The harsh reality is that unless they appeal to a male audience, most female-fronted action movies fail miserably at the box office. And it seems that neither hubba-hubba casting nor the intrinsic popularity of their characters has much to do with it.

Catwoman, Elektra, Aeon Flux... all died on their shapely, leather-clad backsides. Even Angelina Jolie couldn’t arouse sufficient interest in Lara Croft to sustain two outings. The common factor? Celluloid anaemia.

If the Alien and Underworld franchises prove nothing else, it’s that guys like their gun-toting girls covered in gore. Nudity doesn’t hurt either.

Ergo the success of the Resident Evil series, which pitches its kick-ass - and often bare-assed - heroine Alice (Jovovich) into a world of undead flesh-eaters, then sits back with a cold brew to watch her fight her way out of it.

The third ride on the zombie-go-round takes place above and below the Nevada desert, now home to the shady Umbrella Corporation.

After laying waste to most of the planet with a virus that turns people into cannibalistic ghouls, the hi-tech, high staff-turnover business has ditched Raccoon City for spanking new premises hidden beneath an old shack.

Or it would be hidden were it not for the pile of dead Alice clones and hordes of zombies outside.

By unlucky hap, escaped Umbrella test subject Alice has strayed into the same area.

This puts her back on the radar of Umbrella’s chief mad scientist (Iain Glen) whose hare-brained experiments are taking a heavy toll on his supply of expendable clones and lab assistants. He needs her DNA and he shall have it. Oh yes.

Alice could have laid low but feels compelled to assist a ragtag convoy of remarkably healthy-looking survivors. Led by Heroes star Ali Larter, The Mummy’s Oded Fehr and pop singer Ashanti, their teeth and skin remain flawless despite the harsh conditions and borderline malnutrition.

Fresh from a skirmish with a pack of skinned Dobermans, Alice uses her newly acquired powers to see off a murder of mutant crows (never was a collective noun so appropriate) before hacking her way through a mob of boiler-suited zombies in what looks like the Attack of the Kwik Fit Fitters.

Extinction is being touted as the last in the series - yeah, right - and regular writer Paul W.S. Anderson (who directed the first) has certainly picked the bones of the videogames clean.

He’s also recycled the best of the previous two Evils and nicked most of his ‘new’ ideas from George ‘Mad Max’ Miller, George A. Romero and Hitchcock’s The Birds.

But director Mulcahy keeps the carnage coming and misses no opportunity to jolt viewers out of their seats. Alice is no Ripley, but she’s much more fun than Ultraviolet.

Elliott Noble