*Disclaimer, this is a review of the edited version of the film so that it is TV-14. The uncut version would likely get a lower score*
It’s time to review the final Resident Evil film that I’ve seen. I’ll likely get around to the 5th at some point, but this one works as a final film…if not for the big cliffhanger. Still, it’s a staple for this series and I’m expecting the next one to have a similarly epic conclusion. The ending from the last film hinted at the ultimate showdown between Alice and Wesker, but we don’t really get to see that.
The film starts off with Alice’s assault on Wesker’s base. Humanity may not have been entirely eradicated in the Extinction film, but now she can reduce the numbers a little more. Her clones take out Wesker’s men pretty easily, but Wesker is a different story. He takes out a few of the clones and escapes in his getaway vehicle. The real Alice had been waiting for him there, but she forgot the last few years of zombie fighting experience and Wesker stabs her with the cure. Alice is happy to be human again and then the ship explodes and both of them “die.”
After dying for the 3rd or 4th time in the series, Alice wakes up. She’s relatively unharmed and she goes off to regroup with the members that she had separated from last time. They’re in a cold place, which is supposed to be safe from zombies. Unfortunately, Alice is attacked by her mind controlled ally. Alice is still human, but she is able to fend her off and learns that it’s Claire. They head off and meet up with a group of new characters. These guys look like expendables and I will say that they probably are. I won’t confirm it for spoiler reasons of course.
Now, their only hope is to escape the prison complex that they are staying in (To keep the zombies out!) and head for the true Arcadia. Arcadia is not a super village, but a normal boat. The plan is reasonably simple and the heroes must go under water into the weapons vault and also use a giant tank to escape. Things get complicated when a man known as Chris Redfield is released from his jail cell. Can he really be trusted!?
There you have it….the plot is pretty underwhelming. It’s better than Extinction, but I can’t really say much else for it. The film had such potential, but it was wasted. I’ll go into that in detail soon, but first we should get the characters out of the way.
Alice has lost some of the coolness that she had in the second and third films. She is seen as a professional fighter in this one and her powers were at her peak. So, how could she let Wesker cure her in one hit like that? It was pretty sloppy to give him that opportunity when she had the element of surprise and prep time at her disposal. I suppose that the writers really wanted to get rid of her powers, but there must have been a better way. Alice does well for a human, but it’s still disappointing to see her powers go. She’s definitely the best hero in the film, but Chris and Claire aren’t too far behind.
Chris is a solid character to add to the group. He may not be as cool as Carlos was in his debut, but Chris has the makings of a solid character. He’s a professional as well and his gun skills are solid. He may have been out of his league in his battle against Wesker, but he gave it his all. Hopefully he can stay cool through his next movie appearance.
Claire has amnesia for part of the film, but she seems to be regaining her memories by the end. She’s a pretty decent fighter and helps out in the battles against the Axeman and Wesker. It’s good to have more supporting characters from the video games to aid Alice and Claire should have a decent role in the next film.
Wesker is the big villain in this film and one could make the argument that he’s even stronger than the live action Avengers! His speed is impressive, but even more so is his raw power. Unfortunately, his abilities do lead the film into a hole, but I’ll go into that at greater length in the upcoming paragraphs. Wesker is a pretty cool villain and it’s easy to root for the guy. We know that he’s evil, but you can barely tell aside from the ending and the scenes where he shoots or blows people up. He does everything in a pretty cool way and the sunglasses definitely add to that effect. He’s definitely one of the reasons why the beginning of this film was so cool and he also gives us the best end fight scene.
The Axeman is the middle boss of the film so he’s not as intense as Wesker. He gets a lot of silent hype as we see him in the background from time to time. Things don’t really get moving until he infiltrates the base of the heroes and starts his attack. Claire takes him on for a while before Alice steps in. Alice is depowered so the fight could be tougher than expected. Still, Axeman is only as durable as a normal zombie and he’s not really a threat except for his huge axe. He doesn’t really have any character so it’s hard to like him.
There are some supporting characters that I did not mention, but that’s because they’re all expendables.(?) We’ve got the ace swimmer who decides that she can definitely outswim a bunch of zombies…..if only she had kept moving! We had the famous actor who decides that he can take out a group of zombies as long as he has a shotgun. We have an apprentice to a director, but he decides to freeze up as a slashing zombie approaches from behind. Rinse and repeat for every side character in the franchise. If you’re lucky, then you’ll turn into a Chris or a Claire, but usually you’ll just be part of the background by the end.
