Thanks for checking out our Resident Evil Afterlife Review
Genre: Action
Directed by: Paul WS Anderson
Staring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Sergio Peris Mencheta, Spencer Locke, Boris Kodjoe, Wentworth Miller
Released: Sept 10, 2010
THE GENERAL IDEA
In a world ravaged by a viral infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice (Milla Jovovich), continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety. Her deadly battle with the Umbrella Corporation reaches new heights, but Alice gets some unexpected help from an old friend. A new lead that promises a safe haven from the Undead takes them to Los Angeles, but when they arrive the city is overrun by thousands of Undead—and Alice and her comrades are about to step into a deadly trap.
THE GOOD
Much like the games, this film is based entirely around the action. There is little downtime in this film and aside from continually abusing the 3d in a number of less than creative ways, this film does step up the eyecandy. No I am not just talking about how Jovovich is a distractingly stunning woman. The effects, setting, monsters, psudeozombies, vehicles, weapons and outfits are all staggeringly fun to look at. They have taken a huge leap forward for the effects of the franchise, and not just because its in 3d.
The action is 90% awesome and over-over the top. No one even has to speak to enjoy this movie, and for the most part they don’t. This is ALL about the visuals and the 3d. So its a good thing that people are not talking much, as Anderson is hardly known for his gripping dialogue.
And there is a lot to be said about the pacing of the film too. While not following any of its namesake games’ storyline this does manage to play out a lot like a video game. Each encounter is action packed, and conveniently leads to another encounter.
Also, for the newcomer who has seen some eye catching trailers, you don’t have to be shy about this film. You don’t have to watch the first three films to really get into this one. That is in part because of of the gentle plot but they do a good job catching you up to speed.
THE BAD
There really isn’t much of a plot, but in emulating the game play there really doesn’t have to be. I was kind of hoping for something deeper than the plot. Alice is bitter about the Umbrella Corporation unleashing this devastation on the world and she wants to shoot them right in the face. There are zombies in the way. She shoots those too. Roll credits.
And the action isn’t flawless. While visualy stunning in almost every way, I am constantly distracted by obvious wire work. If you can’t make wire-play look like you are NOT on a wire, but actually flying unreasonably high in the air, don’t even bother to erase the wirelines. Seriously people, the suspension of disbelief in the over the top physicality of these films are already sold, so don’t un-sell them with obvious and distracting wire work.
And slow motion is a great effect, if you don’t use it every 7 minutes. Not every action moment needs to be punctuated by slowmo. They could have cut maybe 20 minutes out of the movie if half of these scenes went by at normal speed.
OVERALL
I fit the Resident Evil films as only loosely based on the video games of the same name. The movies follow their own plot and I applaud them for sticking to that. If I wanted to relive the plot of the games I would just play the games. So any negatives I hear about how this is not like the games, I take as a grain of salt. Its not supposed to be despite borrowing the titles. And it works.
And stay to the end of the credits. The stinger leads to another film which they are probably plotting while snuggling in bed.
I give Resident Evil Afterlife 3D a 6 out of 10
You know, I have been been an avid Resident Evil fan since Chris and Jill entered the mansion in the outskirts of Racoon City on the first Playstation. I have played all the games, enjoying the thrill and storyline throughout the years. At first when RE 4 came out on the Gamecube I was very skeptical due to the change in style of the game, not to mention the transition from fighting the ‘typical’ RE zombies to parasite infected psychopaths. However, despite the changes, the game and storyline remained interesting.
Now, when I saw the first RE movie, I was very critical when comparing it to the game plot (as most other RE fans) noting everyhing that was left out and/or changed. Although the plot for both game and movie were not exactly parallel, the movie was still intriguing. I do wish, on some aspects, they would have remained true to the games. From that point, I accepted the fact the movies weren’t going to be exactly like the games. Let’s face it, most games made into live action movies usually turn out horrible, anyone remember Doom with the Rock.
Like all the other RE movies I enjoyed this one. Its exciting when characters from the game are introduced especially in this movie
**SPOILER**
like Chris and Jill key characters through all the games.
Granted this movie doesnt encompass an epic in-depth storyline, however they are quite enjoyable to those who liked all the previous movies. I look forward to the next installment of the series, for both game and movie!
you know what i love the resident evil game story!
but this….
OH MY GOD
What should i say :-D is lessssssssssssss…..
ALICE the Super Lady!
THE UNDEAD of THe UNDEAD
THAT Bitch Just dont dieeeeeeeeeeee
This is, i gotta say, the worst Resident Evil movie ever…
Only thing I didn’t like about this film is that I’ve seen all this stuff before and there was nothing really distinct. It just felt unnecessary.
It looks a little too Matrix for my taste, that’s why I liked the first movies… it wasn’t too pompous… wasn’t trying too hard.
Now with the 3D, special effects stuff, you always get the impression that they’re trying too hard.
This is Clash of the Titans 3D. It’s that bad. It’s not scary. Not good story telling. And just overall horribly executed. I can’t believe you gave it a 6/10. More like a 3/10.
I never said it was scary and I never said it had a good story.
And the 3D was done with the same cameras that Cameron used to do Avatar. It was not converted to 3d in post production like Clash of the Titans was.
You can disagree with my rating. You don’t have to like the movie.
The only qualities I said it had was amazing costumes, effects and action. Which it did.
hahahahhahaha
The only qualities I said it had was amazing costumes, effects and action. Which it did.
DUDE!!!
you are making a fucking movie! and you people only focused these things?
i cant believe this…
you ruined all the good impressions and thrill of the fans that make them crazy to watch this movie….
you know what it would have been better you people made a resident evil CARTOON atleast kids would love to watch it!
there is nothing in this shitty movie!
thank God you people didnt introduced the LEON Character that character is full of action thrill….
i say u should stop making these movies because you people are waisting your money and efforts just to make a full crapy movie!
you lost it man!!!!
My fav was RE3-Nemesis on ps2. But yeah alot of backtracking indeed on that one, But every time that ugly M@ther F#cker came out it made me jump! that shit was fun.
Had to buy the Cheat book though to make it to the end
from what i’ve seen, resident evil the game isn’t an action game. it’s more of a survival horror game that’s slower paced and less action oriented. people have told me the movies r nothing like the games.
Silent Hill’s movie adaptation suffered from this too. That’s mostly because both games revolved around solving puzzles and a crapload of back tracking. In the more recent RE games though, there has been a lot more dialogue and action if Im not mistaken..
I saw the movie and halfway through the ride home, we were still talking about how bad this movie was. I decided we should stop cause clearly we were putting more thought into the movie than the writer.
Rodney, you say it based around a lot of action just like the game, but what about the horror just like the game? In the first few games at least, the characters were deliberately made to move slow to help improve the horror element. It was never meant to be like Devil May Cry or something where the character runs around with superhuman abilities just shooting and slashing everything in sight.
The movies and the games are two different things, fine. Don’t try to make it seem like the movie is being faithful to the game with the over the top action.
soooooooo. is this “Cameron 3-D” as advertised or is it “Clash of the Titans” throw away 3-d?
oh boy hahaha nicely worded =)
At Comic-con he said that they were using the same cameras as Cameron did for Avatar so no shitty post 3D here.
the 3D in this movie is actually surprisingly good…i was expecting clash of the titans 3D quality but instead i got something to the effect of How to Train Your Dragon.