There's time I really enjoy watching it - for this review was one of those times - but it really hasn't aged well. I still don't quite know what I think of this movie. With the teasing finale of a desolated Raccoon City, that first film left open the perfect window for a sequel.
Milla Jovovich showed she could lead a movie like this as Alice offering a vulnerable anchor for the audience who could also kung-fu kick a zombie dog into oblivion. I'm not one who loves literal to the page adaptations so I appreciated where Anderson spun the material into different directions and actually opened up the field a bit beyond just rehashing gameplay. While I would have loved to see Romero's take, I gotta admit I'm a fan of this first film. Opting to bring on Event Horizon helmer Paul (not that Anderson) Anderson, Sony and Capcom went with a different approach to the material with a movie that played homage to the original game but went in its own direction. Unfortunately that version of the movie didn't happen. So I was over the moon when the first rumors of a movie franchise started to bloom with George Romero attached to write and direct. I was flush with Zombie Fever throughout my teens and as each game came along I devoured it accordingly.
My love for this game series arrived nearly day and date to when I discovered Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead.
Hell, I even upgraded my family's graphics card so I could play the PC game version! Bad voice acting and complete with cheesy live action cinematics and alternate ending unlocks depending on how well you played, I couldn't get enough of the game so I turned in my old 16bit systems to get the latest and greatest gaming technology. Sadly, I didn't have a memory card so I'd always have to start over from square one every time, but I didn't care because that game was so much fun. I used to rent a PS1 from my local Hollywood Video over long school holiday breaks and would always grab the first Resident Evil game. Since the Playstation One, each game has been the primary reason why I upgraded from one system to the next. However, the way this movie ends got me undeniably a little bit excited to sit down and watch the next one.I love the Resident Evil games. As of now, they're mindless blood & guts action-horror films. I enjoy a silly action adventure as much as the next guy, but there needs to be a little more effort put forth before I can actually certify these as guilty pleasure movies.
The filmmakers know how to produce these features and get people to spend their hard-earned cash on them. There's one clear reason why these films are made. Besides a rotating supporting cast, the films are all structured the same way. Seriously, in every film Umbrella spies on Alice & company, attempt to take her down, and have a big confrontation towards the end. Isaacs and now adding pretty much the exact same character in Albert Wesker, the Umbrella Corp doesn't do anything they haven't already done in the series. And sadly it feels like some scenes are ripped right from the video games without any extra CGI or effects done.Īs if you weren't already tired of the Umbrella Corp being at the forefront of each and every one of these films, they once again make their unwelcomed presence felt.
While there are some moments of brilliant B-movie fun, 'Afterlife' is just more of the same. Anderson was really wanted to exploit that version of the medium and give the audience it's most visceral film to date in the franchise. The film begins with CGI filled action sequenced that is flooded with unnecessary slow motion camera work. 'Afterlife' feels way more like video game on screen than it does a film by itself. They are meant to be adaptations and not just another installation into that franchise. They call these films video game adaptations for a reason.