Can a zombie eat my brains now?

Resident Evil: Afterlife – Paul W.S. Anderson

Adapted from the very popular video game series Resident Evil, the latest instalment in the seemingly downtrodden franchise is Resident Evil: Afterlife. Not based on any of the games plots, this sees a totally unknown plot and canon that continues from the last Resident Evil film. They use the same characters and some of the same locations but it’s not really a Resident Evil-based film anymore and for that reason alone, this film is utterly pointless. Made to feed those violence-hungry audiences that love to look at shit getting killed but people flying through the air shooting everything in sight, it doesn’t have any plot, any script and any soul. It’s a money adventure that the studio has made because of the audience still going in masses to see it and i’m disappointed that audiences still want to see this. I would rather see an adaptation that sticks really close to the video games because they have wonderful plots and epic storylines that draw you in and then leave you wanting more. If you have played any of the video games you would also agree with this view, just think Resident Evil 4 as a real movie would be awesome, it has the feel of a great movie and has one of the best characters of the whole series: Chris Redfield. Redfield is also introduced into this film for the first time and like how the film is, they’ve done a terrible job. Chris Redfield is the ultimate male in the video games, strong, quick, intelligent and devilishly handsome, but in the film he’s cowardly and pointless and it shows they’ve thrown him in to please the fans.

Again starring Milla Jovovich as Alice who doesn’t appear in any of the video games after the last Resident Evil film we find that she is somewhat immortal and has now hundreds of clones at her disposal and in this latest film, the Alice clones go on a mission to kill the head of the Umbrella Corporation, Albert Wesker. Starting with a wonderful opening, it seems to go downhill from there with an underground base for Umbrella being attacked by the Alice clones on a mission to find and kill Wesker. The building is then blown up to kill the remaining clones and leaving the original Alice chasing Wesker. They then go on a hunt to find each other with Alice finding old friends along the way in the form of Claire Redfield and later on, Chris Redfield who must help her defeat Wesker and the zombies and monsters that attack them. It’s a pretty basic plot, very thin across the ground, and using the 3D technology they just want to throw some interesting shots and experiences at you rather than keep to the origins of what Resident Evil is, a horror film which is meant to scare you and make you jump, not once was i scared.

A pretty poor film with nothing in it to interest you until the end, sure it involves characters you may have played with but it still doesn’t make for the fact it’s not what Resident Evil is.

3/10

Simon Childs