in 2002 Jovovich Mile took on the role of Alice in the sci-fi horror film, Resident Evil. The film tells the story of a viral outbreak that turns people into zombies, with Alice caught in the middle of the chaos.
Thanks to the financial success of Resident Evil, the film was soon followed by a series of sequels that continued the story. Over the course of six films, Alice struggles to survive in an apocalyptic world, entertaining audiences along the way.
But while fans of the franchise will no doubt tell you they have a favorite among the series, if we were to cut to the chase that Resident Evil will the film qualify for best? And more importantly, how would we rank all the movies?
Well, that’s the topic of this post. Below, I examine the six Milla Jovovichs Resident Evil movies to see if there is a way to decide which movie is the best.
I will look at the critical and commercial response to the films and look for information from three well-known websites to help me. But before I get to all that, here’s a quick reminder about Milla Jovovich Resident Evil movies in order:
- Resident Evil (2002)
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
- Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
- Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
- Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
- Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
As you can see, there are a total of six movies starting with Resident Eviland continuing through Apocalypse, Disappearance, the afterlife, Retributionand The last chapter.
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IMDb
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Image: ©Constantin Film/New Legacy FilmWell, to kick things off, let’s take a look at the ranking of Resident Evil movies according to the Internet Movie Data-base (IMDb). Users of IMDb post reviews and leave ratings for movies which in turn turn into a score of ten and here’s how Resident Evil movies are taking shape.
- Resident Evil (2002) – 6.6/10
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) – 6.1/10
- Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) – 6.2/10
- Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) – 5.8/10
- Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) – 5.5/10
- Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) – 5.3/10
Hmm… this is already interesting. As you’ll see from the list above, the ranking of the films is pretty much tied to the order in which they were released, with each film ranking slightly lower as the series progresses.
The only exception to this is placements of Retribution and The last chapter. The two films swap places on the list, with The last chapter (film #6), which comes in at number five as it’s slightly better received than Retribution (film no. 5).
So, from this list, the original Resident Evil was ranked as the strongest title while Resident Evil: Retribution is seen as the weakest.
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Rotten tomatoes
On Rotten tomatoes now, which is a site that collects results from critics as well as members of the general public. The scores/percentages I am looking at here are taken from the collective opinions of professional critics (only) and are as follows:
- Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) – 37%
- Resident Evil (2002) – 35%
- Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) – 28%
- Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) – 24%
- Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) – 21%
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) – 19%
Hmmm… very interesting results here as they differ significantly from the IMDb ranking. As you can see from the list above, Rotten Tomatoes ranks The last chapter as best film, p Apocalypse is seen as the weakest entry.
All of the other records shift a bit, and none of them have particularly high percentages. The critics don’t seem to be looking at Resident Evil series favorably and this is reflected in the overall low results.
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Box Office Mojo
Finally, to the box office results now, which are drawn from Box Office Mojo. These results highlight how financially successful the films were around the world during their theatrical release.
- Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) – $312,242,626
- Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) – $300,228,084
- Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) – $240,159,255
- Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) – $147,717,833
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) – $129,342,769
- Resident Evil (2002) – $102,984,862
Well, here we are with some more interesting results and a bit of a change. As you see, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter appears at the top of the list (again), earning over $300 million, while at the bottom of the list is the original Resident Evil with a figure just over $103 million.
What’s perhaps interesting to note here is that at the beginning of the franchise, each new entry took in more money than the film that preceded it: Disappearance (film #3), took more than Apocalypse (film No. 2), which in turn took more than Resident Evil (film #1). Things changed slightly with the release of the afterlife (film #4) and Retribution (film #5) which bypassed the template but The last chapter (film #6) followed suit to become the most successful.
It’s also worth noting that with the sixth entry making more money than the other films, the Resident Evil the films still proved a big draw at the box office even at the end of their run. Even if the critics weren’t on their side, audiences kept showing up and that reflected in the money that was generated.
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So what do the rankings tell us? Well, it’s a bit of a mixed bag to be honest.
From the information taken from IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, there is no clear “favorite” among the films. The original Resident Evil ranks high, suggesting this is seen as one of the best records, but everything else is a bit interchangeable.
In terms of the films’ commercial success, each new entry usually took more than the last and all were financial hits. This suggests that regardless of which film is considered the “best” (or “worst”), the audience was engaged with the overall story and followed it to the end.
So who is the best of the bunch? Well, ultimately it’s up to you to decide as there is no clear winner.
Personally, I like the original Resident Evil at most, but I think all movies are generally of equal quality. If you like one of them, then you will like the rest as they are all similar beasts.
On the other hand, if you don’t enjoy the first movie, then I don’t see you enjoying any of the others. The series is very tightly knit and only really works for an audience willing to invest time in all six chapters.
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