Its a sad state of affairs when the first Resident Evil movie is hailed as one of the crowning achievements in videogame- to-movie history. Action-led and nothing like the game, Resident Evil kicked off the franchise as it meant to carry on, with the action becoming more elaborate with each passing film and the filmmakers continuing to ignore the tone of the videogames. Now, with Resi 4, Paul W.S Anderson is back in the directors chair (he directed the first movie but just wrote and produced 2 and 3), looking to add even more flamboyant finesse to the loud and brainless franchise.
The world has truly gone to hell and the infected (thanks to the evil Umbrella Corporation) have pretty much taken over the world. Alice (Jovovich), now travelling alone in search of her comrades from days past, finally has a breakthrough and manages to track down her old pal, Claire Redfield. Together, the survivors head for Los Angeles in search of an almost mythical safe haven known as Arcadia. However, Alice and Claire instead find themselves landing in an LA correctional facility where it is anything but safe.
A mindless 3D thrill-ride on the big screen, Afterlifes flaws are far more apparent on this 2D home entertainment release, and without the razzle dazzle of the third dimension, its clear that Andersons movie is little more than a dozen slow motion action sequences strung together with trite dialogue and bad performances. Ultimately pointless, Afterlife doesnt really add anything to the franchise or the Resident Evil mythology (it throws in a few random references to the latest videogame, which must utterly baffle the non-videogame fans in the audience), and if the action wasnt slowed down, the film would only be about half hour long (which might have been a good thing).
Still, what Resident Evil: Afterlife lacks in substance it makes up for with good looks, and the film looks pretty fine on Blu-ray. Colours pop, the picture is consistently sharp, blacks are deep, there is minimal grain throughout and the slow-motion action looks smooth and slick.
The audio is full to the brim with wall-shattering awesomeness. The action scenes (again, most of the film is actions scenes) will practically blow you off your armchair with a strong and sumptuous soundtrack which puts all of the speakers to good use and drowns the room in the sound of gunfire, swinging axes and head explosions. Utterly brilliant.
The special features are plentiful and entertaining complete with an informative picture-in-picture feature, plus seven featurettes zoning in on various aspects of the production. Plus, for the Resi geeks, theres a tantalising trailer for the all new CGI movie, Damnation (sequel to 2009s Regeneration).
Overall Verdict: While no doubt an entertaining spectacle in 3D, without that gimmick, its little more than loud, pretty nonsense. A fine Blu-ray package just about saves the day though.
Special Features:
Undead Vision–PIP
MovieIQ
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
Filmmaker & Cast Commentary
Resident Evil: Damnation teaser
Featurettes:
Undead Dimension: Resident Evil In 3D
Fighting Back: The Action Of Afterlife
New Blood: The Undead Of Afterlife
Back Under The Umbrella: Directing Afterlife
Band Of Survivors: Casting Afterlife
Vision Of The Apocalypse: The Design Of Afterlife
‘Pwning’ The Undead: Gamers Of The Afterlife
Reviewer: Lee Griffiths