Movie Review: Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)

A tired series looking for reasons to continue churning out the installments attempts a 3D version. It doesn't matter: Resident Evil: Afterlife may as well be a Roadrunner cartoon, the franchise that started with the engaging original Resident Evil has degenerated into a choppy sequence of contrived theatrical set-pieces, exaggerated, outlandish and devoid of any emotion.

Alice (Milla Jovovich) has developed superhuman powers due to her unique DNA bonding with the mysterious T-virus, developed by the evil Umbrella corporation. Alice can now clone herself, and the movie opens with an army of Alices attacking and eventually destroying the Tokyo headquarters of Umbrella, and apparently killing Umbrella leader Wesker (Shawn Roberts), who himself is also infected with the T-virus.

Alice flies a small plane to Alaska to try and find the mythical town of Arcadia, an apparently virus-free community ready to reboot humanity. She reconnects with her friend Claire (Ali Larter), but there is no town of Arcadia. Claire and Alice fly down the coast and arrive at a devastated Los Angeles. They land on top of a large prison building, where a few surviving humans are holed up, surrounded by hordes of zombies, and wondering how to escape to the real Arcadia: a large container ship off the coast of LA. A few battles later, the human survivors with Alice's help make it onto Arcadia, which is actually controlled by Umbrella and the healthy-again Wesker, and being used for further nefarious virus tests. Alice and her buddies need to stop Wesker once and for all, but the one certainty is that before the credits roll, yet another sequel will be set-up.

The massively computer-aided action sequences play out like exquisitely choreographed ballet dances, bullets and bodies flying, twirling, and catapulting in all directions, and are certainly artistic, but they do not a movie make, and this is all that Resident Evil: Afterlife has to offer.

Jovovich and Larter go through the motions, projecting abject boredom, and looking forward only to the part where they cash their cheques. The other cast members were picked up from the corner store of discounted cardboard action movie rejects. Director Paul W. S. Anderson appears to be content building a comfortable but unambitious resume filled with sequels and derivative bottom-crawling actioneers.

The Resident Evil series is proving a theory that was once unthinkable: even an activity as fun as killing countless zombies can become tedious.

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Movie Review: Resident Evil (2002)

A futuristic zombie movie based on a video game series, Resident Evil contains plenty of action, some mild shocks, numerous extras doing the zombie walk, and buckets of inoffensive special effects.

It's the future, and The Umbrella corporation is the world's largest and most dangerous corporation. In an underground weapons research facility called the Hive, the lethal and highly infectious chemical agent known as the T-Virus is released by an intruder. The 500 researchers at the facility are infected and killed, but the virus provides enough of a kick to keep the dead moving and seeking blood -- chemical zombies of sorts. The central computer that runs the Hive, nicknamed the Red Queen, shuts down the place to avoid the infection spreading to the surface, where residents of the large Raccoon City metropolis are unaware that the Hive even exists below them.

An Umbrella military team is sent into the Hive to clean up the mess, and they take with them Alice (Milla Jovovich), head of the Hive's security but suffering from amnesia. They are soon engaged in running battles with hordes of hungry zombies, deranged dogs, and even more dangerous large pink creatures with long tongues. To make matters worse the Red Queen does not appreciate the intrusion and activates her defence systems. The military team is decimated; Alice fights for survival and gradually uncovers her role in the conspiracy that resulted in the bloody mess.

Video games rarely translate well to the big screen, since games are built for active player engagement while movies are a much more passive experience. Resident Evil adds just enough plot and characterization to hold itself together as a movie, and director Paul W. S. Anderson throws massive amounts of mayhem and some humour at the screen to cover up the lack of substance. Milla Jovovich fulfills her function as eye candy in the form of an action doll, but casting an actress with limited range as a character suffering from amnesia is just asking for an overdose of blank stares. Michelle Rodriguez as a member of the military team is a much more animated and engaging zombie ass-kicker.

Resident Evil does not pretend to be anything other than a pseudo-science evil corporation zombie movie targeted at a young male audience. It achieves its objectives, but the bar is set quite low.

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