Even though the Resident Evil film series is based on the Japanese game franchise of the same name, its central protagonist Alice was an original creation. Portrayed by Milla Jovovich, Alice has become a cult action heroine in her own right. She started out as a brainwashed employee of Umbrella Corporation as it accidentally triggers a zombie apocalypse with its bioweapons and the hazardous ‘T-Virus’. All six films of the series find Alice fighting these new zombies and coming closer to the secrets of her past.
In each of her journeys, she ends up using iconic weapons, fighting moves, and saying some quotable and memorable lines that have stuck with fans for years.
‘ That Homicidal B**** May Be Our Only Way Out Of Here.’
The Hive was a research facility lying underneath Racoon City. When a thief stole the genetically-engineered T-Virus and infected The Hive with it, the AI system the Red Queen got activated and killed everyone inside based on a safety protocol. Resident Evil builds upon this plot point and revolves around Alice and a team of commandos trying to contain the virus from spreading beyond the facility.
However, the Red Queen lays several traps, killing the characters one by one. Despite this, Alice is convinced that the Red Queen might be their only way out to survival. So even though the commando Rain calls her a ‘homicidal b****’, Alice trusts her instinct to procure the anti-virus through none other than the Red Queen herself.
‘We Fought The Infection…And Now We Face Extinction.’
A recurring feature in the franchise is Alice’s voice-overs. These voice-overs add a dramatic charm to Alice’s never-ending life of violence and also serve as good recaps for viewers who might have forgotten the incidents of the previous films. In the third film, Resident Evil: Extinction, she similarly goes through her tussles with the Umbrella corporation so far.
And even though she fought the hordes of virus-infected beings in an ‘apocalypse’, she’s yet to face the events of future ‘extinction’. It’s a good-enough line to set the thematic tone of the film.
‘A Virus Escaped. A Lot Of People Died. The Trouble Was, They Didn’t Stay Dead.’
The monologues narrated by Alice are a common element in each film. Resident Evil: Retribution opens with this line that serves as a reminder to refresh the viewers’ minds about Alice’s story so far. The quote, in fact, showcases the simple premise of the films. One company’s experiment ended up ruining the entire planet.
In this monologue, Alice also reveals how she used to work for the Umbrella Corporation as their secret high-tech facility’s head of security, and how the facility’s AI System (The Red Queen) reacted in a homicidal manner after the viral outbreak.
“Sometimes I Feel Like This Has Been My Whole Life. Running. Killing.”
This quote seems perfect for the final Resident Evil film, aptly titled The Final Chapter. As the T-virus spreads all over the world, Alice is constantly on the run fighting zombies, ‘super-zombies’, scientists, and hybrid beings like Albert Wesker. Her troubles seem to be never-ending as she’s constantly engaged in one violent confrontation or the other (sometimes with her own clones).
Even as The Final Chapter ends with an anti-virus being developed to combat the T-virus, Alice is convinced that her fight isn’t yet over. The anti-virus would take years to reach the entire globe. Till then, Alice will have to engage in quests for her survival yet again.
‘My Name Is Alice…And I Remember Everything.’
Alice undergoes several traumatic and gory journeys in the first film only to find out that this was just the beginning for her. She is convinced that some fragments of her memory have been erased as the world is engulfed in a deadly T-virus pandemic. In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, she’s kept under medical investigation by the notorious Dr. Isaacs.
As Isaacs asks her if she even remembers her name, a few past memories and events of the first film flash in her head. With a sense of vengeance, Alice says that she remembers everything. ‘My name is Alice’ has in fact become synonymous with the film series, having been featured heavily in the sequels, and trailers.
‘Yeah, You’re The Future All Right!’
Resident Evil: Extinction features further character development of Dr. Alexander Isaacs, who was first introduced in Apocalypse. After being bit by a genetically-modified ‘zombie’ and injecting an anti-virus later, he turns into a monster known as the Tyrant.
A laser grid later slices Dr. Isaacs/Tyrant into a pulp as Alice witnesses video footage of Isaacs telling Alice that he is the future. Alice grins while looking at the bloody entrails of Isaacs and mocks his words. The moment is a perfect example of Alice’s badassery and sarcasm.
‘We struggle, we fight, we watch our friends die. Survival is a b****.’
When Claire Redfield candidly tells Alice that she feels like a bad friend and she has let people down, Alice reassures her by saying that she’s not the only one. She adds that surviving in this new hellscape is quite a nightmare. And in order to survive this nightmare, Alice and her allies need to make tough choices.
This does make sense as from the first film to the last, Alice has seen many friends die right in front of her eyes. In some situations, she was even compelled to leave them to their death, especially if they were bitten by any of the virus-struck zombies.
‘I’m Not On The Menu.’
In Resident Evil: Afterlife, Alice is confronted by the franchise’s chief antagonist Albert Wesker. The latter reveals that he was resurrected with the T-virus, but the virus is so strong that it fights his body for control. Wesker plans to ingest Alice’s DNA (as her body had bonded with the T-virus), for that would make him have total control over his body.
Viewers are distracted from this awkward science to adrenaline-fueled action when Alice sassily says, ‘I’m not on the menu’ followed by a roundhouse kick. She kicks a tray of scalpels, aimed straight at Wesker.
‘I’ve Heard That Before.’
The Umbrella Corporation’s highly unstable and homicidal artificial intelligence system Red Queen loves testing Alice’s patience with traps and mind games. In Resident Evil: Retribution, the system makes its humanity-destroying intentions pretty clear, but is disappointed to see Alice joining forces with her long-time foe Albert Wesker.
The Queen calls Wesker a traitor and threatens to kill Alice and her ally Ada Wong if they defy her. The Red Queen shouts, ‘you’re all going to die down here’. To this, Alice says, ‘I’ve heard that before’. It’s a good callback to the character’s previous encounters at underground high-security facilities.
‘I’m Missing You Already.’
In the first film, Alice is revealed to have had a romantic partner called Spence, both of whom were given the responsibility to guard the secret entrance to the Hive. Spence turns out to suffer from amnesia just like Alice and is later reanimated by the T-Virus during the final scenes of Resident Evil.
This is one of the moments that reveal Alice’s survival instinct and remorselessness, as she has no choice but to kill this ‘zombified’ version of her former lover. All she says is, ‘I’m missing you already’ while slicing his head off with an axe.
