Resident Evil: Afterlife

Resident Evil: Afterlife is packed with eye-popping stunts,spectacular sets and stunning visual effects that take full advantage of the benefits of 3-D.

If ever there was a box-office driven series,its the Resident Evil standard. After launching the franchise back in 2002,writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson made other movies,but wrote and produced subsequent installments Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Resident Evil: Extinction,each of which made a packet at the international box-office. With Resident Evil: Afterlife,Andersons back in the saddle. This is the first chapter of the saga to be shot and released in 3-D. This in itself increases the viewer potential.

Picking up where 8230;Extinction ended,the film opens in Japan where Alice armed with superhuman abilities is leading an army of her own clones against her longtime nemesis,Umbrella Chairman Albert Wesker. After leaving Wesker for dead in a showdown that destroys her army and strips her of her powers,Alice commandeers a two-seater airplane and flies to Alaska. Her goal: to find survivors at the mysterious Arcadiapurportedly the only place on earth not ravaged by the T-Virus infected zombies.

But the promised land eludes her,and instead she finds her old comrade-in-arms Claire Redfield,now suffering total amnesia. With Claire in tow,Alices search for answers leads her to the ruined city of Los Angeles,where she meets a handful of other survivors,tenuously holding an army of the undead at bay. There she learns that Arcadia may be closer but also more deadly than she thought. With Claire slowly recovering her memory and martial prowess,Alice leads the band of survivors on a harrowing rescue mission and discovers something far more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.

Resident Evil: Afterlife is marked by director Paul W. S. Andersons calling cards visually-stunning imagery,quick-cut editing and tough female characters Alice and Claire and the use of odd tilted high or low angles for a creepy effect.

Working in 3-D has raised the bar for the franchise. After James Camerons seminal Avatar,this episode of Resident Evil is an apt successor. The predictable and flimsy storyline is over-ridden by the advanced technology. The actors are required to perform demanding action sequences in front of the camera,and performances are overlooked and excused.

Resident Evil: Afterlife is packed with eye-popping stunts,spectacular sets and stunning visual effects that take full advantage of the benefits of 3-D. As a paradigm shift in cinema,3-D will soon become the industry standard,and Resident Evil: Afterlife is among the pioneering outputs which have been conceived as a 3-D film. One of 3-Ds most exciting qualities is the ability to immerse the audience in the story. This has been enhanced by sets of well-choreographed and executed action scenes. When Alice throws a knife it seemingly comes hurtling right out of the screen and at the viewer. Simply stunning.

Milla Jovovich,Ali Larter and Spencer Locke reprise their roles from Resident Evil: Extinction. New to the franchise are Wentworth Miller,Shawn Roberts,Boris Kodjoe,and others. With panache,Jovovich conducts her business as a fully-fledged action star who has a following among action audiences.

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On the whole,an energetic,fantasy film,but is filled with formulaeic genre material girls,gore and guns that added to the 3-D will please the audience .

Rating: One for direction and editing. One for 3-D and imagery. One for action sequences and cinematography.