Lately, action flicks seem to be trying too hard to give themselves a loftier purpose such as some grand moral lesson underlying the gun battles and fight scenes. Viewers aren’t fooled though; we go see action movies for the action. Even though action movies almost always revolve around a good-versus-evil theme, half-hearted attempts to add substance to these types of films are becoming commonplace; they are also becoming annoying. “Resident Evil: Extinction” is a fun action movie that does not fall into this trap. Unlike two other films I reviewed recently, “War” and “Death Sentence,” “Resident Evil: Extinction” does not try to trump its zombie-fighting purpose with a higher moral one.
Milla Jovovich plays the action hero, and she is much more interesting to watch during a fight scene than most male action stars. In addition to her physical prowess, Jovovich brings a mixture of emotional vulnerability and murderous anger to her character; without her, “Resident Evil: Extinction” would make for tedious viewing. There is less profanity in this film than in most other action movies. However, this is an extremely violent film, and there is Biblical profanity; for these reasons “Resident Evil: Extinction” cannot be awarded the Dove Seal.