The Annoying "Style" Is Back

Rating: Null/10 (9 September 2012)

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Alice (Milla Jovovich) leaves Alaska in a plane and ends up at Arcadia, a supposed safe haven but soon the remaining survivors there are wanting out when they realize something isn't quite right. The fourth film in the series had the original film's director Paul W.S. Anderson returning to the chair and bringing with him that incredibly annoying style that rips off THE MATRIX. It's clear that this style just isn't for me because I just don't feel a movie should be looking like a video game. The slow motion shots of seeing bullets fly through the air or 360 shots of a round kick to a zombie's head is nothing more than distracting to me. I understand Anderson has a good following but to me it just doesn't work and the opening sequence here just had me shaking my head and growing frustrated. The story to this entry isn't all that bad, although like the previous films it starts to run out of ideas and the finale really drags as we get into standard "B" movie action stuff. I thought the zombie designs were much better in this episode and we got some inventive kill scenes but this certainly didn't make up for the weak parts. As in the previous films, Jovovich is in fine form as she's very believable in the lead role. The supporting cast is also quite good but it's a shame no one involved got much to work with. RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE will probably entertain fans of the series but those such as myself will see it as another bad entry in a pretty weak series.