RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE
US, 2010, 94 minutes, Colour.
Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Kim Coates.
Directed by Paul W. Anderson.
Resident Evil is a computer game movie that led to sequels and by this fourth instalment, the first in 3D, it has become a franchise – especially, since we are given the opening scenes for Resident Evil 5 at the end of this one.
It is only for the fans of the series. Those not in the know may well be counfounded by the plot. They may well be intrigued by the action sequences – and that is for most of the running time – but they are exercises in director’s skill, stunt work, computergraphics and 3D effects that are as eye-popping as the ads say, and the need to fill in plot time more than create plot or character development.
Even for those who have seen the other films, like the present reviewer, they are not masterpieces whose storylines remain etched in the memory. Fortunately, heroine (and that is an understatement watching her in derring-do, also an understatement, as she leaps and swings, unleashes her weapons and demolishes more opponents at a time than the stars of Kill Bill Part One – forgive this mouthful of a parenthesis but that is what the film is like!), Alice, initially fills in a few bits of information to keep us on track.
Basically, she is out to destroy the Umbrella Corporation which has been experimenting with drugs, has killed the odd thousands of victims, who have decided not to lie down but to become the living dead, and now wants to get rid of a liner, the Arcadia, where non-infected people are being used for further testing. Also, the large and brawny actor (no, he really can’t act) who is in control wants Alice’s soul and DNA so that he can become the exemplar of a master race.
Alice is joined by a survivor or two from previous films, especially Ali Larter who performs as though she is auditioning to join The Expendables.
Milla Jovovich (now the wife of the director) has been in all the films. She is a grim-faced (but, just to spoil the ending, she does laugh, completely unexpectedly, in some final scenes), fights with mind power, will power, gun power, sword power and acrobatics that defy belief, especially since the films gives the impression that she neither eats nor sleeps but just keeps heroineing away.
The Resident Evil films are just entertainment concoctions, bringing the world and the impossibilities of computer games to the big screen and a blasting sound system. Anderson knows he can do this well, commands extraordinary looking sets, and just puts his cast through these outlandish paces.
1. For computer games fans, for movie buffs? For ordinary audiences or not?
2. The series of films, the computer games, the plots, futuristic, the threats to civilisation, global companies and their exploitation? Visual effects, the risks for the individuals, the apocalyptic aspects of the film, the Living Dead, survivors, ultra-heroics? Final hope?
3. The film designed as a computer game, for users to watch rather than participate? The highly elaborate action, the challenge rather than detailed plot, cause and effect plot, or proper characterisation? The characters as ciphers?
4. The rules of the games, action, killing, surviving – all impersonal?
5. The opening in Japan, the slow aspects, the sudden attack by the woman? The Umbrella Corporation, working in Japan?
6. Alice’s appearance, her look, clothes, weaponry? In the previous films? Her giving an explanation about Umbrella and the themes? The continued attack, the company and the boss, Alice and her powers, physical, mental control, acrobatics, weapons?
7. The stuntwork for the fights, the special effects?
8. Finding the young woman and her brother, her coming to her senses, the memories of the past, the previous films, as characters, helping Alice, fighting with her?
9. Luther and the others, types, going into action, not infected, deaths – but Luther’s survival?
10. The sequences in the Umbrella Corporation, the attacks, the opposition, the troops, Alice and her decimating them? The boss, his taking the plane, landing on the boat? The controller, the infiltration by Alice, his seeming defeat? His survival, DNA, wanting to absorb Alice’s energy?
11. The ship, the group exploring it, finding the survivors, in the glass cases for experimentation, the young girl and her being rescued, her later involvement helping the group?
12. The preacher with the DNA, the boss, his power over Alice and the others, the reversal of roles, his death?
13. The myriad troops, the weaponry, the aerial combat? The huge monster and sword power?
14. The staging of the battles, the special effects, the variety of stunts? In the elaborate sets, the aerial shots, ascending and descending? Anderson’s visual style? The musical score?
15. The indication of elements and themes for the sequel?
