Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth movie in the series, is another ho-hum entry with a mundane plot and thinly written supporting characters, though Jovovich is still in fine form and works fine for the role of Alice.
Resident Evil: Afterlife
(2010)
Genre(s): Horror, Thriller, Science Fiction
Sony | R – 96 min. | November 17, 2020
Date Published: 11/22/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Sony Pictures provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
Note: The screen captures were taken from the Blu-ray disc and do not represent the 4K Ultra HD transfer.
THE MOVIE — 2.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: In a world overrun with the walking dead, Alice (MILLA JOVOVICH) continues her battle against Umbrella Corp., rounding up survivors along the way. Joined by Claire Redfield (ALI LARTER), suffering from memory loss, Alice set outs for a rumored safe haven in Los Angeles. Instead of sanctuary, they find the city overrun with zombies, and a trap about to spring.
Quick Hit Review: The fourth entry into the series, Resident Evil: Afterlife is pretty much more of the same, just different location and more food for zombies with the supporting cast. There were some moments I did enjoy certain parts with the setting of a maximum prison but the downfall is in the finale, onboard a massive ship, with a fight between Alice and Mr. Smith-lite as portrayed by Shawn Roberts (the role was previously played by Jason O’Mara in Extinction), who really isn’t all that intimidating. But as in the previous installments, some of the stunt work was respectable and I still like Milla Jovovich in the lead. Not going to say she was built for this role and can’t see anyone else playing Alice, but she gives a character with no back story some strength and intensity. That said, it is a step down from Extinction as at least that film did have a Mad Max-like desert world.
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SPECIAL FEATURES – 3¼/5 |
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Released as part of the Resident Evil: Limited Edition Collection, the 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs are housed in a digipak packaging with cardboard on the front and back and plastic hubs inside. DISC ONE (4K ULTRA HD): DISC TWO (BLU-RAY): Undead Vision (PiP) — This is mostly comprised of the footage of the featurettes below… Featurettes: Back Under the Umbrella: Directing Afterlife (6:43), Back Under the Umbrella: Directing Afterlife (6:43), Band of Survivors: Casting Afterlife (6:39), Undead Dimension: Resident Evil in 3D (7:27), Fighting Back: The Action of Afterlife (5:31), Vision of the Apocalypse: The Design of Afterlife (7:28), New Blood: The Undead of Afterlife (7:31), Pwning the Undead: Gamers of the Afterlife (6:11) Roughly 45 minutes of featurettes that provides an interesting look into almost every aspect of the film. I found the Undead Dimension to be the most interesting as the cast and crew discuss why the film was shot in 3D – and why it’s better because of it. The rest offers up your typical Making of and fans of the movie will want to check it out. Also included is an Outtake Reel (4:30), Five Deleted/Extended Scenes (6:48) that I found to offer very little and was rightfully cut. |
VIDEO – 4½/5 |
| Resident Evil: Afterlife lands onto Ultra High Definition presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and a 2160p resolution from what I suspect was actually a 2K scan (upconverted to 4K). Even so, this release looks pretty good for a catalog title. There are some nice pops of color here and there though outside of the finale, tonally colors are geared toward more on the natural spectrum. |
AUDIO – 4¾/5 |
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The original Blu-ray release had a standard DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track while this one gets the newer Dolby Atmos audio and doing a quick comparison, this is a modest difference between the two but it takes it to a new level providing clear dialogue levels and shows off more depth and a robustness for the numerous gun battle sequences that occur, particularly early on as well as Tomandandy’s hardcore score. |
OVERALL – 3¾/5 |
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Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth movie in the series, is another ho-hum entry with a mundane plot and thinly written supporting characters, though Jovovich is still in fine form and works fine for the role of Alice. The 4K UHD combo release comes with well done video and audio transfers alongside a good selection of bonus material. |
The screen captures came from the Blu-ray copy and are here to add visuals to the review and do not represent the 4K video.