Review“Five years ago, the T-Virus escaped, and everybody died. Trouble was... they didn't stay dead.” - AliceWith a number of major dark genre releases hitting cinemas over recent weeks a trip to the cinema seemed well in order for myself and number one son. The decision over which movie to go see was surprisingly easy to make with a shocking result. Road Train was out, our local temple to consumerism doesn't show Indies or support the local industry, making a mockery of those anti-pirating adverts. There was no way we were going to pay good money to see a Yank remake so scratch Let Me In. And the young fella was very uncomfortable watching Paranormal Activity so the sequel got crossed out. Which left a Paul Anderson movie! Yes kids we paid good money to go see Resident Evil: Afterlife (RE:A) in the face of a 25% rating on the old RT meter. And you know what, we had a bloody good time with both of us thoroughly enjoying the film. I went in with full knowledge of what I was going to see, a big epic Paul Anderson flick with logic holes, unbelievable situations, and some dodgy scenes. On the bright side of the ticket stub I was also expecting some cool zombie action, Milla in tight leathers, and some awe inspiring 3D work. You know what? - I got exactly what I expected, value for money kids, and would suggest that people viewing this film from a higher plain of existence have a carrot up the carrot in their arse. This isn't an attempt at winning an Oscar this is simply an attempt to entertain the hell out of you. Continuing from events in the previous movie, Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) (reviewed right here), Alice has declined the helicopter ride to possible safety and is intent on rooting out the evil Umbrella corporation from it's underground Tokyo lair. She, and a number of clones, succeeds in doing so at the cost of her T-Virus enhanced abilities. With nothing much else to do she follows the survivors of the previous movie to the dubious safety of Arcadia, a plane ride to the wastes of Alaska. Something of a surprise waits Alice there but she does team up with Claire Redfield again. Alice decides a trip down the West Coast of the U.S might be in order and eventually reaches Los Angles. The City is devastated with a small enclave of survivors holed up in the City Jail surrounded by thousands of Critics wanting their pound of flesh. Alice and Claire make one hell of an entrance, and there's a whole bunch of surprises waiting for us as things get tense. Stay during the credits for a cameo by Jill Valentine and the promise of a fifth movie in the series. Director Anderson gets his movie out of the harbour with one hell of an opening sequence. We get a flashback to the T-Virus arriving in Tokyo and infecting the citizens, loved the top down 3D view of the falling rain as the first of the infected selects her victim. Anderson indicates things are spreading with an aerial view of Tokyo with the lights going out as things escalate from the business district outwards. Not entirely sure that would have been working for people unfamiliar with the whole Resident Evil thing, but we really don't care what those people think any ways. With the Umbrella dudes feeling safe in their underground fortress Alice and her clones unleash hell in one heck of a kinetic and frenzied attack that had me high fiving my fellow session patrons. Anderson sure does know how to handle an epic action sequence and he knocks one out of the ball park here. Guns blazing, swords swishing, and knifes a flying, Alice is back in a big way! Surprisingly Anderson then gives us a little breathing space as he sets up the central mystery of RE:A, before launching once again into high adrenalin action that will have you biting chunks out of your coke cup. Highlights include one cool plane landing on top of a building in L.A and Alice going for a bungee jump with a horde of zombies on her arse. It's invigorating stuff and will have you as happy as a baby in a topless bar. Okay this being an Anderson movie, and I still hold his Event Horizon (1997) is the business, there are any number of problems that don't bare thinking about. Anyone who has seen Blade II (2002) will note a complete rip from that movie, there's a few other “re-inventions” as well. Even though Alice has lost her superhuman abilities to leap tall buildings she's still leaping tall buildings as Anderson seems to have forgotten that development. The whole script is cringe worthy, really bad one liners Milla is stuck with, though Arnie would probably think they are cool. And do we really need this number of card board cut out characters, most of whom have a big V on their foreheads. Anyone actually wondered why the Umbrella dudes are still doing there thing with pretty much the whole of humanity disappearing under an undead avalanche? And why oh why did we have the big dude with the giant hammer thing, nonsensical in terms of where the movie was headed and seems to be simply a plot device. Don't get me started on the plot holes, overuse of slow mo, bullet POV, or all the other distractions Anderson can't seem to get enough of. While most dark genre efforts would collapse under the weight of ineptitude on display from a purely cinematic point of view, RE:A rises above the pack with the share glorious idea that it's not a serious outing and follows in the traditions of Predator (1987) in being all about the action and carnage. Zombies are the added decomposing sauce on this sundae of delight kids. While watching the movie you don't have time to think about the issues as the next epic battle scene goes down or Anderson throws on a wide angle shot that will have your bottom jaw dropping. As a Director Anderson has always been able to bring on the money shot when needed. And actually I have to say this is the best use of 3D technology since James Cameron showed us how to do it with Avatar. Bit of home work for moi, Cameron's flick falls apart when viewed in normal 2D, how will RE:A stand up? Might be an excused to score all four Resident Evil movies in a package deal perhaps and do a DVD review in due course, high five, hell yeah! Once again I've shoot passed the word limit for these reviews, my apology, so cutting things off at the knee here. Needless to say Milla Jovovich (Alice) is the business, best female action character since Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor in my feeble opinion. However Ali Larter (Claire Redfield) is stealing every scene she is in, the girl is hot! Which offsets Wentworth Miller (Chris Redfield), does the dude ever change expression? The soundtrack as one would expect is high energy cock rock and I wasn't complaining over here. They tell me it recalls the games the RE movies are based on, never having had a parent's basement I would have no idea. I had a hoot in RE:A and enjoyed every second of the movie from first frame to last frame, and hey I'm there for the fifth movie. Okay so there's flaws and issues galore but you get caught up in the insanely fast pacing and don't have time to worry about things during the movie, and who really cares afterwards if you got value for money. Well I do, but then that comes with the territory. We're not talking an Oscar winner here but it's going to be so worth your while to go one more round with Alice. Is this the best movie in the series since the first one? Make your own call.
ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ... The movie transcends the rating, but we have to make a call
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