A mindless 3D set piece

Rating: 5/10 (9 October 2010)

After all the negative reviews, I found this title to be routine action with nothing special in the wow factor, maybe because I put my expectations real low on this one since all it does is go through the motions. The 3-D is sufficient and the characters are okay in the terms of acting. It looked nice in some parts and the set pieces were decent with the zombie hoards and the opening credits in Japan. Action wise, it was rather forgettable and tried too hard to compensate with excessive slow motion. Though I did like those coin bullets Alice used. A small highlight... Wesker and Chris Redfield characters were decently casted but they need a little more material to work off of. Wesker looks spot on but need more substance than emanating the sinister Agent Smith scowl.
The fiber of the movie is even deader than the zombie itself. I didn't like this as much as the previous, but didn't hate it entirely either. There could have been improvements in some character development. I was wondering how squeaky clean and clean cut the supporting cast remained 4 and a half years after a zombie apocalypse. The supporting cast is routinely placed to get picked off at a predictable level for the sake of plot convenience. A little more so if you know about the characters in the video game. If they're neither Alice or the Resident Evil video game cast, then chances are they'll pretty much die (spoiler). Like the swim team girl, deliberately placed there to get picked off.
Plot holes are obvious, not really making sense in third or fourth dimensions of space and time. If you've seen the predecessors, you would realize that each back story changes during every subsequent movie made in terms of where and how the zombie apocalypse began. First it was Raccoon city and then Anderson decides the apocalypse started in Japan (?). There are more loop holes than that. Alice just didn't kill Wesker, but points a gun to his head with an "any last words?" conveniently enabling Wesker to retaliate against her, for the sake of plot convenience to keep the villain alive in the beginning. I also didn't feel that they elaborated on why Chris Redfield was trapped in a jail cell, because he's dangerous more so than the zombies (?). The roof top scene seemed a little too staged, as if zombies were waiting in between takes and then retry to bum rush our main character. Did the zombies move out of the way after they get shot or something? (spoiler) How did the trio know that Wesker will escape through another helicopter to the extent of where they staged a bomb on it?
Overall, RE 4 didn't upset me, but I really don't think I can recommend it entirely. It is slick looking but overall lacking in any real substance, Anderson knows that this movie wasn't going to be Oscar material but still, it could have been much better. Feel free to watch this, if you can take the mindless action.