Dhruv Trivedi
‘Resident Evil: Extinction’ is the third installment of the horror-action ‘Resident Evil’ film series. Loosely based on the Capcom video game of the same name, the movies follow Alice (Milla Jovovich) and a varying group of survivors as they fight against the Umbrella Corporation, a sinister pharmaceutical company that’s responsible for causing the zombie apocalypse.
The third installment of ‘Resident Evil’ finds the Earth a barren wasteland, overrun by zombies and with all of humanity’s worst fears coming true. Only Alice stands in the way of complete annihilation. But how many “Alices” are there? A movie that picks up in the middle of an apocalypse might feel a little scattered, so we’re here to collect all the pieces. If you had some questions about ‘Resident Evil: Extinction,’ you’ve come to the right place. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Resident Evil: Extinction Plot Synopsis
‘Resident Evil: Extinction’ picks off some time after the Umbrella Corporation’s unsuccessful attempt to “sanitize” Raccoon City of the T-virus by nuking it. The virus, unhindered by nuclear radiation, has gone on to lay waste to most of the planet, with only a few underground laboratories run by Umbrella remaining. Known as “hives,” these labs are shown to be working on stopping the virus but also seem to be driven by sinister motivations.
The hive in Death Valley, Nevada, is run by Dr. Isaacs, who is using clones of Alice for their blood, which has special properties that help it bind with the virus. Dr. Isaacs has, in the past, operated on Alice and modified her, giving her special telekinetic abilities but also bringing her under his control through a satellite. The movie opens with one of Alice’s clones being put to the test in the facility, which she fails, and her body is dumped with all the other corpses of Alice’s clones.
In a meeting that Dr. Isaacs has with the Umbrella Chairman Albert Wesker, we find out that the doctor is desperate to locate the real Alice for his experiments, who he believes holds the key to reversing some of the effects of the virus. His intentions are shown to be dark right from the start as we learn that he plans to domesticate the cured T-virus zombies and use them as a workforce.
The Umbrella Chairman, however, orders him to keep working with the clones and not risk going outside to capture the real Alice yet. Meanwhile, Alice is making her solitary way through the southern United States, fighting off bandits and zombies. After accidentally destroying her bike with her telekinetic powers, she comes across a convoy of human survivors in trouble who she saves and then joins. The convoy is led by Claire Redfield, who is a character from the video game.
Carlos Oliveira and L.J. Wade, who are Raccoon City survivors from previous movies, are also part of Claire’s group. After seeing a notebook picked up by Alice that describes a haven for survivors in Alaska, the group decides to head there. However, they need to stop in the desolate city that was once Las Vegas to pick up supplies for the long journey. As the group heads there, we see Dr. Isaacs following them by helicopter as he tracks Alice’s movements.
Resident Evil: Extinction Ending: What Happens to Alice and Her Clones?
The convoy of survivors, having reached a completely decimated Las Vegas, soon find their access to the fuel pump blocked by a large metal container. Upon investigation, the container is found to be carrying a horde of zombies created by Dr. Isaacs by injecting them with a serum containing Alice’s blood. These zombies appear to be more powerful and resourceful than the ones infected only by the T-virus and end up killing many members of the group.
Things get worse when Dr. Isaacs disables Alice remotely, making her immobile and unable to help the survivors. Eventually, Alice is able to overcome the signal disabling her and tracks Dr.Isaacs to the roof of a facility from where he escapes by chopper. With a plan to steal the chopper to help get them to Alaska, the remaining group decides to break into the Umbrella facility.
Carlos, having been bitten earlier, sacrifices himself by driving a truck full of explosives into the thousands of zombies surrounding the facility, briefly clearing a path for Alice, Claire, and the rest of the survivors. After seeing them off on the helicopter, Alice turns her attention to the facility. Meanwhile, Dr. Isaacs, having been bitten during his escape, injects himself with large amounts of the anti-virus and gains superhuman regenerative and destructive abilities.
