Movie Review: Resident Evil: Afterlife

There was once a promising-looking movie series based on the “Resident Evil” gaming franchise, but that ship has certainly sailed. “Afterlife” seems to have been made only to prove this point and rake in a few million dollars from its devout fans. This should have been expected though, as Capcom’s “Resident Evil” games have become as terribly predictable and uninventive as its spinoff films.

“Afterlife” focuses on the story of the familiar, yet stale character of Alice (Milla Jovovich) in a post-apocalyptic world populated nearly entirely by zombies. The film picks up just after the ending of “Extinction” with several clones of Alice attacking another Umbrella Corporation outpost. The clones wipe out the entire population of the base, but of course only one Alice survives the assault.

With that ridiculous plot twist from the previous movie out of the way in the prequel, writer/director Paul Anderson could continue to play out the tired plot of “Afterlife.” Alice searches for the friends that she left behind in “Extinction” in Alaska, but is only successful in finding one. Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) pops out of nowhere, trying to kill Alice in a deserted airfield on the Alaskan coast with a mind-controlling device attached to her, and a wiped memory. Isn’t that conveniently unexplained?

The two lovely ladies end up finding some more survivors in a prison after reuniting, and the expanded crew continues to look for more survivors. That really sums up the excitement of the rest of the movie, but this description is way too familiar to give any sort of credit to the series.

My approach to this movie was optimistic. I figured following “Extinction,” the series would be able to pull itself out of its gutter and make an enjoyable sequel. My initial optimism was well-deserved though – the original Resident Evil is a very good movie for its already well-documented zombie genre and the second movie (Apocalypse) is a wickedly fun thrill ride. But I can only hope at this point that Anderson quits making sequels to leave some degree of honor in the series.

But I’m sure Anderson will continue to make more films anyways. At the very least, he should deserve a little bit of credit for the visuals of the movies. “Afterlife” follows a long string of 3D movies this year, many of which would be just as impressive in 2D (cough, cough “Clash of the Titans”). But, the blood and gore expected by the Resident Evil franchise is just a little bit more impressive when seen in 3D. It’s no “Avatar,” but also not as ridiculous as the idea of “Step Up 3D.”

My recommendation is for the Resident Evil fanatics who have not already seen the movie to rent, but certainly not buy, the DVD of “Afterlife.” For those readers who have not really followed (or cared about) the series, don’t bother watching it. It’s really just not even worth the time.

Posted by Ryan Del Campo on Sep 24 2010. Filed under Features, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.