HOME TRAILERS RELEASE DATES PODCAST REVIEWS POSTERS INTERVIEWS MOVIE NEWS ABOUT US APPS FSnetwork

LATEST NEWS

Promise of Resident Evil 4 Limps Along Like a Zombie

by Kevin Powers
June 30, 2008
Source: MTV

Sure, it's an undead carrot of good news, but it piques my horror curiosity nonetheless. With the success of the third installment of the Resident Evil franchise (with $147.7 million worldwide), it's typically just a mathematics decision for launching another film in the series. However, considering the presumed conclusion of the franchise with the aptly named Extinction last year and the widely reported news that sexy zombie slayer Milla Jovovich would be retreating from the series, talks for another installment have been slow. MTV caught up with writer/producer Paul W.S. Anderson recently and talked with him about the prospect for a fourth movie. "I'm just starting to talk to Sony about it. I don't even know if anything will come of it, but there's a possibility it might happen."

Don't hate me, but I do hope the undead rise again. I'm a glutton for zombie films and definitely enjoy Resident Evil for its value on that front, however shallow and formulaic. I'm not so sure I would enjoy the story as much, however, without Jovovich. If you've seen Extinction, you'd know that a continuation of the story could go in either of two directions: to Alaska with Claire Redfield (played by Ali Larter of "Heroes") or to Japan with Jovovich. Considering that Jovovich might be done with the big action movies for some time, it seems likely that Larter might step up as the lead heroine. I wouldn't hate that idea, exactly, but it would take me some time to welcome Larter into my zombie-loving heart.

In terms of the story, Anderson says, "I love the Resident Evil franchise and we always try to make the best possible movie we can. If we could find a good Resident Evil 4 to make, then we would do it. But I wouldn't just do it for the sake of it, that's for sure." Time will tell if he can come up with a good, bloody hook for a plot, but it's not like the bar is very high. Personally, I'd love to see the series go to a simpler, more contained place like the original. Starting off in Umbrella's underground lab, the series has increasingly grown in scale, encompassing a city in the second installment and the entire US in the third. That being said, having a small town, wintry environment in Alaska might be too reminiscent of 30 Days of Night.

As for schedules, Jovovich is slated next to star alongside Steven Zahn in the killer thriller A Perfect Getaway, followed by other steady projects. Larter, on the other hand, has a film titled Obsessed slated for 2009 and that looks to be about it. I guess it's no surprise when Larter enthusiastically says that she'd return to Resident Evil "100%" if asked. Should there be a Resident Evil 4?

Pin It

Related categories: Discussion, Movie News, Opinions

Thoughtless

I don't think there should be a Resident Evil 4. I simply detested the previous three films and the way they were made. I just couldn't enjoy the films because they were shallow and formulaic. If it were up to me I would let the franchise die down for a several years and reboot it and attempt at something halfway good. However, if they do make RE 4 it will make money. So they might as well do it. It is not like the series can get any worse. Only way for that to happen is to have the movie be set in space on a space carrier with the humans replaced by puppets and the zombies played out by monkeys. God. I think I just gave them an idea for Resident Evil 5.
http://www.patriciaappelquist.com Patricia

Don't say it's so; after so many Prequels and just plain bad writing promoting what would be considered a great movie conjoling the audience to spend $10 on ANOTHER INSTALLMENT...I just can't do it... Seriously, the only reason I got into the Resident Evil series at all was when I rented the first one from Blockbuster and the only way to view the movie was with the commentary going on w/ the actors...it was HILARIOUS since then I watched Zombie / undead movies with the hopes of getting the DVD with the actors commentary on it. Unfortantly Apocolypse didn't come with it so I was bummed and proceeded to curse the director for being boring in the commentary-it killed my theater experience. If Milla does reup again I will go see anyone else in that slot is like Mark Hamill playing Anakin Skywalker .
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

I personally really disliked the first two but the last one was actually pretty decent. I really enjoy Larter and wouldn't mind the series to continue. It makes people happy so be it and it makes a cool $50M. Nothing too extraordinary but it is one of the few horror series that has been consistant with its grosses. The only other series that comes to midn where each oen trumps the other in grosses is Final Destination (also with Larter...or WAS with her). Can't wait for FD4 3-D (kinda odd to write), but the race track thing seems a bit simialr to the second.
http://johnkuehlonline.blogspot.com John

