A dead good movie

Deception, revenge, action and, of course, zombies ... the Resident Evil saga continues in epic fashion with the fourth installment of the cult franchise.

I really enjoyed the first Resident Evil movie, it flung the door wide open for a new wave of zombie films with subtle variations that provided a vast improvement to the genre.

I'm not one to generalise, but generally, in zombie flicks the undead move slowly and the make-up is nowhere near as impressive as Michael Jackson's Thriller. However, in my opinion, Resident Evil took the whole package to the next level. It created something that was not only visually fantastic, but emotionally compelling too.

That is, of course, until the sequel - Resident Evil: Apocalypse - came along and was so bad, I almost lost faith. But, as luck would have it, the next film - Resident Evil: Extinction - was just good enough to rekindle my interest.

At the end of the last movie, Alice (the film's heroine) overthrew a facility operated by Umbrella, the organisation responsible for the zombie chaos. Later, in Japan, Wesker (the bad guy who once ran the facility) informs the rest of the Umbrella board that the North American branch has been lost, and he will now control further scientific experiments from Japan.

Suddenly, during the board meeting, the phone rings (and I'll give you a dinar if you can guess who's on the line) ... it's Alice and she informs the board that she and her friends are coming for them next.

That leads us to the beginning of Afterlife, which picks up directly from where the action left off with Alice tracking down Wesker. She finds herself in a full-on battle with the executive but, (unfortunately for her) he's been infected by the virus. Instead of being a complete zombie with a craving for human flesh, he's managed to harness the power of the virus, giving him unearthly powers.

Following the epic battle (with heart-stopping choreography), Alice ends up in a prison in Los Angeles with a group of fellow survivors. As luck would have it, drifting around the ocean that surrounds the prison, is a ship manned with a group of supposedly uninfected survivors. It's up to Alice to help the prisoners escape the fortified prison and get to the 'safety' of the ship.

So, here's the harsh truth ... this film offers nothing new in terms of the storyline and it haphazardly leads to a dubious plot progression which hints to yet another sequel (If that happens, the franchise will be on Par with the seemingly endless list of Rambo sequels).

So, why bother to see this movie? Well, if you like (excuse the bad pun) no-brainer zombie films, Milla Jovovich and 3D effects, you have three reasons right there!

Aside from that, there's not too much else to hold your attention. If you're looking for a family film, this isn't it (which makes me wonder why there were so many children in the audience when I saw it).

3D is making a big impact as of late and this is a trend I see continuing for many years to come. One thing I will give this film credit for is the imaginative and effective use of this medium, horror really is better in 3D.

Showing in Cineco, Seef II and Saar Cineplex