Resident Evil: Afterlife

Resident Evil Afterlife picks up where the last one ended with Alice taking the fight to the Umbrella Corporation, complete with her newly discovered Jedi powers. I will admit that I only went to see this movie to see the big zombie’s axe spiral at me in threeeeeee deeeeeee but by the time the credits came up at the end I was actually excited for the next installment. Here’s the thing gamers, for those of you who have played and beaten Resident Evil 5 you will be getting a whole dose of fan-service with this movie. For curious viewers who know little about the Resident Evil games or movie series you may find yourself laughing hysterically at the Matrix influenced first half and totally lost by the plot and the players involved.

Milla Jovovich is gorgeous in this movie, she seems to have put on a little bit of weight (an extremely good thing) and they have gone away from the weird porcelain doll glow that they used on her Resident Evil Extinction. Ali Larter is back as Claire Redfield and she too looks really healthy and sexy, so if I were to say that the over-abundance of femme fatales was a bad thing you know that I am a damn liar. Boris Kodjoe makes an appearance as celebrity athlete Luther West, he delivered his lines with much more believability than many of his co-stars and he didn’t seem out of place or forced into the plot of Alice’s hell. Prison Break’s Wentworth Miller is given the honor of playing Chris Redfield and as much as I would like to say that he rocked the role, I am going to have to be honest and demand a recast. Finally we have Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), a character who is textbook perfect in the way he is portrayed but the delivery of his godawful lines were a mix of Mr. Smith from The Matrix and Keanu Reeves in… well anything, BAD IDEA!

As a movie this one stinks folks, it stinks badly but it is an acquired taste and scent that gamers who have stuck with the series will happily eat and admit to loving it. The CGI and graphics are bad, reminiscent of (dare I make this tired comparison?) a video game… there I said it! The 3D was pretty cool during the CGI parts… spent shells from a shotgun falling into the crowd, ninja stars, etc. but during the actual movie it was non-existent. This disappointed me since it is being advertised as having been shot in 3D unlike other 2D movies that layer the 3D in later. I expected the type of 3D experience that James Cameron’s Avatar provided but was treated to partial 3D which made me question the supposed filming in 3D.

Back to sexy Milla, everyone in this movie looked good – despite the video game environment and 300 inspired slow-mo camera action. If you saw the 3^rd movie installment of Resident Evil and swore off the series like I did, this one will win you back and while you won’t be cheering for anyone near the end, you will find yourself wanting more by the time it’s all over. Call me crazy or sadistic but do not let the low score fool you, I actually had a good time in this movie. I would caution that only hardcore fans of the Resident Evil franchise  need apply.