Resident Evil: Afterlife
Starring: Mila Jovovitch, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, and Shawn Roberts
Rated R for sequences of strong violence and language.
Grade B
Over the course of the last year movie makers have jumped head first into the 3D craze, turning just about every film possible into an eye-popping production. Few of those films, however have managed to exploit the technology as brilliantly and as shamelessly as Resident Evil: Afterlife, which hit theaters last week.
The film takes place after the events of Resident Evil: Extinction, following Alice (Milla Jovovich, The Fourth Kind) on her mission to exact revenge on Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts, Edge of Darkness) the chairman of the evil Umbrella Corporation.
Afterlife opens with a bang, as Alice and her clones break into the Umbrella Corporation headquarters in Tokyo. While the clones lay waste to the underground facility, the real Alice confronts Wesker as he attempts to escape. However, during their confrontation, Wesker injects Alice with a serum that neutralizes the T-Virus in her system, taking away her super-human powers.
The timeline then skips forward three months, showing Alice combing the west coast for survivors, and following a transmission from Arcadia, an allegedly infection free community in Alaska. However, upon arriving at the right coordinates, Alice finds only an empty field, and her old friend, Claire Redfield who appears to be suffering amnesia. The two fly to Los Angeles and encounter a group of survivors who have set up camp in an abandoned prison. Very soon, they find that contrary to their previous ideas, Arcadia is a cargo ship, not a city, and it is anchored just off the coast.
The group hatches an escape plan, with the help of Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller, Prison Break) who was stationed at the prison during a military operation, and helps them find the supplies they need to make their getaway. Eventually, through a series of epic 3D action sequences, the survivors make their way to the Arcadia. Unfortunately, the ship is not what it seems, and a climactic battle ensues.
While the acting in AfterLife is not all around horrible, it seems that the characters have little care for the hardships that befall them throughout the plot. During the first five minutes of the film, Alice has her super human powers taken away, a seemingly important development. However, her lack of powers is never mentioned again. The characters also have a complete apathy for their fallen comrades, showing absolutely no reaction when their companions are picked off one by one. This is more likely than not the result of bad writing. Or perhaps we are simply supposed to believe that these people are so hardened by their apocalyptic life styles that they don’t give a damn zombies turning their friends into Snack Packs. Either way, their intense apathy makes the characters slightly unrealistic, and very hard for the audience to relate to.
The action sequences featured epic stunts, and tons of fantastic 3D gore effects, but they became monotonous due to the filmmaker’s apparent love for slow motion shots. However, the blades, bullets, and blood flying out of the screen made the fight scenes completely enthralling.
While Afterlife definitely appeals more to fans of the series, and the plot points make more sense if you know the back-story of the other films, the newest installment in the franchise is also entertaining all on its own. Normally, I wouldn’t encourage spending money on expensive 3D movie tickets, it completely enhances the special effects of the film, and if you’re going to see it, it is certainly worth the extra few dollars.
Overall, if you’re looking for a decent zombie movie, and the corny one-liners, and fantastic amounts of gore that go along with it, check out Resident Evil: Afterlife, in theaters now.
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