DIRECTED BY
Paul W.S. Anderson

STARRING
Milla Jovovich - Alice
Ali Larter - Claire Redfield
Kim Coates - Bennett
Shawn Roberts - Albert Wesker
Sergio Peris-Mencheta - Angel Ortiz
Spencer Locke - K-Mart
Boris Kodjoe - Luther West
Wentworth Miller - Chris Redfield
Sienna Guillory - Jill Valentine

Genre - Horror/Science Fiction/Action/Zombies/Video Games

Running Time - 97 Minutes


With its fourth film out this weekend, RESIDENT EVIL has officially become the most successful video game franchise of all time. Who knew in 2002 that this video game adaptation would still be talked about, in good and in bad, would spawn a motion picture quadrology? The film really wasn't all that good and left a lot to be desired. It probably didn't deserve as many sequels as its gotten. Yet, here I am again discussing another RESIDENT EVIL flick, this time titled AFTERLIFE.

RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE is a sort of rebirth of sorts for the franchise. For one, it has brought the original director [and Milla Jovovich's husband/baby daddy] Paul W.S. Anderson back to direct and write. It also brings back the more claustrophobic feel of the first film where interior shots take precedence over exterior shots. And it also adds more Resident Evil game characters than ever before, with Chris and Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, the Executioner Majini from Resident Evil 5, and one of the coolest villains, Albert Wesker, all appearing in one film [Leon Kennedy will probably be in the next film at this rate]. But the biggest addition of all is the 3D elements that seems to become the popular thing to do these days, for better or for worse.

If you've read my three previous RESIDENT EVIL reviews, you know I'm not the biggest fan of this franchise. I love the games but the films just make me scratch my head. Still, I find some enjoyment in them and I can see why people love these films so much. I wasn't really eager to see RE: AFTERLIFE. But I felt I had to complete this franchise before my sanity returned and warned me to stay away.

My only wish for the film was that it was better than that stinker, RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION. And thankfully, my wish came true. RE: AFTERLIFE is definitely better than its previous installment. Still, the same problems linger and show why this franchise has gone longer than it probably should have.

PLOT
Continuing four years after EXTINCTION, Alice (Milla Jovovich) and her countless clones have infiltrated the Umbrella Corporation building in Tokyo, Japan. They murder everything in sight, going after Umbrella's head honcho, Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts). Wesker is one step ahead of Alice, murdering all of the clones in a massive explosion and escaping in a bulletproof plane. Predictably, the real Alice is already boarded on the plane to stop Wesker. Unfortunately, she's too busy getting one-liners in that she is vulnerable to Wesker injecting her with a new Umbrella serum that strips Alice completely of her superpowers, making her fully human. The plane crashes, but both manage to survive.

Six months later, Alice finally arrives at Alaska to find Arcadia, the haven where the non-infected are staying at. But Alice quickly realizes that there is no Arcadia in Alaska. Soon after, she reunites with Claire Redfield (Ali Larter), who has a spider device on her chest [created by Umbrella] to wipe her away of her memories and control her. Alice removes the device, taking Claire and herself to Los Angeles - now overrun by zombies [or paparazzi, what's the difference?]. They land on top of a building where they meet with more survivors: basketball player Luther West (Boris Kudjoe), TV producer Bennett (Kim Coates), actress Crystal (Kacey Barnfield), and Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller) who happens to be a cop and also Claire's older brother. The survivors point Alice and Claire towards the real Arcadia, which is a ship in the Pacific Ocean. But before the survivors can get there, they must encounter zombies, Genados infected with the Los Pragas parasite, The Executioner Majini, and a superpowered Albert Wesker himself.

REVIEW
RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE is pretty much the same as the three previous installments. We get the usual lack of logical story. We get the wooden acting from everyone involved. We get decent amount of action. And the direction is what it is. The only difference is that Paul W.S. Anderson actually filmed the film in James Cameron's 3D Fusion Camera System, the same technique used to film AVATAR. And to be honest, this film would be a waste of time without the 3D thrown in. While not great, it does help the experience in watching RE: AFTERLIFE.

To discuss the lack of story and character development would be pretty much pointless. This franchise isn't known for deep, fascinating stories and their interesting and colorful characters. And RE: AFTERLIFE doesn't change that. I should be overlooking this aspect of the movie and praising it for at least being consistent in its "storytelling", but that wouldn't be fair as a reviewer to do that. I could ignore the lazy screenplay if other things in the film compensated for it. But there isn't enough action, visual style, or great acting for me to do that.

