Resident Evil: Afterlife 3-D (Sony Blu-ray 3D)

 

3D Picture: A-     2D Picture: B     Sound: A-     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

I love the Resident Evil game series. From Resident Evil 0 to Resident Evil 5, I love them all; which makes it even harder for me to watch the film series that has stripped away all that has made the games amazing.  There are some elements from the films (mostly the parts taken from the games), which are interesting but overall the action adventure franchise is merely a shoot em’ up lackluster experience.

 

The games all have deep rooted storylines and depth, something the films are severely lacking.  The films have always been deeply flawed and as we traveled down the rabbit hole of sequels it just got worse.  The first film was the best, though it had little to do with the game series it stole from, but each sequel proved that it was time for a reboot…and fast.  In Resident Evil: Afterlife 3-D our disturbed heroin Alice (Milla Jovovich) returns to kick butt, kill zombies, and bring down the evil Umbrella Corporation.  In reality I have no idea what the film was about or set out to accomplish.  Afterlife did little to correct the wrongs of the past or advance the story line in anyway.  Instead the film traded in storyline for dazzling effects and extended fight sequences that whereas very ‘video game-like,’ were outside of the realm of rationale filmmaking or even the Resident Evil universe.  The undead are still running amok and Alice and her team are there to take them down, but it is all just silly and the villains are just horrendous.  Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) is Alice’s main target this time around, as she battles through Umbrella’s Tokyo underground headquarters.  Wesker (an infamous in game character) has also been infected by Umbrella’s T-Virus to become a superhuman hybrid.  So as we watch one of the last holdouts of humanity battle the ever approaching zombie army we get treated to unique kills and unnecessary camera angles in all new 3-D.

 

The film is more of an adventure in 3-D film making, rather than a new edition to a film franchise.  The same cameras that were used to make James Cameron’s critically praised Avatar were used for Resident Evil: Afterlife 3-D, so it is not a stretch to see how visually this film turned out beautifully.  So where it lacks substance, it manages to stun with epic twists, turns and spins that leap off the screen.  Granted all of that is hindered by the fact that the film is awful and the kills are uniquely pointless.

 

The technical features on this 2-D/3-D combo disc are very nice, but as this film was always intended to be viewed in 3-D that shall be the focus here.  The picture is presented in a stunning 3-D that is nearly flawless.  Unlike many 3-D films Resident Evil utilizes the HD 3-D format from beginning to end and though obnoxious at times, it is very pleasing to the eyes.  The image is crisp, clean and clear with vibrant colors that explode of the screen highlighting the full color spectrum.  There are no light/dark issues and shadowing is perfectly balanced.  The 3-D image has admirable detail and texture that not even many 2-D films on Blu-ray can achieve.  The blacks are inky and nothing gets muddy in the dark.  Not everything is perfect, but close to it, as there are some moments of ghosting and such that holds up the perfection.  Definitely a demo quality 3-D disc.  The sound is the same in both 2-D and 3-D in its DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 format and I would venture to say is flawlessly immersive.  The dialogue is crisp and clean without any distortion.  This is on top of the extraordinary panning effects that immerse the viewer in the action from beginning to end.  The sound experience is pitch perfect as the entire soundscape is utilized.

 

The extras are lackluster even though there is plenty to look at, this most likely stemming from the fact that the film itself was not all too great.  The extras include a nice Audio Commentary with cast/crew, but really the comments are obvious and don’t divulge anything too groundbreaking.  There is a preview of the next CGI Resident Evil film, entitled Resident Evil Damnation that this time ventures into 3-D land; let’s just hope it is not as bad as the last one.  Finally there are a series of small featurettes that aren’t all too exciting and offer tidbits of how the film was composed.

 

 

-   Michael P. Dougherty II