Every single one of these movies has been terrible. Milla Jovovich is a terrible actress, and making their own world that has only the slightest connection to the games has been a huge mistake. If they are going to make a 4th Resident Evil movie, maybe they will reboot the franchise so it is not a steaming pile of crap that completely abandons the plot of the games. The original game was meant as an homage to Romero's zombie films, it would be nice to see something like that. The games are corny, but they are still amazing games that created a new genre of gaming. It is sad to see that these movies have been full of poor acting, directing, and even worse writing. But since these crappy movies made money, they will undoubtedly make a 4th and worse installment.
ddot3

If they do make a resident evil 4 why not make it based off the game resident evil 4. in playing the game i though that was a compelling enuff story to be tranfered to the big screen. it was kind of a whole new start to the video game series, so why not apply that to the movie series, ya know
Viper

Resident Evil was fun while it was here, although the only scene I remember fondly is the final battle with Nemesis in the second movie, but I think it has outstayed its welcome and it's time for it to go. I'd rather see the money spent on some different video game franchises. How about some live action StarCraft movies? Or Diablo? Maybe the lesser known but very expansive The Witcher? Dawn of War? (Sorry, I couldn't think of any console franchises worth making into big budget movies. I'm a PC person)
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/06/30/promise-of-resident-evil-4-limps-along-like-a-zombie/ aaron

i think the moives are gert i lovethem all make number 4 plz there3 was none stop acion all throu it was orsom make more plz omg i love. what ever the oter people say not lisen to them plz make it. you have to finion it off. she siad she is cameing for them so if the number 4 came i will love it no mater what. gust so u no i have whach resident evil every day and i dont get sick of it and that is ture.
OldSchool

After the last one I didn't want to see another one unless they make it all Alice. I loved the first two, I thought they were pretty close to the games at least the first one, and Milla is my all time favorite genre star. Even if her acting isn't great those movies are fun. I watch them at least once every few months. That being said I don't own Extinction and haven't seen it since the theater. Now as far as all Alice what I mean is the third one was all about the Alice clone and the ending hinted heavily that Alice was going the find and destroy all of Umbrella. So my first thought on leaving the theater was, wouldn't it be cool if the next one was called Army of Alice and it was all the Alice clones going all over the world and destroying the company and fighting zombies of course. No one mentioned it and correct me if I'm wrong but is there already a next RE evil movie coming, the CGI one? That is RE isn't it or am I thinking of another franchise?
l.21

R.E. is the only zombie franchise I waste my time with. I love the sci-fi, action-adventure approach. And Milla, of course. What they need now is a the more NRA, gun friendly, twist turn plot approach of a movie like WANTED. But with Paul "all my movies are liberal waste-lands" Anderson I don't think that's likely. The end of EXTINCTION left some many possibilities though, it could be the best of the franchise if they "did it right."
carterhimself

I think there should be another R.E movie but along a different story line. For example, I think a movie along the lines of R.E. 4 the game. That had a sweet storyline, and in my opinion would be great for a movie. I mean besides the villagers vocabulary consisting of little more than "Arrgh Cabron!"
Peter H

No, no, no, no, no and no! I agree with 'Thoughtless' in that they should reboot the franchise at a later date. At which time they should use a completely different, cast, director, writer & crew. The Resident Evil films are embarrassing and not worthy of brandishing Capcoms franchise. Sure, it's arguable that video games to film are difficult, but they didn't keep a single thing correct in the plot of the first movie. When they did introduce corresponding characters it was too late to save credibility. Worse than Hitman, not as bad as the Super Mario Bros Movie, nevertheless let's leave the Resident Evil movie franchise for some time please.
Curtis

I agree with the people who want this whole series to be rebooted with a entirely different cast, writers, director and crew. The second time around they should follow the video games and not go out and make up your own crap story that made the movies suck so badly in the first place and get rid of the other problem Milla Jovovich she was terrible in these movies, stick with the characters that were in the games and not make up a whole new character. For the first movie of the reboot, use the story of the Mansion, with puzzles and a hell of good scares, if they would have followed the game stories this franchise of movies good be really good but in till this happens i really dont want to see another resident evil.
maxxx

If there is one franchise i want to reboot is this one...the current resident evil movies are awesome no doubt about my opinion change the name of the movies......but reboot the series and make it like it should be get zak synder from 300 the watchman to do it but call this set of movies from the japan release title Bio-Hazzard......yes there should be a 4th one but kill off mila character all execpt for one so the whole army of clones is to Star wars II for me.....barry needs to be in the third along with giant spiders and neptune the Shark
http://yahoo.com Bricks

