Resident Evil movies are meant to be big, loud, and (very) dumb - which is part of its charm. Realism is not a requirement, nor is it welcome, which is why it's easy to poke fun at just how nonsensical the movies truly are. Perhaps that was the intention - to allow viewers to immerse themselves for 2 hours and let them suspend belief in a far-out concept.
Regardless, Resident Evil doesn't get a when it comes to scrutiny. The first film had its own fair share of silly plot points and bizarre twists that made no sense, and its sequel Apocalypse doubles down on that notion.
Alice In A Lab
At the end of the first Resident Evil film, principal protagonist Alice was rendered unconscious by Umbrella operatives and brought to a lab, presumably to be experimented on. The sequel picks up exactly where that scene left off, with Alice stumbling outside into a decimated Raccoon City.
The question is, why on Earth were Umbrella personnel running experiments on her from inside such a place? The security is incredibly low, as evidenced by the fact that the T-Virus bio-weapons managed to break in and slaughter the staff. Surely such a top-secret Umbrella directive would be handled in a much more secure spot.
Mowing Down Station Zombies
There's nothing more annoying than a hero who throws caution entirely to the wind and puts everyone's lives in danger. That's what happens in the first act of Apocalypse when Jill Valentine struts into the local police station, where a number of officers are struggling to restrain the undead.
Without missing a beat, she pulls her pistol and shoots them down with perfect aim...within a crowded room. This is woefully and horrifically irresponsible and would have put everyone's lives at risk from stray gunfire.
The Newspaper Article
While Apocalypse is definitely a Day of the Dead, it's no less silly when it attempts to copy some of the clichés. One of the most obvious is the camera shot of a newspaper with the headline "The Dead Walk," which makes no chronological sense.
The T-Virus supposedly spread across Raccoon City within 13 hours, which means there would be no time for a story to break, the edits to be made, or the paper to come off the presses. Also, why would anyone bother to deliver the paper during the midst of a full-blown zombie outbreak?
Rapid-Fire Perimeter Construction
Umbrella certainly has its act together when it comes to building things, but even they don't possess superhuman abilities. Yet, they manage to build an extremely elaborate fence and gating system with overwatch towers for personnel to station themselves and prevent escape.
This type of structure would take at least a week, and that itself would require a heavy load of trained personnel. Within the space of a half-day, the best they would be able to manage is some perimeter fencing and makeshift guard positions.
A Gun Store With Inventory
Video game realism is a lot different from movie realism, and when the latter attempts to court the former, it ends in hilarity. Such is the case when Alice finds a gun store within raccoon city, where she proceeds to stock up on weapons and ammo. Not only is this too convenient, but it's a ridiculous proposition.
A gun store would get cleaned out in a matter of hours during a zombie outbreak as a panicked populace would break in and tried to hoard as much as they could. By the time it was all over, there would be limited resources.
The Cemetery Scene
The T-Virus reanimates dead tissue and reactivates the brain by capitalizing on an electrical charge still present a few hours after death. Granted, this premise is scientifically laughable, but it's the story the writers went with in order to sell the idea of the dead coming back to life.
In Apocalypse, the T-Virus somehow manages to penetrate six feet of soil and permeate the coffins of the long-since deceased, causing them to pull a Thriller and attack the characters. This is silly, and it serves no other purpose than to wink and nod at classic zombie tropes from the 1970s and 80s.
Umbrella, Alice & Nemesis
Umbrella seems awfully interested in how Alice performs against the hulking Nemesis, a bipedal T-Virus nightmare with super-strength and hunting capabilities. It doesn't make sense that events needed to go as they did in order for that showdown to take place, however.
This goes back to the opening shot of Alice awakening in a woefully insecure lab that has been overrun. If Umbrella were that concerned about investing in this particular showdown, both Nemesis and Alice would have been moved off-site and pitted against one another in a more controlled environment.
Ridiculously Dumb Umbrella Soldiers
The latter half of the film sees Alice running through a building while a pursuing helicopter strafes the exterior and lights it up with gunfire. This is a direct nod to Resident Evil: Code Veronica, a semi-sequel to the Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, of which many plot points are taken.
Rather than bump into a room full of armed soldiers and shooting out a gas tank, Alice stops dead in her tracks while the Umbrella soldiers stand there like fools. Realistically, she would have been killed without hesitation, but then there would be no cool gun-grab shot.
Alice's Telekinetic Powers
No explanation is given as to how Alice develops the powers of telekinesis, or how the T-Virus plays a part. No other creature in the Resident Evil movie franchise seems to have this power, except her. It manifests a few times in later Resident Evil films, before largely dropping out altogether, perhaps due to an overabundance in power.
Either way, it makes absolutely no sense for Alice to be able to see through a camera lens and kill people looking at a security monitor. If she were this powerful, she wouldn't have spared the life of Dr. Isaacs at the end of the film. Unless of course, there was some sort of RoboCop-style hidden fourth directive in her programming.
Alice Is Allowed To Leave
Apocalypse ends with Alice being allowed to leave by Dr. Isaacs, who gets picked up by Carlos and Jill in a black truck. Isaacs sees right through their false guise, but no attempt is made to stop them, presumably so he can out Alice's newfound powers in the wild. This does set things up for the next movie, but the payoff never really occurs.
As such, the film ends with an evil Alice insinuation that never fully materializes. Question is, why should it? What possible purpose could it serve Umbrella to send such an obscenely overpowered bio-weapon out into the human world? They should have learned everything they needed to know from her "escape."