Briefly aided by the AI White Queen, Alice confronts him and is eventually able to kill him with the help of one of her clones. She then contacts the Umbrella headquarters in Tokyo and threatens them by telling them that she is on her way over, along with a few friends. In the closing scenes of the movie, we see Alice and her clone staring in disbelief at hundreds of their clones in the now largely destroyed Umbrella facility in Death Valley.
This brings us to the obvious question: what does Alice do with her clones? We see her initially furious and disgusted when she sees the corpses of all her clones in the facility, and her goal to destroy Umbrella would logically have her destroy the facility along with all the clones in it. However, seeing as it is one of her clones that saves her life and helps her defeat the mutant Dr.Isaacs (who resembles a “Tyrant” monster from the video game), this might’ve given Alice an idea.
Considering that she’s planning on taking on the massive and evil Umbrella Corporation that has a veritable army at its disposal, and her mention of bringing her “friends” along, Alice most likely uses her army of clones to raid Umbrella’s Tokyo headquarters. Though it is not clear if they possess the same telekinetic powers as the real Alice, the clones are shown to be proficient in combat and would be a logical ally for a lone ranger like Alice.
Is Claire Alive? Are Carlos and LJ Dead or Alive?
We see Claire Redfield, along with the few remaining survivors of her convoy, board the commandeered Umbrella helicopter heading towards Alaska. There, they hope to find other human survivors and, possibly, a part of the world where the virus hasn’t reached. Claire has shown herself to be a capable survivor, but as she mentions in the movie, her group has been steadily dwindling.
Her fate depends, in great part, on what the group finds in Alaska, given that they can reach it in the first place. The last signals from Alaska are 6 months old, and as Claire rightly notes, all the survivors there could be dead by now. Hence, Claire’s fate remains unknown even though she seems to be relatively safe at the end of the movie. Carlos and LJ’s fates are much more clear as the two characters are unquestionably dead.
LJ gets bitten early on in the movie and slowly turns into a zombie, eventually biting Carlos before being shot in the head by him. Carlos, who survives multiple close calls with zombies, is finally bitten by LJ. Choosing to sacrifice himself to help the group break into the Umbrella facility and steal their helicopter, he loads his fuel tanker with explosives and drives it into the wall of zombies surrounding the facility. Ending his life in a blaze of gasoline and zombie limbs, the last we see of Carlos is him finally getting to smoke the cigarette he was craving.
What Happens to the Survivors Heading to Alaska?
The survivors heading to Alaska hope to find Arcadia, a settlement of survivors living in an area not yet ravaged by the T-virus. This in itself, as described by their leader Claire, is a pipedream, as the settlement might very well be destroyed by the time they reach. Also, they seem to have lost most of their main fighters and scouts, including Carlos and LJ.
Hence, once again, the fate of the survivors depends majorly on what they find in Alaska as they are now left with barely any supplies or manpower. In later movies, we see that the signal followed by the survivors actually originated from an Umbrella research vessel called Arcadia. The vessel holds thousands of human survivors and is eventually targeted by Umbrella to finish off those remaining survivors.
What Happens to White Queen?
White Queen is an advanced artificial intelligence being that works for Umbrella and helps control and oversee their systems. She is the sister AI of Red Queen, who is seen in previous movies as a more vicious being who kills off almost everyone at the Raccoon City Umbrella facility to stop the T-virus from initially spreading. White Queen, like Red Queen, is an ambiguous character that helps both Umbrella and Alice and appears as a child in the movie.
At the end of ‘Resident Evil: Extinction,’ she contains the mutated Dr. Isaacs until Alice shows up to finish him off. Since the facility, along with all its staff, is destroyed, it is unclear if White Queen returns to Umbrella in Tokyo or continues to help Alice. Since both the AIs have always been guided by what is best for humanity, it is likely that White Queen, who seems less violent than Red Queen, will continue to help Alice. However, her ambiguous nature emphasizes that she does not have fixed loyalties.
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