Monday, September 13, 2010

Resident Evil: Afterlife

Resident Evil: Afterlife is the fourth Hollywood installment based on the hit zombie video game, but even though it picks up where 2007's Extinction left off, with dozens of Milla Jovovich clones promising to seek revenge on the nefarious virus-developing Umbrella Corporation, its filmmakers have basically just pushed the reset button. Again. Grotesque zombies feast. Jovovich's hero, Alice, and a small band of the uninfected slay with overwhelming firepower and Matrix-inspired acrobatics, and director Paul W.S. Anderson (Alien vs. Predator) wraps the numbing, exhausting violence with stylistic effects that became cliché, if not parody, years ago. Only 3-D makes this installment any different than its predecessors. Resident Evil is a true zombie franchise — and I'm not referring to its actual walking undead. Afterlife is slow-moving but relentless, and judging from a post-credits teaser that promises yet another sequel, it has an unquenchable appetite for your brain cells.