Film Review: RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE (2010)

Writer/Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Running time: 97 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Horror/Adventure
UK Release date: 10^th September 2010

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 24^th July 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I quite enjoyed the first two films of this series, I found them entertaining as well as having a relatively decent plot line. The third one fell a bit short of the mark and this one, well, let’s say you can tell it was made for the 3D market. It unfortunately has a 15 certificate here in the UK, which is a shame because my 13 year-old nephew would love this kind of thing. To give the film its due, it does do what it says on the tin, and it does it over and over again… But more of my thoughts after this brief summary.

We begin in Tokyo at the headquarters of The Umbrella Corporation. It is under attack, not from the many zombies they have inflicted on the world, but from multiple copies, clones, of Alice. Showing no mercy she dispatches all that get in her way until she comes face to face with Albert Wesker, the head of the company. He escapes in a plane, only to find the original Alice aboard. The plane crashes and Alice escapes the wreckage. Taking another plane, she heads north, hoping to find ‘Arcadia’, a place that has been transmitting on the radio, advertising itself as a haven. She had sent her friends there at the end of the previous film. She arrives to find nothing… no town, no community, just a field and a beach. A movement catches her eye and she tracks it down, it’s Claire Redfield, one of the people she had sent there. Claire is suffering from memory loss due to a device attached to her chest. Alice removes it and they fly off down the coast. Eventually they find a prison surrounded by thousands of zombies where some survivors are holed up. They include a former basketball star, Luther West, a film producer, Bennett and his intern, Kim Yong and Claire’s brother, Chris. They discover that ‘Arcadia’ is a ship anchored off shore, but how to get there past all those zombies. And when they do, what’s awaiting them? Well, as usual, I’m not going to tell you here… I’ve probably given away too much already and those Spoiler Police will be tracking my movements by satellite as I type.

This is very much an action flick, with a heavy emphasis on the action. The plot, well, that’s just a device to get us to the next action sequence, right? As far as performances go, well, it’s quite a physically demanding film and they all coped pretty well with that, acting-wise, well nobody was really stretched, but I will give a few honourable mentions. I love Milla Jovovich as Alice, it’s a role she’s made her own over the years, but I don’t think it’s doing her any favours now. Ali Larter did a decent job as Claire Redfield and Kim Coates played the villainous Bennett very well, I just wish he had more screen time. It was nice to see Wentworth Miller breaking out of prison again, this time as Chris Redfield and Shawn Roberts was suitably sinister as Albert Wesker.

As I said at the beginning, you can tell this was made for the 3D market. There are far too many slow-motion seg-ways in the action sequences. This was done back in the day of ‘The Matrix’ and it’s been done to death since! No reason for it here. It seems the director got all his 3D toys out and totally forgot about making a properly scripted and plotted film. It looked like a collection of set-pieces loosely linked together by a rather weak narrative. Unfortunately it’s left wide open for another sequel and I hope they forget about 3D and concentrate on the story for a change. Over all, apart from the annoying slow-motion bits, the action sequences are very well done, as is, for the most part, the CGI. I just wish I could say the same for the plot and the dialogue… Not recommended.

My Score: 4.6/10

IMDb Score: 5.9/10 (43,691 votes when this review was written).
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 24/100 (89 reviews counted when this review was written).

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1220634/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/resident_evil_afterlife/
Official Site:
http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/residentevilafterlife/
Trailer: