Film review: Resident Evil: After Life 3D
MANILA, Philippines - I have always been branded a cool mom, a label I have consciously sought to cultivate effortlessly. My kids’ classmates brag to their parents of this mom who dresses up like them (which my children Jon and Mika are so embarrassed about), enjoys their kind of music (Lady Gaga, anyone?), and for Pete’s sake, dances to the tune of Nobody, Nobody But You without shame (hahaha!). My nephews and nieces are beneficiaries of my never-say-you-are-old attitude. Nineteen-year-old Atenean niece Mariel borrows clothes and shoes from me, while 24-year-old La Sallian King can pull me to any B action movie.
And so it was that when Resident Evil movie fan King expressed his desire to watch Resident Evil: Afterlife, fourth installment in the Resident Evil series (based on the very popular video game Resident Evil) as he had watched the first three movies and was dying to see the fourth, I was at his service. Did I enjoy it? Yes, indeed, I did! Do I plan to play the video game? Oh no, thank you. The movie is violent enough for me.
Resident Evil: Afterlife can be confusing to anyone who has not played the video game or who has not seen the first three of the movie series. It starts with the protagonist Alice (played wonderfully by model Milla Jovovich) who sets out to Tokyo City with her new friends to search for the Umbrella Corporation facility in the vicinity. Umbrella Corporation, a science research conglomerate which developed the virus that turns humans into the undead, is headed by the dastardly Albert Wesker. In a fierce battle inside an aircraft with Wesker, Alice loses her superhuman abilities, making her a mere mortal again. But before the villain can kill the heroine, the plane crashes and only Alice emerges from the ruins. In her quest to save whatever is left of the human population, she enlists the help of her gorgeous friend with the gorgeous hair, Claire Redfield (played by Ali Larter; for me, a revelation as I remember her only from her role as Brooke Taylor Windham in 2001’s Legally Blonde, the movie), and her brother Chris (played by Wentworth Miller of the breakout TV hit Prison Break). Together, the three heroes tackle one obstacle after another in their search for the remaining survivors of Umbrella Corporation’s zombie apocalypse.
The movie is action-packed, bloody, and all-out violent. Yet, you know upon seating yourself in the theater with popcorn and drinks on hand that it is not a movie to be taken seriously. Fans of the video games go there to compare the game with the movie. Aside from the most important reason of having quality bonding time with my nephew, I went to see how great Milla and Ali looked (I declare my absolute right to know where they got their skintight pants) and swoon over Wentworth (it is simply incredible that he is nearing 40!), watch the fast and slo-mo action scenes (which kind of reminded me of the Matrix series), get lost in the amazing cinematography (shot in Toronto but which I thought all the while was made in Europe) and get heart palpitations in the suspenseful scenes and well-choreographed and intense fights (which would be five times exciting in 3D) as I am kept at the edge of my seat in a Trinoma theater not knowing what will happen next.
After watching the movie, I dare say that Milla is probably now the best female action star (with Angelina Jolie as closest competition). I loved the first few scenes where there were several Alices (as she was cloned) on the movie screen. She is so beautiful and graceful you wouldn’t know which of her you would focus on. Seeing how smooth she moves in her fight scenes even as she handles different kinds of weapons, you conclude that she must have had rigorous training to do it, oh, so perfectly.
As the movie ended with the obvious giveaway that there is definitely going to be a fifth installment, I high-five my La Sallian nephew, and tell him I gotta run (in my four-inch heels and stretch jeans!) as I still need to catch the Ateneo-FEU game replay. Cool tita!? That’s meeeeh!