The fact is, we're in a fourth film in this franchise and we still have NO idea who Alice is. I will praise Anderson for stripping away her powers, which I had issues with for a while now. It actually makes Alice vulnerable now and gives her a new dimension to her character. Well it should have if he had allowed Alice to deal with the fact that she doesn't have an advantage over Umbrella anymore. But we never get a scene like that. In fact, it's like Alice hasn't changed except that she doesn't use her psychic powers anymore. She survives plane crashes, battles with The Executioner Majini and Wesker, and swinging away from zombies as if her powers never left. It wasn't a really effective plot point at all, even though it was the right move to make.

And then we have the other characters, whose only character development are their names and occupations. The newer characters didn't bother me much anyway because they were zombie food anyway. But Claire still doesn't feel like Claire. And Chris is as bland as they come. And even though the two are siblings, they hardly talk to each other or share scenes together. Some backstory for these characters would be nice. Just throw your fans a bone here!

And Wesker is okay, but he doesn't do enough to really effect you as this major villain. He's an awesome character in the video game franchise, who has a long history with Umbrella and S.T.A.R.S. In the film, he's treated as an Agent Smith ripoff from THE MATRIX. The character deserved better, even though I didn't hate the portrayal all that much. He should have been in the film more to really matter.

I will say that the narrative is a lot simplier now, and it doesn't have many subplots that distract the flow of the film. We clearly understand the goals of the characters and it's followed through pretty much. There's no more experimenting on clones. There's no more moments of Alice's eyes changing to reflect her new powers. It's pretty much kept as a small group of survivors trying to make to a place where they live safely without infection. The story felt closer to tone to the first RESIDENT EVIL, which was kind of refreshing.

I will praise RE: AFTERLIFE for having the best action in the franchise so far. The opening sequence with the Alice clones is pretty cool and ties up that sub-plot as best as Anderson could write it with his capabilities. The ending with Wesker is more of a skirmish than an actual battle, but it was cool to see the Wesker from the video games using his superpowers on Alice and the gang. The best action sequence was the one with the Executioner Majini. That dude is intimidating in Resident Evil 5 and he was pretty imtimidating here as well. I wish they had explained who he was or where he came from, but this is a RESIDENT EVIL film we're talking about. They just supply questions, not answers. Still, I thought the action was handled well for the most part and kept me from being bored, although the dead spots were pretty obvious as the film went along.

The direction by Paul W.S. Anderson is a mixed bag. The pacing is off at times due to the fact that we get massive amounts of action, then a period where characters just talk and walk around, followed by more action, followed by talking and walking, and etc. This wouldn't have been an issue if the talking and walking was shot in a more interesting manner. Also, Anderson loves his MATRIX-like slow motion filmmaking, to the point where it started to annoy me after a while. I don't think this was more worse than during the fight between Alice/Claire vs. The Executioner Majini. There was times during that sequence where I actually felt a bit of tension and suspense, but then Anderson ruins it by filming portions in slow motion. It just ruined everything! Without the slow motion, this fight would have been pretty awesome for a RESIDENT EVIL movie. But it completely takes you out of it. And the way it was framed as well was just awkward. You have to see it to understand. Other than that, the film looks good. The editing was tight. And the 3D, while not the greatest I've seen, is actually very well done. You get a bunch of things flying at you, like weapons, blood, brain matter, and other stuff. I thought a lot of it was very cool and it definitely made the viewing experience a lot better than it probably should have been.

The acting in RE: AFTERLIFE is pretty bad. Milla Jovovich is still bland as Alice, although I will say that this is her best acting performance as the character since the first one. She still does action very well and she was emoting a bit more at times, which was nice to see. I think she was more game for this one since her husband was the director. But I didn't mind Jovovich at all. Ali Larter, on the other hand, is no Claire Redfield. She's a better actress than this but she's just wooden as hell here. I have to blame Anderson for not bringing out more from her, but it wasn't a great performance at all. Wentworth Miller is just as bland as Chris. He tries to be this badass but just comes off looking bad. He doesn't get to do much either. Shawn Roberts was also wooden as Wesker, but he had his moments. And Boris Kudjoe as Luther West was okay as well. He seemed to be more into the film than the other actors.

And stay after the end credits to see a familiar face return to the movie franchise. From the looks of it, I'm kind of interested in the next installment. I can't believe I just wrote that...

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE THROWING THESE WORDS TOWARDS YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN

- Always walk away from a hot girl standing in the rain for no reason. She's probably a zombie. Or thinks she's participating in a wet T-shirt contest. Dead and stupid - not exactly an attractive combination.

- Don't ask Wesker questions. He'll just shoot you in the head. Or make you watch him in DIARY OF THE DEAD. No one deserves either fate.

- Even though she was stripped of her powers, Alice still managed to survive a plane crash without much injury. If only John Denver had his DNA manipulated by Umbrella...

