Being better than the third installment isn't much to say...(Spoiler)

Rating: 5/10 (20 January 2011)

The Resident Evil movie adaptation of the video game series has got to top the list as one of those that truly stabs fans in the back. Not because its so horribly written and has almost no relation to the games or the books (yes there are books, you should read them), but because they decided to make 5 installments of this mockery.
The first Resident Evil movie was acceptable in the fact that it introduced new characters and elements that made it both captivating to fans and people who have never had a previous interest in the series. It could have very well ended with the first film but because it made a rather marginal success it spurred the series of films.
The second film continued to bring in new characters and elements but also brought in original characters from the games. This is also where the film completely severs an relation to the game and became its own horribly mutated beast of a movie franchise. In the first film the movie and the game could have still been connected, just more personal stories for the fight to escape Raccoon City. The second one killed it when they changed the personal stories of the original characters. Granted the movie was still watchable and fans could only hope that the new direction for the film was just so they could draw in a wider audience. This doesn't necessarily mean changing every possible aspect of the Biohazard Universe, but they did...
The third film was a complete disgrace. Thankfully after perceiving where the series might go after the second installment thousands of fans and myself didn't bother seeing the film in theaters and just waited for video. I don't even know where to start in how this film failed. Terrible music, plot, action sequences, new heroines (what is with the obsession of making every female character into some sort of Sarah Conner?), dialogue, and they kill off the most entertaining characters from the second film(!), also no Jill (guess we have to wait for number 5 to find out why she was missing... or not -_-).
Finally here we go with Afterlife and after reading the reviews and hearing from others who had seen it I decided to wait until it came out on video. So Claire is back... (this is Claire Redfield's Convoy... err movie). Claire has got to be the most obnoxious character rehash for the film series. I mean we already have Alice who is a badass and makes me very happy, but with Claire, its like too many chefs in the kitchen. Did I mention the similarity to Sarah Conner??? The film fails hardcore to provide any background to any of the characters what so ever. We might as well assume that the rehashed Sarah... I mean Claire and Chris Redfield were actually navy seals or something. I mean the audience has no idea who these people are. I mean I sure as hell don't recognize them as being from the video game series. Oh and hey it's the series favorite bad guy Wesker or at least looks like him... can't say he sounds a bit like him. Also looks like Alice burned through her clones rather quickly. I guess after crying over them one time it's OK to throw them in harms way like they don't have a conscious of their own. Wait doesn't Alice get injected with a "serum"? She does and supposedly loses all her powers just before crashing into a mountain inside an osprey piloted by super human Albert Wesker (unfortunately the aircraft was only equipped with a three second warning system). After the crash she just walks away completely unscathed. Yeah I know right? Then it cuts to Alice flying some prop-engine aircraft (what there weren't any Cessna's around?) and left me wondering, "Is this before or after Japan???" I didn't get my answer until the killed Wesker with some sort of magic Umbrella bomb (magic because apparently it doesn't cause tidal waves when detonating directly over the ocean). Anyway this is getting really long so I'm going to simplify things even more.
Alice find Claire in Alaska and doesn't bother looking for more survivors (also Claire is very dirty and who knows how long shes been out there with no food, but after one night with Alice Claire appears quite healthy and apparently allowed Alice to apply a pound of make-up to her face while she was tied up). They find survivors in Hollywood (why it made sense for them to fly there the world may never know), all the survivors, except one NBA star, die. Great job guys! Oh hey Axe man makes an appearance! I was really surprised that they decided to write the characters as being smart enough to try to shoot him in the head but not intelligent enough to think hey maybe a .12 gauge would do a better job. Of course if they had thought that they would have not had quite as much stress to deal with. Check this out, the prison that the survivors were staying in was built with a dirt foundation but the only ones smart enough to dig tunnels through it were the zombies! So ya just like the horror movies of yore zombies come a bursting through the floor. Man what were those LA engineers thinking not placing a concrete foundation hmm...
Anyway to end this rant Jill makes a special appearance after the credits as... A MEMBER OF UMBRELLA! Awesome right? No. Yeah I wasn't to impressed either.
If they are really going to "listen to the fans" for the next film all I have to say is this: Bring back Marylin Manson, the sleekness and sexiness of the first film, kill Claire, and give characters other than Alice some god damn back story and well balanced dialogue.