Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
I ended up watching Resident Evil: Afterlife last night so I figured I would post a little review.
If you don’t feel like reading the entire review, I can tell you it was OK, maybe 5 out of 10.
The only Resident Evil game I ever really played was the first one (on PC) and despite the fact that almost every movie based on a video game blows, I actually enjoyed the first movie.
The sequel, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, on the other hand was only so so. It seemed to be lacking in some way.
I thought Resident Evil: Extinction was an improvement over Apocalypse.
So where does that put Resident Evil: Afterlife? In my opinion, it is better than Apocalypse, but not as good as Extinction.
Afterlife was written, directed and produced by Paul W. S. Anderson.
Anderson is no stranger to the franchise. He is credited as writer and producer on all four Resident Evil films as well as director of the first. He is also no stranger to video game adaptations. His first major success was directing Mortal Kombat (another video game adaptation that I actually liked).
It has been a few years since Extinction was released and perhaps I should have given it a second viewing before seeing Afterlife. I was a little thrown off by what was happening at the beginning, which take place almost directly after the events in Extinction.
I don’t want to get into the details of the events that take place. Personally, I like to know as little as I can about a movie before I see it.
If you have seen the trailer, you should have noticed that the 3D aspect is heavily advertised. I personally didn’t see it in 3D, though it was painfully obvious which effects were added specifically for 3D. Things like bullets, guns, bodies and explosions flying towards the screen were very common. I’m sure it’s effective in 3D but they probably shouldn’t have tried so hard, it makes the effect seem out of place.
The story is OK, but severely lacking in character development. Honestly, whenever one of the main cast would die, it was like “oh, well I guess there is one less person to kill off before the end”. You really didn’t care about any of these people.
There is also a lack of Zombie action. Don’t get me wrong, there are scenes with lots of zombies, but they just don’t seem that scary any more. Perhaps because they are so easy to kill?
The threat of being infected by the t-virus also seems to be downplayed. I assume getting zombie blood/guts in your eyes, mouth or cuts would put you at risk of getting infected. Despite that, there is blood and guts flying everywhere and no one seems concerned.
Despite everything, Milla Jovovish and Ali Larter both look hot and do a good job with their action scenes.
I guess in the end, it didn’t feel like a whole lot had happened, just a bunch of action scenes with a little dialog in between. Perhaps I am nitpicking. There are a lot of scenes that are a little extreme and unlikely, but that is partly what this movie is about. Extreme action with a Superhero type female character kicking ass.
Anyway, if you like extreme fight sequences, crazy gun play, lots of zombie killing and evil corporations, I’m sure you will find something to like in Afterlife. If your a fan of the series, I’m sure you have already gone out and seen this. If not, perhaps catch it on video in a few months.
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