When a movie promises multiple ass kicking Milla Jovoviches, you can bet your balls that I’ll be first in line to see it. I would kill a hobgoblin, ride a wild T-Rex (as opposed to a housebroken one), or hunt down a wild Snorlax, just to see Jovovich kick some Umbrella dudes’ ass! Thankfully, all the hobgoblins, T-Rexs, and Snorlaxes got my memo and let me cut first in line.
Resident Evil: Afterlife is the fourth installment based on the video game with the same name. Alice (Milla Jovovich) is back and she definitely brought some friends with her, including a butt-ton of her own clones. Alice continues her battle against the Umbrella Corporation and searches for any survivors along the way. The main villain of the video game series, Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts), the head of Umbrella, finally decides to get his hands dirty in this film, and Alice goes toe-to-toe with him.
I love the first two films in the series, and like the third one. The action in Afterlife was splendid, and the plot was atrocious. It’s almost as if Paul W.S. Anderson went on vacation, and a 5-year-old kid got a hold of the script, made some doodles, then immediately sent it off. Whooo-boy, there were inconsistencies galore, weak dialogue, poor characterization, and a tepid story.
All that being said, I straight up don’t care! I’m a big fan of Alice and Jovovich, and I loved seeing her kick everyone’s asses! Before Alice ever says a single word in the film, she has literally killed over a million dudes! Well, maybe not literally a million, but a lot, and that is the kind of stuff I love to see: a woman taking action! Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) also increases the ass kicking-ometer. That is another woman who isn’t afraid to get her hands bloody and I say the more the merrier! The action was very Matrix-y in that it was mostly slowed down and had everyone dodging bullets, zombie dogs, and sunglasses.
Resident Evil: Afterlife was fun and entertaining even though the storyline sucked balls. I’m already looking forward to the next one with the (secret) return of one of my favorite characters from a previous film.
*Spoilers Below*
Time Until Action Starts: ~ 4 minutes
Baddies: Albert Wesker! And zombies! And whatever the hell those ugly things were!
Best Line: “Five years ago…a virus escaped, and everybody died.”
Best Kill: You can tell from the beginning little Kim Yong (Norman Yeung) isn’t going to make it. Just as he’s about to escape by jumping into a hole in the ground, a gigantic hammer from The Executioner (a.k.a. Axe Man) comes slicing down right through his head all the way to his feet. Ouch!
Best Explosion: Oh man, am I glad I don’t live in Japan! As Wesker is escaping from one of the underground Umbrella hives, he detonates a bomb. This is some kind of magic unicorn-dust powered device, a bomb so powerful that it’d be the end of the world if it ever exists. It forms a kind of cloud that sucks a huge chunk of Tokyo into a massive rift/explosion.
Action Rating: 4 Zombie Shower Scenes, out of 5.
Illustration by Alex Langley. Rocket Llama World Headquarters.
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
Previous posts:
* Resident Evil (2002) – review
* Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) – review
* Every Zombie Movie Ever Made
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RE4 has not come to Denmark yet but I will see it as soon as it does. I am surprised and sad to have read Whooo-boy, there were inconsistencies galore, weak dialogue, poor characterization, and a tepid story.” – But as you said, I don’t care. It is good enough for me to see Milla kill/hack/shoot/neck break and blow-up a bunch of zombies, and some really bad corporate types along the way.
The surprise or secret return you write of has got to be, VALENTINE! We all love and miss her. Bring on Valentine. She can kick zombie ass with her own style and grace.
Good review. I will be watching today 🙂
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Agree 100% with this! I was chuckling to myself throughout much of the movie because the plot is totally lax and the character development utterly nil… but even so I loved it. I even told a second group of friends I’d go see it with them for a second time. The action was fun, Milla is gorgeous and strong as always. Wesker was the expected badass self (and as unkillable as a cockroach).
I agree that it would be fun to have you-know-whose character back. 😀 I saw the film with three friends and one of them is completely unfamiliar with the games. He was like “what??” with the scene within the credits.
Although it didn’t make any sense, I actually really loved all the material from the 5th game.
I saw RE4 a couple of weeks ago, and I was sorely disappointed. I usually like any action movie Milla Jovovich does (even ‘Ultraviolet’), but this movie was so bad, even she couldn’t save it. Everyone actor slept walked through the movie. And I still can’t figure out the Ali Larter mystique. The action was decent, but the fun these kinds of movies usually bring was missing. Plus, blatantly adding elements from the ‘Blade’ and ‘Matrix’ movies reeked of desperation. While exiting the theater, I was pondering if maybe the idea of an ‘Ultraviolet 2’ would’ve been a better alternative. I’ll go see RE5 when that gets made, but I hope the powers that be bring their A game (or even their B game).
Finally saw RE4. Now I understand what you meant when you wrote, “Whooo-boy, there were inconsistencies galore, weak dialogue, poor characterization, and a tepid story.” I mean, who the hell was the Axe guy anyway? A super, killer zombie that does not eat flesh?
Boris Kodjoe was very easy on the eyes – but it was left hanging as to what happened to him at the end. Obviously he hacked and slashed his way out of the zombie pit, but that part was not shown.
Miller Wentworth’s character was okay, but I was not overly impressed. Ali was great in the action scenes, but come on! Her character was NOTHING like it was in RE3. Talk about a let down.
MILLA did save the film. This woman is brilliant at action. I will see the next RE film and hope for the best. ONE MORE TIME WILL I SAY – Please, oh please, someone make ‘Ultraviolet 2’ – BRING ON MORE MILLA!