The Same Thing Over and Over Again

Rating: 5/10 (20 January 2013)

I'm not sure the director (Paul S. Anderson) knows exactly where he wants to go artistically or how to handle this movie. The film begins with a great opening sequence in Tokyo but rather than delving deep into what could have been something very intriguing, he decides to shift to action, stunts, and CGI and continues until a certain scene involving a plane crash. Now, as if all of the action and unrealistic stunts weren't enough, it seems that both passengers also manage to survive. Apparently plausibility or any sense of realism doesn't matter as long as there is plenty of action. And that's been part of the problem since "Resident Evil-Apocalypse" two films earlier. Rather than taking what he has and utilizing it in a sober manner he constantly chooses to go overboard in the mistaken assumption that "more is better" regardless of how absurd it eventually gets to be. As a result, we get dozens of clones of "Alice" (Milla Jovovich) along with the original Alice possessing telekinetic superpowers. It's simply all too much. Fortunately, he realized this and took care of both of those problems at the very beginning of the movie. But then he turns around and does what could be the exact same thing again at the very end. I don't know, maybe it's just me but it seems like the same thing over and over again. Lots of action and CGI with a couple of pretty faces thrown in for good measure. Anything to distract the viewer from realizing that this film has no real thought or creativity behind it. Now don't get me wrong, I like the inclusion of "Claire Redfield" (Ali Larter) and "K-Mart" (Spencer Locke). But rather than have them just thrashing around looking pretty I would have preferred that they be given meatier roles with more character development. After all, it seemed to work in the last film ("Resident Evil-Extermination") pretty well and to great effect. But failing any great effort on the director's part, I guess we will have to settle for lots of action in its place. And that's a shame because this movie should have been much better.