What? Too soon?

- Alice arrived in Alaska, disappointed to find out that Arcadia wasn't there. Well, Arcadia hasn't been around since the mid-80s. She should have known that the members are back in Duran Duran now.

- Chris Redfield was locked inside a cage, saying he knew the way out towards Arcadia. Well if anyone knows how to break out of prisons, it's this guy.

- Alice and Claire took care of the Executioner Majini. The only thing better would have been receiving an achievement or a trophy for 50 GS for sitting through it.

THE FINAL HOWL
If you're a fan of the RESIDENT EVIL movie franchise, then you'll enjoy RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE. If you're not a fan, then stay far away. I'm in the middle when it comes to these films. I enjoy them as mindless entertainment, but it's becoming obvious this franchise needs to end sooner than later. Still, it's an improvement over EXTINCTION and I can't say I wasn't entertained. RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE is a film I wouldn't mind watching on DVD or cable every once in a while. But I wouldn't spend 18 dollars to see this in a theater, even if the 3D helps the film a decent deal. No movie is worth that much, especially this one. But it was better than I was expecting it to be and I'm pretty satisfied by that.

SCORE
1.5 Howls Outta 4

DIRECTED BY
Paul W.S. Anderson

STARRING
Jason Statham - Jensen Ames
Joan Allen - Hennessey
Ian McShane - Coach
Tyrese Gibson - Machine Gun Joe
Natalie Martinez - Case
Max Ryan - Pachenko
Robin Shou - 14K

Genre - Action/Racing

Running Time - 105 Minutes

Score - 2 Howls Outta 4


If you're reading this and happen to have been living under a rock for years, you should know that we're living in the age of remakes. There's not a month where at least one "reimagining" of an earlier [and most likely better] film isn't released on DVD or in a theatre near you. I think most of us are sick of this trend, but a majority of these remakes happen to make bank, so it ain't going away any time soon.

That's not to say that all remakes are horrible. Films like John Carpenter's THE THING and the 80s version of THE BLOB to modern remakes like Zack Synder's DAWN OF THE DEAD and Alexandre Aja's THE HILLS HAVE EYES have proven that if you take an old idea and update it in a smart and intelligent way, the film can be a major success.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Paul W.S. Anderson's remake of 1975's Roger Corman produced DEATH RACE 2000, simply titled DEATH RACE. It's not a horrible film at all. In fact, it never bores you. But it's not a great film either and leaves you desiring more than it gives you. Yes my friends...DEATH RACE is just another film that happens to be nothing more than mediocre. Let's change gears and see where this film made a pit stop.

PLOT
In 2012, America has pretty much gone to crap in every way. To make ends meet, Jensen Ames (Jason Statham) works at a steel mill to support his loving wife and their baby daughter. After returning home one night, some goons invade their home - murdering Ames' wife and knocking him out. When he wakes up, Ames is confronted by police officers and is arrested for his wife's murder. Ames is quickly convicted to serve time at Terminal Island Prison, run by the ice cold warden Hennessey (Joan Allen). Ames soon learns that Terminal Island Prison is a place where prisoners race each other to the death to be broadcast all over the world via the internet. Hennessey presents Ames with a "get out of jail free" card by offering him to don the mask of the famous driver, Frankenstein. The previous Frankenstein (played by David Carradine - who played the character in the original film) was murdered in the last broadcasted race by Machine Gun Joe (Tyrese Gibson). Hennessey promises Ames that if he wins the race, she'll set him free to be with his daughter. Ames accepts and gets partnered with hottie navigator Case (Natalie Martinez) and crew member Coach (Ian McShane). But as he prepares for the race and learns more about Hennessey and Terminal, Ames discovers that the situation is not all what it seems and that he may have been purposedly been framed for murder by Hennessey just for high ratings for the upcoming race.

REVIEW
DEATH RACE is one of those films that's all style but no substance, yet it doesn't really work here completely for some reason. It's got action. It's got cars. It's got bloody deaths. It's got explosions. It's got hot women. It's got bad ass Jason Statham doing what he does best. Yet, it doesn't click at all and it leaves you feel a bit blah. The fact that the trailer is more exciting than the actual film is pretty sad.