I think they should keep making RE series until they don't have ideas any more. They should show Ali Larter "Claire" in the fourth and if theres a 5th Milla Jovovich "Alice" in japan....but bring back "Jill" in the 5th so it's not all "Alice" Speaking of "Jill" WTF HAPPENED TO HER?...she was in the 2nd one with "Chris"...and then in the 3rd she just dissapears. oh and why didn't they include LEON as one of the characters in the movies?Leon is one of my favorite characters.
http://yahoo.com Bricks

Hey 'Oldschool' Yeah they did or are making a CGI RE movie.....it has Claire in it..i know that much
John

no, their wonte a 5th, one because this one will be the - last!!
John

please reply what you think - bricks !. any way milla is my favourite filmstar and i like her alot, as much as you do and i have got 3 signed autographs, of her and collect every - dvd of her. my friends like her to!
Anthony

As an avid fan of the actual games i can only say that the movies stray pretty far from their origin.....but they're badass. How could you not like extinction's ending in which Alice searches around the an abandoned facility looking for the tyrant. of course shes super human which was kind of lame but still they made it into it's own resident evil story. Just like the movies have they're own storylines so do the games, such as the mansion with chris redfield, zero with billy. leon and jill in the police station, there all set in different time frames where a different character is fights to stay alive, usually throughout raccoon city. In leons case he was brought back in the fourth game where they re-invented the franchise for the better with a faster paced infestation and crazy spanish villagers. there are far too many stories and possibilities for this franchise not to work.....so much so you wouldn't even have to re-boot just do multiple movies with multiple casts......you could easily make a fourth with alice, a movie about zero with billy a convict on a runaway train with zombies.......BUT for sure the next one should be about LEON. i mean how do you not re-make the fourth game hasn't it out sold the rest? think of 28 days later meets The Thing/desperado, let ridley scott handle the leon title......
Kelz

All this uproar about resident evil sequels, my GOSH ..i know SAW isn't a Zombie movie, But could somebody for CRYING OUT LOUD pull the plug on the overrated dreadful series
Leon S. Kennedy

the CGI one is called Resident Evil:Degeneration,and it has Claire AND Leon.
chris

no more resident evil sequels. its not suppose to be an action movie its horror get someone like m. night shamalan, or chris nolan to reboot the franchise more like the video game less like an action flick were milla fights everything steals the sceens and your never worried because she always wins. the cg movie will be far greater than the live movies i know it will. please please please reboot reboot reboot like re0 and re1. let the word of mouth spread this message and maybe we will have a descent resident evil movie. and is it just me or did every resident evil game have a way better story than any resident evil movie.
chris

reboot the franchise starting with resident evil 0 the 1 and 2 ,then make one like resident evil 4 and end it. make some small changes but keep it like the game,were its scary,and more monsters.come on people they are not suppose to be action,just reboot reboot!!!!!!!!
chris

let someone like greg mclean do the reboot he'll fix the franchise without a doubt
chris

i just read george remero's script for the first movie and it blow the franchise away,that's how you make the resident evil movie he had everything that a fan would want.and i liked how he changed the characters just enough so we didn't know what was going to happen.it was great reboot the franchise like this.check it out and spread the word.
chris

I have a freat idea for the fans that feel like they have been forgotten,when they ruin the resident evil movies.make a cg movie based on geaorge remero's script and we will all be happy please make this happen if your out there looking at this.
chris

paul anderson said if they could come up with a great story to do they would well he needs to read my blogs and get busy.thanks.
chris

they need to do either a live action movie with george remeroes script or cg either way it would be great, what do you think about that.
chris

if you like that idea find the resident evil petition and sign it almost 400 people already have.
dane

k, guys stop the resident evil bashing. I know the movies and a big letdown. I have played resident evil since the first one came out and have been buying all since. the games are badass although the fourth let me down with the whole no zombie thing, Everything els was kickass. I agree with alot of people about the movies, they are shitty and needed to retain the game feel. the 3rd movie was by far the best only because of the Blood. in the first two there was no blood splatter. What the Fuck??!! the games are fun because the horror and gore!! the RE 1 and 2 movies lacked the gore the fans look for. the third was ok. althouth Milla is hot, they need to lose her and the whole clone bullshit and continue the story with the games heros like Chris, and Leon. I'm personaly exited for the New CG Resident Evil Degeneration movie, that has Leon and Claire and takes part in an airport, hopfully they keep the gore and scare level up and lose the GAY ASS Superhuman bullshit like in the live action movies.
chris

i agree lose the super human $#!+ , start over with chris redfield in 1. that leads up to leon in 2, then both in 3, and make the movies close courters so its spooky and make it scary not action,but i am looking forward to degeneration the cg movie, but please people read george remeroes script and spread the word that we need that movie to be satisfied. don't the fans agree?