The opening of the videogame Resident Evil 5 is set in Africa, specifically in a small village where a virus has caused the locals to become insanely violent. In one scene, a man is being executed, and The Executioner, an unusually large man with a giant ax arrives. Players must confront the behemoth in the game. The movie Resident Evil: Afterlife is set in a dystopian Los Angeles, where zombies rule the streets. Into this fray strolls The Executioner from Resident Evil 5, with no warning or explanation. Here's this giant, holding a huge ax, standing in a sea of the undead and no one bother to ask why he is there. This is just one example of how the movie series simply picks elements from the games and uses them at random, whether they make sense or not. This is also an example of why these movies will always pale in comparison to the games.

Resident Evil: Afterlife begins after the events of Resident Evil: Extinction. Alice (Milla Jovovich) has escaped from the zombie infestation in Las Vegas and has seen her friends seek safety to the north. She then travels to Tokyo, where she (and her clones) infiltrates a location of the evil Umbrella Corporation and faces off against the notorious Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts). Following this, we see Alice flying an WWII-era fighter plane to Alaska. Something called "Arcadia" has been broadcasting a signal promising a safe-haven. Once there, she finds her old friend Claire Redfield (Ali Larter), but Claire has an odd device attached to her chest and is suffering from amnesia. Once Alice subdues Claire, the two follow the signal south to Los Angeles, where they crash-land atop a prison where a group of survivors are hiding out. The prison is surrounded by zombies who are trying to get in. Inside the prison, Alice finds a man locked in a cell who claims to be Chris Redfield (Wentworth Miller), Claire's brother. (But because of her amnesia, Claire can't say if the man is telling the truth.) When the group realizes that a ship docked nearby could offer safety, they formulate a risky plan to reach it.

This movie raises a lot of questions, but here's the big one: How do these movies keep getting made and who is going to seem them? All four Resident Evil movies made thus far have been awful, and it's difficult to say which is the worst, but I can say that Resident Evil: Afterlife is a really bad movie. The movie's first mistake (and I don't have the bandwidth to list all of them) is that it assumes that we memorized Resident Evil: Extinction. I know that I saw that movie and reviewed it, but I certainly didn't commit it to memory. So, I must admit that I was confused by some of Resident Evil: Afterlife (and that's not something I like to admit). Following an action-packed (but devoid of detail) opening, the movie then stagnates for what seems like hours. Alice arrives in Los Angeles and then there is just one dialogue scene after another. The action picks up towards the end of the movie, but only the most obsessed or demented viewer will still care by that point.

As noted above with the example of The Executioner, the Resident Evil movies pick and choose elements from the game at random, and Resident Evil: Afterlife is not exception. In addition to The Executioner from Resident Evil 5, we also get the zombies who sprout blossom-like appendages from their mouths, which, I think, hasn't been seen in the movies before. However, none of the characters stop and ask where these new zombies or The Executioner came from. I guess when the world has gone to hell you simply take things in-stride. The inclusion of Chris Redfield feels forced as well. Chris appeared in the first Resident Evil game back in 1995, so, he's been around for a while and could have been in any of the movies. His appearance here feels as if Writer/Director Paul W.S. Anderson simply took the easy way out and combined elements of Resident Evil 5 with an Escape from New York-like setting. The finale combines bit-and-pieces from that game into a scenario which makes no narrative sense.

As with all of the movies in the Resident Evil series, there is so much wasted potential here. When Paul W.S. Anderson first came on the scene in the early 90s, I was a fan of his kinetic visual style and I thought that he made some pretty good movies. However, it seems that he and wife Jovovich have sold their souls to the Resident Evil movies and any creativity is long-since gone. (On Anderson's IMDB.com page, someone posted that one of his trademarks is "Dialog (sic) and characters that transcend their video game origins, thus highlighting humanity's place in the universe". OK, whatever.) Of course, if done properly, the Resident Evil offer a goldmine of material, but this would entail a filmmaker who chose to adapt an entire game as opposed to cannibalizing the games for ideas and characters to fill their insufficient script.

There was a rumor in the trades that Constantin Film, the outfit which holds the rights to the Resident Evil films, wanted to reboot the franchise. Let's all hope that someone has the good sense to go back to the first game and start the whole thing over.

Resident Evil: Afterlife thinks that it can win me over with a wet Ali Larter on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The image is never overly dark or bright and the colors look good. The image has very nice depth to it and while this Blu-ray isn't in 3D, we do have good separation of the objects in the background and foreground. The level of detail is good as well, as we can easily make out textures on objects. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Yet again, another awful movie with great sound. This Disc reveals one of the most detailed surround-sound tracks that I've ever heard. Someone took the time to bring out every minute sound in the mix. The surround and stereo tracks show great separation, and the action in each scene is brought to life by this. The subwoofer effects are plentiful, but not overwhelming.

The Resident Evil: Afterlife Blu-ray Disc contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Writer/Director Paul W.S. Anderson, Producer Jeremy Bolt, and Producer Robert Kulzer. Viewers can choose to watch the film in "Undead Vision", a picture-in-picture mode which provides interviews with the cast and crew and behind-the-scenes footage. The Disc contains eight DELETED & EXTENDED SCENES which run about seven minutes. Obviously these are all very brief and most simply add a few seconds to a shot which already exists in the film, save for an all green-screen boat shot. We get a 5-minute reel of OUTTAKES. The Disc offers seven FEATURETTES which run about 48 minutes and cover many different facets of the film; Anderson talks about coming back to the franchise; there is an examination of the cast; the 3-D shooting process is dissected; we get to see the actors practicing the action and stunts; concept art is presented in a look at sets and design; the film's creatures and make-up effects are delved into; and finally, the Disc makes a huge mistake by reminding us that the Resident Evil videogames are much better than the movies.