Apocalypse Now-ish

One of our team dreamt about Resident Evil: Apocalypse last night. And yes, before you ask, Milla Jovovich was involved, but no, it wasn't that kind of dream. Honest. Anyway, the point being, we woke up this morning and - shock! Horror! - the new trailer for the zombie action sequel was online! And Milla was in that, too! Kicking arse and taking names! Although without the lube and the talking unicorn, naturally. Even so... what are the odds? Depending on your viewpoint, Resident Evil: Apocalypse will continue the turgid story of the rather limp first zombie-bashing movie (notable for Colin Salmon's gun-toting hardass, One, and of course the glorious Milla), or continue the cracking Year of the Zombie which got off to such a great start with the Dawn of the Dead remake and our perennial fave, Shaun of the Dead. And we're edging towards the latter. Resident Evil may have had its faults, but it looked good and moved along at a fair old lick(er). This time, director Paul W.S. Anderson has handed over the reins to German wunderkind, Alexander Witt, who seems to have toned down the zombie action (which was one of the major disappointments with the original), in favour of something on a much larger scale. Apparently kicking off just before the destruction-filled climax of the original, the trailer hints that the evil Umbrella Corporation - with the help of Dr. Charles Ashford (played by Richard Harris' son, Jared) - somehow trigger a zombie apocalypse inside Raccoon City, leaving members of the elite STARS military team, including Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr, the fearsome Ardeth Bay from the Mummy movies) and Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), trapped inside. Rather than becoming zombie fodder, they fight their way out, with a little help from Jovovich's genetically-augmented heroine, Alice. But first they have a new foe to contend with (along with the zombies and the zombie dogs and a whole host of fiendish puzzles) - the unstoppable mutant monster, the Nemesis... Verdict? This looks like cheesy, yet riotous fun, with enough firepower and gravity-defying stunts (mainly thanks to Milla, who's gained a few Neo-like running and jumping powers since the first movie) to satisfy the gore fans. In fact, we're quietly hopeful for this movie. Although not fully seen in the trailer, Fehr cuts a fine action figure, and Guillory looks set to nab her fair share of the explosive stuff, too. Fans of the games on which the films are based should also be in hog heaven. Whereas the first movie was a self-contained origin story, with few references to the Capcom survival horror series, Resident Evil: Apocalypse seems chock-full of references, from the characters themselves to the Nemesis blasting away with a rocket launcher (even if he does look like the Toxic Avenger's uglier cousin). Now all we need is a nest of giant spiders and we're sorted. Check out the trailer here.