest-grossing installment in the franchise, earning over $312 million worldwide and giving the character of Alice a proper hero’s goodbye. For her role as the superhuman zombie-killer, Jovovich firmly established herself as a celebrated action star and was deemed the “reigning queen of butt-kick.” The series’ loyal fanbase would go on to be treated once again with Resident Evil content, as the video games series was rebooted in 2021 with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City and the cancelled Netflix TV series.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
Serving as a reboot of the popular film and video game series, 2021’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City focuses on the core characters of the media franchise and follows Claire and her brother Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kenney and more familiar faces as they attempt to survive the zombie outbreak in the titular city. Taking place in 1998, the adaptation set out to closely follow the video games more than the previous installments, with director Johannes Roberts stating that he wanted it to be “super, super scary” and for it to be more faithful to the original subject source.
The horror flick features a diverse cast led by Kaya Scodelario, Avan Jogia, and Robbie Amell and was a modest success at the box office and critics, earning praise for its performances and loyalty to the games. The fate of a potential sequel is currently unknown (especially after the failure of Netflix’s Resident Evil TV series), but the film did earn appreciation from long-time fans who had been craving more zombie action.
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