Resident Evil: Afterlife

The third instalment Resident Evil improved the reputation of the franchise, just like Paul W.S. Anderson with Death Race, so I started to look forward to Afterlife when it was announced. At least until I saw the first posters and trailers, which openly shared the unpleasant fact that, instead of horror, this time it would be a computer generated 3D action orgy – an incredibly boring and sterile orgy. Every scene leaves a sad fake impression, the performances are pathetic and the script is laughable. I can’t call this technological promo titled Resident Evil: Afterlife a film. 1/10 (10/08/2010)

Go ahead and get mad at me, but even in the traditional dimension, I enjoyed it as much as all the other films in the series. I have no love for the original Capcom franchise, but the movie series, spoiled by the hellish B-movie director Paul Anderson, always reliably puts me in a gaming mood, even if there’s really no plot, and if there’s meant to be one, it's the same thing over and over again. The fact is that it’s never boring, the slow-motion shots are not annoying, and the fetish of stolen action, which is mostly unleashed by girls, is damn emphatic. Subjectively, I have nothing to complain about. 3 ½ [I’m tempted to enjoy this romp using the effects of Cameron’s technology.] (10/26/2010)

In a normal film, Afterlife’s plot idea would be exhausted within 15 minutes; here it is stretched to 100 minutes and ends at the moment when something is finally supposed to happen. The movie is shameless in its ostentatious theft of specific shots from The Matrix and The Island, and together with the “brainwashed” videogame logic, it confirms that Paul W.S. Anderson doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him. And he enjoys it. He enjoys the sexy image of all three female characters (could any of them be any hotter?) and the lavish set designs (the best part of the film) full of contrasts of clouds of dust and rusted metal pipes with sterilely clean rooms. Resident Evil: Afterlife is an ultimate visual 3D fetish, a piece of plastic trash with a single super-tough boss with a huge axe. It’s trash that is very nice to watch. In Resident Evil 3, Russell Mulcahy elevated the series to the level of apocalyptic blockbuster, whereas Anderson dragged it back down to videogame level. (10/01/2010)

Despite my apprehension, the fourth installment of Resident Evil wasn't that bad, it was a tad better than Extinction. I appreciated that there was no annoying speechifying. The whole film would have looked much better if it hadn't been shot almost entirely in slow motion. I have to applaud the filmmakers for their exemplary knowledge of the laws of physics. I would encourage them to get thrown from the 20th floor in a metal container. As long as they hit water, they should be fine. I'm no Sheldon Cooper, but this was too much even for me. I don't mean to sound overly critical, it did make me laugh for a long time, so this scene was actually a plus. The action scenes looked decent, the monsters looked monstrous, and Albert Wesker looked positively sleazy. (11/08/2016)

Over-stylized and ultimately laughable in the most negative sense. Anderson takes the series back under his wings and thus returns it exactly according to my expectations into the waters of dull mediocrity. The perpetually slowed-down action quotes all the parts of Matrix, the actors literally kill it with their performances (surprisingly even the completely exhausted Milla), and the plot only moves forward thanks to the nonsensical behavior of the characters or glaring logical mistakes. Unbearable like the first two parts, but Afterlife is not. Its transparency and simplicity predispose it to a relatively brisk story and a few cool action moments. In everything else, however, the expected tragedy. (11/26/2010)