Last Woman Standing

The longest-running, most successful video game film franchise ends this week with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Milla Jovovich returns as the heroine Alice for an actionpacked zombie slayfest to top them all — and lives to tell.

- Whang Yee - Ling

I am meeting the actress Milla Jovovich at Grand Hyatt Hong Kong hotel and suggest I situate myself at the far end of the room, even though there are only the two of us at this interview. I am recovering from laryngitis, I explain.

Jovovich shrugs. “I have two kids,” the actress says, sitting directly across. “Laryngitis, whatever ailment… I’ve seen them all.”

Not forgetting the dreaded T-virus that has been decimating Earth's population, turning them into raving bloodthirsty undead in the Resident Evil sci-fihorrors based on Capcom’s popular survival games.

The five installments written-directed-produced by British filmmaker Paul WS Anderson have grossed over US$1 billion (S$1.4 bil) worldwide since the 2002 Resident Evil to be the most successful video game movie series ever, and Jovovich, who married her director in 2009, is the face of the franchise, starring as Alice: an original character created for the films, Alice was an Umbrella Corporation security operative, now the staunchest enemy of the bioengineering giant responsible for the epidemic.

Her action-packed battle to save humanity culminates this week in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. The sixth, concluding 3D zombie slayfest, which picks up immediately after the 2012 Resident Evil: Retribution, will return Alice to Raccoon City. It will reunite trusty allies including Ali Larter’s Claire as the Umbrella gathers its forces for a final strike against the remaining survivors.

Alice should watch out too for the Red Queen, the diabolic supercomputer hologram played by Anderson’s and Jovovich’s eight-year old daughter Ever Gabo.