That's because the guy who directed 2 is different from the guy(s?) who directed 1 and 3 I think.
I thought RE 1 was nice... it was bleak and ultra-modern punk (or near future, w/e) and it kind of revolutionized the female martial artist thing in the west i think and 3 had it's own charms... but yeah 2 was shitty. In a way, if you think about it, it almost sounds like something somebody from Capcom could come up with decently - it's rather anime, especially the first one. S'all good though, Milla's a really cool actress so the movies are fun anyway ('cept for ultraviolet she almost never fails to amuse me)
I'd prefer 1 and 3 to something lame like Land of the Dead which was so contrived, I mean wtf, "socio-political commentary on the state of consumerism and capitalism" my ass - and the capacity of humans towards violence/ non-humans towards humanity? Shit, if I wanted that I'd have watched Blade Runner. At least that way, I'll see things you people wouldn't believe.... I have more respect for a director who wants to make money than a director trying to be smart. The former CAN be smart after all whereas the latter can never be, is just plain stupid and quite deluded...
Although Romero did kind of start it all, still it doesn't mean that he's still good today, and it just pisses me off when fags like Roger Ebert critically acclaim films like Land of the Dead just because it was made by a director who made some (relatively) good movies a long time ago. Because shit, if you've seen night of the living dead, I mean... it wasn't that great. But who can blame the strategists for conducting the D-Day operations right? It was largely successful and they were stupider back then than we are today (or are we.)
I found the first and third movies enjoyable taken in its own terms, and to me that's all that matters. Same thing with music... pisses me off absolutely when people go like omg i listen to such and such genres, wtf? I really doubt people can have such narrow tastes - or maybe they're just really close minded with around 130 IQ and with as much opinion as an... I dunno, an autistic donkey? Whatever.