Paul W.S. Anderson, who is known as one of the worst directors in the film industry at the moment [I'm on the fence on that one], doesn't do any favors here as a screenwriter. Anderson pretty much took everything that was cool about the original [colorful characters, unique cars, camp value] and left it on the cutting room floor. The characters aren't developed enough for us to give a damn about them, except for Ames and maybe Hennessey mainly for their actions and dialogue alone. All the racers besides Ames/Frankenstein and Machine Gun Joe are interchangably cannon fodder just to have these two race each other at the end. The cars all look like metal tanks with machine guns and smoke screens. In the original, even the cars had personality. Here? They're as cold as Hennessey's personality. Nothing really special about the cars here except that they can kill people if used correctly. And there's no camp value in this film at all. It takes itself way too seriously for such a silly premise. Plus it's predictable and heavily cliched as hell. Those things are only bad when a filmmaker doesn't attempt to do anything special with them, like Anderson fails to do here. It's just lazy screenwriting from beginning to end, which sucks because this film could have been cooler if someone who can actually write a compelling script was hired for DEATH RACE.

Plus Anderson seems to attempt at some social commentary here, but doesn't do anything with it. There's the idea of people paying hundreds of dollars to watch people kill each other on the internet. Yeah, that shows how fucked up society has become due to its futuristic dark age. But is it made to be somewhat important? No. THE CONDEMNED [which is exactly what this film is, but with cars] and UNTRACEABLE did a much better job expressing this commentary in their respective films. DEATH RACE just swats it away. Plus, we have something that's brought up about Machine Gun Joe's sexuality, that never plays out at all in the entire film. Why even bother saying he's a homosexual if he doesn't even exude or display anything that would make the audience believe the same thing? And then there's the idea of replacing Frankenstein with someone else. Hennessey says something along the lines of being able to replace the driver but not the mask towards the end of the film and it just made me see it as Anderson's way of commenting on the remake cycle. It's as Anderson is saying that as long as the name of the film is the same, even with a different crew and actors involved, it doesn't really matter because viewers will see it as sort of the same anyway - as if the original can be replaced by something new and most people wouldn't tell or care about the difference. Maybe I'm overanalyzing it but I call bullshit if I'm right. Not that it matters anyway because I'm sure it flew over many people's heads anyway.

Was there anything I liked? Sure. The action was pretty good. Who doesn't like watching people dying in horrible ways, such as hit and run and explosions? Seeing the races and watching metal get shot and caught in traps is always fun in my book. Plus the women were very hot in this film, especially Natalie Martinez, who can navigate with me anytime she wants. Foxy lady...

I also liked Anderson's direction here too. He's not the greatest by far but, like Michael Bay, knows how to direct action. The pacing was tight. The editing was good. The action sequences were sort of fun to watch. Anderson seems to be following in the shaky-cam trend most action directors seem to love at the moment. It did divert from the action at times but it didn't bother me all that much. I honestly think this may have been Anderson's tightest directorial film. That's not saying a whole lot, but I didn't hate it - so it's all good.

The acting was probably the highlight of the film, even with the lack of material the actors were given. Jason Statham is playing Jason Statham as usual, being a total bad ass motherfucker who will not take any shit as Jensen Ames. He's cool, collected, and charismatic as hell. Joan Allen as Hennessey was a bit weird in terms of casting, but she played the bitchy ice queen to a "T". I would never expect Allen to be in a film like this, but I guess those BOURNE films really did a number on her. However, I really enjoyed her here as she was very classy, yet you could tell she would stick that knife into someone and twist it just for the hell of it. I wish her character was more developed, but what can you do? Tyrese Gibson seemed to be having the most fun as Machine Gun Joe. He was okay, I guess. I still don't understand the whole homosexual deal since Tyrese never lets on that he is. I personally prefer Sylvester Stallone [who played the character in the original] over Tyrese. At least you knew Stallone's deal in the original. Here? No clue. And Ian McShane was good as Coach, although his talents are suited for a much better role and film. As a matter of fact, all these actors deserved better than DEATH RACE. But at least they tried to make the most of it, for which I do appreciate.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED WHILE REALIZING THERE'S NO NEED TO TURN TWIZTED METAL INTO A FILM AFTER WATCHING THIS

- Don't ever say "you can't kill me." If you're not a cat and don't have extra lives, you're fucked. And not in that Jenna Jameson sort of way either.

- Joan Allen was a pretty good bitch. I guess she was BOURNE to play the part. Get it? Oh...how I love puns!

- If your navigator happens to be female, you may have to ask her to sit on your lap in order to shoot someone with napalm. Not only is this a good strategy offensively, but the two of you will probably bond when she happens to shift your stick right into her tunnel.

- 14K really got a horrible third place finish. His attempts for a "flawless victory" only lead to his "fatality". How ironic.

THE FINAL HOWL
If you're looking for some depth in your movie, DEATH RACE is not for you. But if you happen to enjoy explosions, vehicular mayhem, and Jason Statham being a bad ass, then DEATH RACE may be a good rental. It is what it is and does what it needs to do well. But after seeing so many films like it many, many times before, DEATH RACE is nothing more but "been there, done that". Still, it's a fun flick if you leave the brain at the door.