'Resident Evil: Extinction' (2007) REview: A Bland Step-Down for the Horror Franchise
By Dan Bremner - September 11, 2026
The third film in the Resident Evil saga, another critical punching bag that still made a pile of money. I genuinely think this might be the one I watched the most as a child and I spun the DVD endlessly. Eighteen years ago I would have told you without hesitation that it was my favourite of the lot. Time has not been kind. I wanted to like it again. The post-apocalyptic desert setting is a clear departure from the first two and does at least make it stand out visually. Unfortunately, it’s mostly complete rubbish. So disconnected from the games that it borders on parody, with Alice now wandering the wasteland like a telekinetic Mad Max. There’s still some fun to be had, but it’s sorely lacking the trashy style and energy that made the first two weirdly rewatchable.
This is the point where the films completely check out of anything resembling the games. Claire Redfield, a Tyrant and the murderous crows all show up, but almost everything else feels like a generic post-apocalyptic action film that happens to have the Resident Evil name slapped on it. Alice’s ever-growing superpowers (telekinesis, fire, the works) push her even further into full overpowered video-game character territory, and the film never really questions how ridiculous that’s becoming.
Even if the change of scenery is an interesting choice, it does little to nothing with it. It lifts liberally from Mad Max (desert convoy survival), Day of the Dead (scientists trying to control the undead) and The Birds (the crow attack), then runs through every zombie cliché you can name: the bitten survivor hiding the infection, the mercy killing, the scientists protecting their monsters until it inevitably backfires. You can see every beat coming. Continuity from Apocalypse is a mess too, it genuinely feels like there’s a missing film in between. Alice starts the movie free and independent after a cliffhanger that suggested the opposite, and the environmental devastation caused by the T-virus makes less sense the more you think about it. The best we get is a haphazard opening narration that dismisses how the previous film ended and throws us into a barren wasteland.
Most of the characters are sketchy at best. Returning faces like Oded Fehr’s Carlos and Mike Epp’s L.J. get little to work with, and even Ali Larter’s Claire is left underdeveloped. Tearful goodbyes and relationships feel completely unearned because the film never bothers to build any real connection between these people. The dialogue is functional and clichéd as you'd expect, with lots of “Let’s get out of here!” variations and clunky exposition. Which, to be fair, is in line with the games campy B-movie style, but it feels like it's starting to take itself a bit too seriously here.
Russell Mulcahy stages a few energetic, splattery action sequences with more flair than you might expect, and Milla Jovovich remains a committed, physically impressive presence as she carves through the undead. But the overall desert aesthetic is flat, brown and uninspired, and some of the CGI is truly dreadful. The infected crow attack in particular looks hideously rendered and completely breaks any tension. There’s also some bizarre digital smoothing on Jovovich’s face in close-ups that has not aged well. I had to Google after “What is up with Milla Jovovich’s face in Resident Evil: Extinction?”, because what's on screen is nothing less than an uncanny valley.
Resident Evil: Extinction is a step-down from the previous films. Still dumb and has some fun with its Mad Max style setting, but it's starting to take the stupid story of Alice a bit too seriously. Plus all the outrageous style is gone in favour of something a lot more plain. It truly does feel like a film is missing explaining how we got from Apocalypse to this.
Come back for more Resident Evil content as we count down to Zach Cregger's 'Resident Evil' - Releasing in cinemas on September 19, 2026.
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Dan Bremner
Writer
Dan is a writer from Guildford with a love for all things genre, schlocky, and thoroughly '80s, and a part-time philanthropist.
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