Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Role: Alice
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Written by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Country: Canada, Germany
Additional Cast: Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Spencer Locke, Boris Kodjoe, Shawn Roberts, Kim Coates
Running time: 1 hr. 37 min.
Box office: $296,221,663
Budget: $60 million
Release Date: USA – September 10 2010
On DVD: December 28, 2010

Synopsis

In a world ravaged by a virus infection, turning its victims into the Undead, Alice continues on her journey to find survivors and lead them to safety. Her deadly battle with the Umbrella Corporation reaches new heights, but Alice gets some unexpected help from an old friend. A new lead that promises a safe haven from the Undead leads them to Los Angeles, but when they arrive the city is overrun by thousands of Undead and Alice and her comrades are about to step into a deadly trap. (Credit: ShockTillYouDrop.com)

News

Resident Evil: Afterlife is the fourth installment in the popular Resident Evil zombie film franchise, and the first Resident Evil to be directed by series’ screenwriter Paul W.S. Anderson since the original, 2002 film. Loosely based on the video games, the film will center upon Milla Jovovich’s protagonist Alice, a former Umbrella special op who’s developed supernatural strength and abilities after being subjected to involuntary T-virus experimentation by the multinational corporate giant, Umbrella.

While rumors of a fourth Resident Evil have circulated since the box office success of Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) became evident, it was generally viewed that Milla Jovovich’s return to the franchise would be unlikely, if not impossible. In July 2008, however, director Anderson not only confirmed to io9 that another sequel was being planned, but also hinted at Milla being interested in reprising Alice once more:

We’re in very early discussions about all of it, so it’s not a definite thing by any means. Milla would like to return, and I would certainly like to see the franchise continue.

Milla’s reprisal of Alice was confirmed by official sources in July 2009.

It has been announced that Afterlife will be the first film in the franchise to be released in 3D. Filming began in Toronto, Canada in October 2009 and wrapped up mid-December. Milla tweeted diligently about the production of the film via her verified Twitter account @MillaJovovich throughout filming in Toronto. Sony Screen Gems is currently eyeing a September 2010 U.S. theatrical release; a first trailer, official site and promotional stills surfaced online in April 2010.

Production

Resident Evil: Afterlife was shot on the same camera system. Avatar and The Final Destination… The Fusion Camera System. This digital movie camera system was developed by James Cameron and Vince Pace. It was created to shoot features in stereoscopic 3-D. While Avatar and other films used the Sony HDC-F950 cameras, Afterlife stuck with Sony F35 cameras. The crew would spend two weeks alone just to understand the 3D camera setup.

Principal photography for the film began on September 29, 2009 and lasted until December of that same year. The production budget was estimated around $60 million and 20% of that budget consisted of filming the film in 3D. During production, Milla Jovovich accidentally shot out a $100,000 camera. In the film, there is a fight scene recreated from the video game Resident Evil 5, between Wesker and Chris. This scene would incorporate slow motion, among other action scenes in the film. Brining to life the slow motion scenes in the film was no easy task. Wesker has “superhuman speed” so not only did it take multiple days just to record that, but the weight of the 3D cameras were much bigger and heavier. This meant that the operators couldn’t use Steadicam rigs for easy fluid moments for shots. Camera operators were reduce to using a Segway to capture the shots.

3D cameras weren’t able to pick up anything shiny due to a flare. Cal Loucks, the hired set decorator said that objects in the film that were metal were painted silver with a special paint to remove reflections. Loucks also mentioned that the colors of the film had to be saturated because of the 3D cameras and resulted in a restrictive color palette.

Most of the film was shot at Cinespace Film Studios in Toronto, Ontario with tons of green screened sets. For the epic opening of the film, the crew had to find an interior reminiscent of Umbrella Corporation’s subterranean lair. This was filmed at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, which is also located in Toronto. Robarts Library, also in Toronto, was used to resemble a Los Angeles prison. Anderson really flexed his budget and went to Oshawa Airport in Ontario to portray an Alaskan aircraft boneyard. The Second Unit of the film however, was sent to Alaska to capture establishing shots. Lots of shots would then be completely retweaked in post production to give a more apocalyptic feel.

Reception

Resident Evil: Afterlife was not screened in advance for critics.Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 23% based on reviews 95 critics, with a rating average of 4.1 out of 10.Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 37 based on 14 reviews.CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a B minus on an A plus to F scale.

Michael Ordoña of the Los Angeles Times gave it a positive review, noting the slower cut of the film and saying:

“the action is easier to read than in most films of the genre, and therefore more enjoyable. Anderson makes particular use of sets and locations to wring out more bang for the stereoscopic buck”.

Phelim O’Neill of The Guardian gave the film two stars out of five praising the use of 3D, while stating that the Resident Evil films “always look good and have well-staged action, but they don’t have one iota of originality or imagination”.Chicago Reader’s Andrea Gronvall described the plot as “nearly indiscernible” but did call the film the “sleekest so far, thanks to 3D and star Milla Jovovich’s body-hugging catsuit”.
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, saying:

“Cannibalizing John Carpenter’s Thing and much of the sci-fi-horror canon, Afterlife is more moribund than its thronging undead”.

David Edwards of the Daily Mirror compared it to Resident Evil: Extinction, stating that the:

“results are even less impressive, which is saying quite something” and “only fans of the series will care with the film looking suspiciously like a series of barely connected action scenes and unimpressive 3D welded to a who-the-hell-cares? plot”

Spill.com critics Corey Koleman and Co-Host 3000 gave the film a “Some ol’ bullshit”, the site’s second lowest rating. They criticized the film’s overuse of slow motion, lack of explanation of certain plot elements and long lapses in between action, but gave the film points for its cinematography, small bits of action, 3D and the special effects of the Axeman.
Andrew Barker of Variety compared the film to the previous installment as “equally moribund, and perhaps even more shamelessly derivative”. He compared Roberts’ Wesker to Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith from The Matrix, calling it a “slipshod impression”.
A particularly scathing review came from Brian Orndorf of Dark Horizons, who commented:

“Perhaps the first 3D motion picture to simulate the experience of watching paint dry, Resident Evil: Afterlife is a dreadful bore that only occasionally comes to life.”

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