Caught “Resident Evil: Afterlife” this weekend. I actually thought this movie was called Resident Evil 3D. Something on a technical note, this is the first film since Avatar to use James Cameron’s camera, the Fusion Camera System. RE3D, (I’m just going to call it that), was solely designed to be a spectacle to show off slow motion 3D action. The CGI is poor in some areas, and distracting in a “suspended belief” type of sense, even the wire work! Running up a wall and jumping backwards into a flip, it just seems everyone can do that these days! I found myself actually laughing in the theatre during specific moments like that. This film probably gives you the closest idea of what The Matrix’s building shootout with Neo/Trinity would’ve looked like, except it was Alice, Alice and Alice fighting.
I’ve come to realize it doesn’t take much to impress certain people in the audience anymore, and it such people like that who are eating up these 3D viewings. This movie had the most 3D I’ve seen since Avatar. I’m not really going to count Toy Story 3 since that movie is straight CGI. RE3D actually had comparable scenes that are found in Avatar but it wasn’t at the same level. You’ll see moments of similarities where 3D does add depth to the scene. Admittedly, my viewing angle wasn’t perfect as I was 3 rows up, and I should’ve probably gone down 1 row. My usual front row seats were taken.
This movie is bad. It has honestly become like Saw, in that it simply will not end. In fact this movie is loosely based on RE5 the video game and ends in the same manner, taking game story elements to extend the franchise again. Sorry if I’m slightly spoiling things, but don’t watch this movie unless:
1) It’s cheap
2) You really want to check out some 3D
3) Or it’s on disc.
That being said I do, stupidly, like this franchise based off that fact that it’s fun. I wanted more depth to it but given the director, the outcome is expected. The previous 3 films had much more substance and everything was traded for the visuals and 3D gimmickry with this film. You can tell Anderson was having fun with the tech and decided at some point, it’s going to be bad but it’ll be what it is.
Will I be there to watch the next one? Yeah, probably. This one just missed out on what made the first 3 movies more enjoyable… you know… the zombies. The zombies are moreso in the background now and Umbrella itself is taking center stage as the villains, which is ok, but the movie moves at such a pace that it doesn’t even register. Also plot holes, crap that made me think “Deus EX machina”, and more seem contrived just to propel from one scene to the next. Then again this film was made to be dumb in that sense. Too much slow motion too, there was one scene I was actually laughing at the ridiculousness. Anyway watching this movie got me enough points for a free ticket.
