Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Starring Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Boris Kodjoe, Norman Yeung, Kasey Barnfield. Horror/Action. USA, 100. mins.

Note to self: Stop hoping the RESIDENT EVIL franchise will improve because it’s now clear it won’t as each successive sequel has continually and depressingly squashed that expectation. Time to give up.

Back at the helm of the Capcom Entertainment videogame-to-film series he inaugurated, director Paul W.S. Anderson once and for all puts the Zzzz in zombies with the fourth mind-numbing, inert and pointless instalment so far. If anyone out there remains interested, AFTERLIFE picks up where Russell Mulcahy’s third, ‘Abomination’, sorry EXTINCTION, left off with fading perfume supermodel Milla Jovovich still trying to convince us she’s an actress (THE FOURTH KIND, hello!) as Alice – in wonder bland - rescuing T-virus survivors in a living dead overrun Los Angeles. They’re holed up in a barricaded prison, barbed wire and iron gates tenuously holding off the growing cartoon army of the dead. After the usual action tropes - Alice and Chris Redfield (PRISON BREAK’s Wentworth Miller) submerged in dank floodwater trying to locate the artillery room, Alice and Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) fighting the ginormous Axeman, Alice and A.N. Other TV C-Lister pairing up to echo whatever Capcom inspired game level - they step into a trap tracing her Umbrella Corporation nemesis Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) to the rescue ship, Arcadia. Admittedly visually impressive; lots of clinical white futuristic designs and cool Apple style gadgets pepper the backdrop. However under Anderson’s ‘look at me’ showy direction – though I did like the overhead shot of the two-seater plane cutting a bloody swathe through the zombie crowds, and the cryogenic capsule deck choreography - the dramatically redundant narrative is garishly over-played and, between the glossy xbox-influenced action, simply becomes aimless and tedious. By the way, you get to the end of this conspicuously commercial product only to be greeted by a virtual ‘To Be Continued’ scenario. What an absolute cheat! If you ever wondered what THE MATRIX might look like in 3D the answer is here – in a shoot-out finale with the now super-powered Wesker dodging slow-motion bullets in his long black coat. Yawn! 

At least AFTERLIFE was shot in 3D, using the same cameras James Cameron had on AVATAR, and the quality does show. Anderson heaves axes, artillery, shattered glass and those series favourites, the THING-style dogs, at the camera to wincing effect, scored to a storming tomandandy score, the best aspect of this movie by a mile. Trouble is nothing Anderson does is ever scary and all this effort amounts to is just a by-the-numbers lame scare-fest.

Alan Jones.

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