In the “Resident Evil” movies, Milla Jovovich has been fending off the zombie apocalypse for 15 years. In the real world, we’ve been fending off the “Resident Evil” movies for just as long. Certainly our end of the deal is more enjoyable, but one can’t help but hope that the just-released “Final Chapter” makes good on its title and lets the series finally rest in peace.
6. “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” (2004)
If we’re grading on a curve here — which, with these movies, we kind of have to — then the first sequel earns kudos for expanding the Umbrella Corporation lore and including an awesomely stupid fight sequence between Alice (Jovovich) and the hulking Nemesis. But not much else.
5. “Resident Evil: Afterlife” (2010)
Sets a new standard for over-the-top ridiculousness, which is saying something: Jovovich now stars as dozens of versions of herself, as the superhuman Alice has been cloned into an army. The fourth entry offers a passably entertaining vision of a world populated by fewer and fewer humans and more and more zombies.
4. “Resident Evil: Retribution” (2012)
Taking a cue from “Aliens,” the fifth installment highlights Alice’s maternal side with an adoptive daughter; it also pits them both against an especially large egg-laying creature. Features some of the series’ cleverest ideas (not that the competition is especially strong on that front).
3. “Resident Evil: Extinction” (2007)
Resident Evil settles into a certain groove once it moves to the post-apocalyptic part of its timeline, and this desert-set chapter is more consistent with the movies’ internal logic than any other. Its last-stand vibe has been rendered moot by the three movies that have since followed, but this remains a highlight.
2. “Resident Evil” (2002)
Fifteen years later, there’s something almost quaint about the original chapter: It isn’t exactly good, but like much of the series it at least has a certain self-awareness; it’s also the only one that seems to remember that the original video game had more in common with horror movies than action flicks.
1. “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” (2017)
One positive aspect of the “Resident Evil” series not being much to write home about is that it’s followed the opposite trajectory of most enterprises: It’s generally gotten better as it’s gone along. “The Final Chapter” links up to the original film so well you’ll almost believe it was the plan all along. If this really is the final chapter, it’s a satisfying bookend.