One character that gets a big role is the actual director. I would look for his real name, but it’s not too important. All you need to know is that he believes in the Hollywood principles of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, he takes it too far and joins up with the zombies. I wonder how a group of zombies will take to a human being around them? You may not have to think on that one too much, but things definitely get dicey. He does make things difficult for the heroes as he murders(And here I thought only zombies could destroy side characters!) one of them and also hijacks a plane. Too bad LJ wasn’t here this time. He’s definitely not one of the more likable characters and you’ll likely wince whenever he appears. He only gets one good line in the whole film in which he manages to insult the entire cast with his demanding tone.
The best part of the film was easily the opening, but it also hurt the rest of the film. It would be like having the big Darth Vader vs Luke Skywalker fight be at the beginning of the film and then watching the rest of the earlier events. Time goes on as usual in Resident Evil, but we don’t get any scenes with the same level of stakes as the intro. This is because the intro was expected due to the finale of the last film and everyone was likely hyped for it.
The fight scenes did not disappoint and the beginning was very good. There was definitely a Matrix feeling to those scenes and it was fun to see the clones pull off a lot of superhero feats. It may be a little sad to see a clone get taken down by a few guys with guns, but she had a lot of reinforcements. Alice found dozens of clones so they are basically everywhere. Wesker’s base is huge, but they still make sure to do a number on it.
Unfortunately, this is where things get dicey. Wesker blew up all of the clones along with the facility thanks to his big self destruct button. The real one was with him in the copter, but they still “died” with the explosion. It’s all right for Wesker to live since he’s super human, but it’s a little dicey for Alice. It’s not a huge thing since I’ll just assume that the cure wasn’t 100% effective on her, but it’s still a little iffy.
I wish that the opening could have lasted for the entire film because then it would have been incredibly epic. Instead we got to see Alice lose her powers and we went back to the old status quo. Earth is still doomed and there’s basically no way that we can stop it. At least we got to briefly see what Resident Evil could have been like!
If Alice had kept her powers, then the film would have saved itself from the hole that I’m about to mention. Wesker was way too powerful for the heroes. That’s the sad truth and he’s completely destroying them in the ending. They only win through a great amount of plot hax and events that you may see, but not believe. There is no way that these humans could take him down and he’s far too fast to be hit. His healing factor is also very advanced so they can’t keep him down. I dare say that the plot hax was worse than Naruto’s battle against a pirate in the Shippuden boat filler episode!
The ending is pretty solid and it upholds the tradition for Resident Evil. They always know just how to end the film on a high note. The heroes appear to be completely doomed, but they’ll probably make it out alive…somehow. It’ll be interesting to see how they pull this off since they’re so outnumbered.
Time for the usual violence issue. This is Resident Evil so people blow up, get slashed….and die! They try to keep the deaths unique so we can get different visuals, but they ultimately look the same in the end. We also get the animal violence as per usual, but it’s arguably worse than the norm. The zombie dogs grow more and more deformed with each film and they’re barely recognizable in their new forms. This is definitely not the way to win brownie points with me on how to make a good film! This film isn’t for the faint of heart, but the disclaimer should have given that away!
For once, I don’t remember any fan service. There was a scene that likely worried people in the audience, but that tragedy was averted. Unless I’m forgetting something, that’s pretty nice of the film to fix that issue. The soundtrack is still good, but it’s not as memorable as the first films. It was good, but I’d have a tough time trying to recall any specific themes. Still, it beats the average film and that’s always worth some points.
Overall, as far as Resident Evil films go, this one wasn’t bad. Apocalypse was better, but this one beat Extinction. It’s a little tricky when you compare this one to the first film, but I think that Afterlife has the edge thanks to the intense action scenes and Wesker. The slow motion in the beginning dragged out a lot, but I do like the effect overall. If used correctly, then it helps the scene. This is the second best film in the series so far and that’s pretty good. The action was fun and the series went more into the superhero realm. Although, Animal Violence and regular violence along with the zombies help to keep the series firmly planted in its score. So, I’d sooner recommend that you check out the original Final Fantasy film if you want to see something scary!
Overall 2/10
Filed under: Live Action Movie Reviews, Reviews 
