Resident Evil AfterLife Is Okay But Not The Greatest

Rating: 5/10 (2 January 2011)

Resident Evil Afrerlife is okay but not the greatest that has flaws which I'll get into later from writer/director Paul Anderson. It's the fourth film in the Resident Evil series.
Milla Jovovich reprises her role as Alice the unstoppable killing machine heroine and she's perfect as the character who can still kick some serious ass while looking beautiful doing it. I just wish they had given her more to do -acting wise- than just killing countless undead zombies and various monsters (includine one with a giant axe) most likely created by the Umbrella Corporation.
Ali Larter also returns as Claire Redfield from the third film who joins Alice once again in her quest to find survivors. Larter does what her role requires and she gets a decent action scene near the end.
Wentworth Miller plays Claire's brother Chris who unfortunately doesn't really serve any real purpose except as a nod to die Resident Evil game fans. Miller's performance isn't that bad it's just his character isn't really developed or his relationship with Claire.
Shawn Roberts seemed to be doing his best Agent Smith from the Matrix impression as the villain Albert Wesker unless thats how his character acts in the games. He gets two scenes the beginning and the end so for somebody who's supposed to be the main villain he's not in that much at all. His fight at the end between Claire and Chris felt anti-climatic. Not to mention it doesn't last very long either. A third act that had the same problem some other films (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Transformers 2 to name a few) did as well when the main bad guy is easily defeated within a few minutes.
The rest of the cast including Kim Coates, Boris Kodjoe, and a brief cameo by Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine are okay but none of them are given any development, substance, or depth.
The action sequences are okay but nothing we haven't seen before and there's no tension or suspense. The fact that there's no humor didn't help either. The zombies are all right despite not getting half as much screen time as they did in the previous three films. The monster with the huge Axe was decent despite just showing up with no explanation something a lot of the creatures do.
And what was the purpose of taking away Alice's powers early on if it doesn't have any effect at all besides turning her human again? Because a minute later she somehow survives a plane crash in the mountains and apparently walks away without a scratch. This just didn't make a whole lot of sense like many other things. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief when it comes to movies but only to a point.
The ending was predictable and a cameo by a certain character during the credits seemed a little pointless expect to set up for another sequel. At 97 minutes Resident Evil Afterlife wasn't that bad it just suffers from the sequel curse by cramming too much into one movie. The film seemed to be made purely for the action which may please some but I like to have a compelling story with well developed character, drama, emotion, suspense, and humor to go along with the spectacle.