After making two films that went on to be box office hits, Paul W. S. Anderson realized that the Resident Evil series was one that he could milk at least once more. Now, with even more money from the studio, he set out to make the third and final entry into the Resident Evil film franchise. However, as it turns out when a film becomes a box office hit, the studio just wants another one, and the directors, as well as the producers, are on board. This resulted in the creation of Resident Evil: Afterlife, the now most likely, final, FINAL film in the franchise. Though, that wasn’t true.
How to Download Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
You can stream it or you can download the film from a digital store. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. Check out also the previous films in the series that were: Resident Evil (2002), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), and Resident Evil: Extinction (2007).
The Movie Review
So the saga continues with our main character Alice who wasn’t in the games and is the main character here for some reason currently fighting the Umbrella Corporation. At some point in the story, Alice begins to learn of a mysterious and rather ominous place named Arcadia, a place where ‘something important’ is situated. So, she decides to join the ragtag group of survivors who are heading to Arcadia. However, the survivors and Alice are unaware that they are walking into a living, breathing trap.
Paul W. S. Anderson has once again returned to the director seat for Resident Evil: Afterlife. Now that might be a good sign to fans of the first and second film, but it seemed like just another pointless move anyways. Anderson’s presence changes nothing. They are simply unable to develop the characters fully in any of the previous films in the franchise.
The same issue persists in Resident Evil: Afterlife.
The film brings back both Claire and Chris Redfield yet never develops them for any moments in the film to mean something to the audience. Another issue is that Alice seems to be getting more boring with each installment in the franchise, so that’s a random trope this franchise is following.
Not only is the casting here terrible, with Wentworth Miller of Prison Break fame returning to play Chris Redfield, and Ali Larter making a comeback as Claire Redfield. The acting is somehow even worse than it usually is, with none of the actors including Milla Jovovich being interested in their characters.
Once again, a Resident Evil film misses out on the most important aspect of this franchise, horror. There is nothing scary about this film, even though it advertised itself as a horror and action film. In fact, it’s almost laughable how generic the content in this film is, from all of the jump scares that are present here to any of the gore, everything is just super lighthearted.
The Visuals
Visually speaking though, even after the increase in budget, this film is missing something important period there is no artistic vision to this film’s cinematography, it feels like his studio product was made to make money, and not a film with actual heart and soul put into it. It’s really disappointing, considering the set design and the action set pieces in this film were fantastic, and the production design and crew have put their all into making those moments feel that way. Yet visually, it staggers and feels similar to everything before.
The Soundtrack
The music is an upgrade here though, I will say that it has seen a significant jump in quality. Perhaps it’s the fact that this film was released in 2010, and the curse of bad 2000 action film music was lifted. Though it is still a nice surprise to see that actually happened, with a soundtrack that is genuinely memorable and does elevate some of the action sequences to a higher degree. The slower character moments though, not so much.
The Verdict
There is no other way to put this, so I’ll put it bluntly, Resident Evil: Afterlife it’s just another film in the Resident Evil film franchise. It’s simple but effective, it’s boring and bloated, yet features some fantastic action and stunt choreography, it’s not scary at all, yet it’s fun to watch. At the very least, it’s a slight increase in quality to its predecessor Extinction.
