Alexander Witt's Filmography Doesn't Lie

Rating: 3/10 (10 September 2004)

Don't believe the hype. The facts don't lie-- this movie was buried in September for a reason, and with an Assistant Cinematographer at the helm of a multi-million dollar franchise. What could go wrong?
I won't go into it here-- click on his name-- but there is nothing in this guy's past to indicate he has even marginal directing talent, let alone something with a budget this size. And it shows. "RE:A" lacks character, any kind of dramatic arc, and the action sequences are shot in that choppy, what-just-happened blur that I thought went out with the Reagan Administration. Also on that list, the Wacky Token Minority. Where "Dawn of the Dead" was a step forward for the action horror movie, "RE:A" is a leap backward of such incredible crap-taking proportions, it should have its own Olympic Event.
I've never met Alexander Witt, but based on this pile of garbage he actually thinks is a film, we can deduce the following facts about him: ONE, he has never directed a film before. Even without the IMDb, this is obvious. Characters show up and disappear for no reason, the living AND the dead disappear from the story after the first 10 minutes, 30-second side-scenes of cross-town events are inserted at random into a large action sequence, and every sequence in the movie is shot from 12 angles and edited together at random. TWO, he has no taste in music. I'm no huge Slipknot fan, but at least it fit the first movie. The sequel is all "dramatic score" and only two metal songs to speak of, both of which kind of lay there like old people having sex. Yawn. Oh, and THREE... Alexander Witt must REALLY be Paul Anderson's b*tch, or else how did Anderson look at this film, as a producer, and say "Oh yes, we should release THAT."
In all likelihood, Anderson cranked out this script in a weekend, then threw it at Witt on his way out the door to make the Only-Slightly-Better (which isn't saying much) "Alien vs. Predator." The only difference I can pinpoint is that "AvP" had production values. In "RE:A," everyone who isn't the Production Designer should erase this one from their resume, and fast.
Where the first film had a plot, a purpose (escape the Hive, find out who Alice is), this film just kind of wanders, like the living dead. I think 30 minutes in, some characters are told to rescue a girl from the city, but that takes all of 5 minutes, then we're back to wandering again. For your action fix, rent anything else. For your Milla fix, well... she's naked in this one, but not as naked as the first one. Which sums it up, really-- if your sequel is worse than the original, the franchise dies. So now Anderson has killed the Predator, Alien, AND Resident Evil franchises in less than a month. Dude, maybe it's time you made up with the guy who wrote Mortal Kombat Part One?