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TV Times

Zombie killer to the top with ‘Resident Evil’
Hero of the Zombie, killing gaming fantasy Alice returns in the second episode of Resident Evil to the big screen.

This installment see a more explosive and scary plot in the form of more deadly undead and supercharged killing machines. Milla Jovovich features as Alice (Zoolander, The Fifth Element) leading an ensemble cast that includes Sienna Guillory (The Time Machine, TV’s “Helen of Troy”), Oded Fehr (The Mummy, “Presidio Med”) and Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist, Blade II) with Jared Harris (I Shot Andy Warhol, Mr. Deeds) and Mike Epps (Next Friday, All About the Benjamins). Sandrine Holt (Once A Thief, Happy Hour) and Sophie Vavasseur (Evelyn)

Alice, a former security officer for the Umbrella Corporation, developer of a biological warfare virus that reanimates dead cells. In the 2002 original, the virus broke free, turning an underground lab into zombie central. In this installment, Alice wakes up after her topside escape, only to find herself genetically altered and the surrounding city infested with the flesh-eating undead.

In the heart of the ravaged Raccoon City, a small group of uninfected people, including Jill Valentine (SIENNA GUILLORY) – a recently demoted member of Umbrella Corp’s elite Special Tactics and Rescue Services (S.T.A.R.S.) team, and S.T.A.R.S. team leader Carlos Olivera (ODED FEHR), fight for their lives against swarms of Undead and the deadlier and faster Lickers.

Running out of luck and resources, the group is rescued by Alice, and they begin to wage an exhilaratingly desperate battle to survive and escape before the Umbrella Corporation erases its experiment from the face of the earth.

There’s a subplot about a lost little girl, the daughter of Umbrella’s star scientist, Dr. Charles Ashford (Jared Harris). Their only hope, one of the leading scientists for the Umbrella Corporation, will help Alice and the others escape the city safely – if they find his daughter. Angie Ashford (SOPHIE VAVASSEUR) became separated from her father and now hides in fear. Alice, Jill and Carlos will have to fight their way through an army of Undead to save her.

All the while, a secret weapon code-named Nemesis with enhanced power similar to Alice is deployed to seek and destroy her and the team. Matching Alice in toughness is the game’s character Jill Valentine, played by Sienna Guillory. “You always want to play someone you’re going to have fun with, someone you want to be,” explains Guillory. “Jill’s got everything a girl wants to be – she dresses to kill, says whatever she wants and can shoot anyone between the eyes in a fifty-yard radius.

She’s hard as nails and she’s great fun. And not at all afraid of being quite the sexy minx,” she adds. Another fighter who joins their ranks is Carlos Olivera, played by Oded Fehr. At the heart of his ability to survive is a sense of compassion that cannot be muted by the horrors that confront the team at every turn. “Carlos is the head of an independent SWAT team owned by the Umbrella Corporation,” explains Fehr.

Both fighters, Carlos and Alice form a tight bond born out of their need to rely on each other in extremely treacherous circumstances. “There’s an immediate attraction between Carlos and Alice,” explains Fehr. “They’re both war people, and I think they have mutual respect as their connection develops and they fight side-by-side. Jill Valentine obviously is a very powerful girl – almost like she’s angry with everyone. Regardless, she is a very tough cookie.” says the director.

“I’m a warrior, I love martial arts,” says Jovovich, adding with a laugh. “I love to feel powerful in that sense. I definitely have a talent with violent objects.Maybe it’s my Yugoslavian background. I’m always ready for battle – it’s that crazy barbarian thing coming back from the abyss of my DNA.”

Her training regiment included the highly acrobatic Brazilian martial art, Capoeira, under Mestre Amen Santo. The weapons handling was done under the guidance of with Phil Spangenberger, who includes Mel Gibson and Will Smith among his trainees.

A hall mark in this movie is the towering arch enemy of Alice the Nemesis. The Nemesis was created by makeup effects artist Paul Jones, whose credits include Ginger Snaps and Bride of Chucky.

Armed with a new, lethal rail gun as well as his trademark rocket launcher, the Nemesis design was based precisely on the most dangerous and popular killer in the Resident Evil game series. Thus it is pure high octane action plus an explosive movie from the moment the curtains go up.

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