Escape to the Movies: Resident Evil: Afterlife
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You know, i thought, in coming here, I would find a group of people outraged at having seen one of the worst movies to hit theaters in a long time. Instead, I've found a number of people who just refuse to see it (a smart choice) or people saying it was anywhere from decent to great! Im sorry, did I watch it wrong or something, because all i can remember is feeling as though Hoolywood now believed american audiences to be so stupid that they didn't deserved good, well thought out Cinema...or even something with just a little more intelligence than a potato.
I know people will say that you just have to turn off your brain and enjoy the action, and i tried. But it was so...so....stupid that im pretty sure I would have to enter some sort of negative state of thinking in order to avoid questioning shitty plot/characters/writing. I usually really appreciate Bob's reviews, and would have to say I agree with him 90% of the time, but i cannot support his verdict in the slightest.
Also, just to avoid this, I don't care one bit that the movies don't follow the games; hell, I'm glad they don't!
I know people will say that you just have to turn off your brain and enjoy the action, and i tried. But it was so...so....stupid that im pretty sure I would have to enter some sort of negative state of thinking in order to avoid questioning shitty plot/characters/writing. I usually really appreciate Bob's reviews, and would have to say I agree with him 90% of the time, but i cannot support his verdict in the slightest.
Also, just to avoid this, I don't care one bit that the movies don't follow the games; hell, I'm glad they don't!
I'll join in and say that this movie was easily better than some of it's predecessors, but if I'm going to be honest that's kinda like saying that getting kicked in the head is better than getting kicked in the testicles.
First off, the opening 15 minutes is stupid as hell. It's completely impossible to take any of it seriously and it's not even fun, it's just painful to watch. The action isn't just over the top it's cartoonish. And you had damn well better hope you remember the previous movie or the army of Jovoviches comes off as a big blue light special of extra strength stupid.
Easily my favorite part of the opening sequence is right after Wesker reveals that the T-virus turns your blood into a bowl of Mr. T cereal and then suddenly remembers he's supposed to have been flying the plane.
"Hmmm maybe I should stop monologuing and get back to flying the plane before we crash into a mountain...whoops too late."
After that series of Wile E. Coyote style action shots the movie does get better, after a poorly explained but alltogether welcome bit of backtracking they make sure that Alice isn't the queen goddess of all creation anymore and she's just a regular old bad-ass chick with a lot of guns.
Unfortunately now that all the flashing lights and electronic bass beats have stopped you're able to focus on the laundry list of plot holes that the movie presents.
What ultimate goal is to be served by destroying all of civilization and turning them into mutant zombies?
Does Umbrella even have a plan or are they just a generically evil organization like COBRA from the GI Joe cartoons?
Why didn't Chris have a military ID or some sort of documentation he could show in order to prove his story?
Where did this second strain of zombies come from?
What's up with the Axe man, where did he come from, why does he look like a DIY Cenobite?
Why was there a boat in the sewers?
There's this little trick that the big boy storytellers like to do called "foreshadowing" this is when you mention something, or drop hints into the story about plot points or characters which may become important later."
This helps to avoids confusion when you eventually introduce that plot element into your story. As I mentioned earlier, the movie doesn't do a very good job of explaining plot points from the earlier movies and as a result you're just left in the dust if you don't remember.
Who is K-Mart? Why is she named after a department store? I know she was in the last movie but clearly she didn't leave an impression, so why should I care?
This is doubly problematic during the big surprise character reveal.
It's been almost 7 years since the last time the audience saw that character, don't just dump them into the movie looking nothing like we remember and expect people to get it. I'm not saying the plot had to revolve around it but throw us a bone here. We just spent the last 80 minutes or so watching Alice and her pals escape from a prison, our minds were not focused on the plots and characters from the earlier installments of the series.
Lastly.
There is WAY too much of the slow-motion-fade-into-action trick in this movie.
I think I can say, without threat of hyperbole that the movie would have been a good 10 minutes shorter without all the pointless slow motion shots.
I think in the end it all boils down to this.
If all you want is to see some folks punch, kick and shoot zombies for a few hours then you may enjoy it.
But if you want anything else, you might want to just go watch Dawn of the dead again.
First off, the opening 15 minutes is stupid as hell. It's completely impossible to take any of it seriously and it's not even fun, it's just painful to watch. The action isn't just over the top it's cartoonish. And you had damn well better hope you remember the previous movie or the army of Jovoviches comes off as a big blue light special of extra strength stupid.
Easily my favorite part of the opening sequence is right after Wesker reveals that the T-virus turns your blood into a bowl of Mr. T cereal and then suddenly remembers he's supposed to have been flying the plane.
"Hmmm maybe I should stop monologuing and get back to flying the plane before we crash into a mountain...whoops too late."
After that series of Wile E. Coyote style action shots the movie does get better, after a poorly explained but alltogether welcome bit of backtracking they make sure that Alice isn't the queen goddess of all creation anymore and she's just a regular old bad-ass chick with a lot of guns.
Unfortunately now that all the flashing lights and electronic bass beats have stopped you're able to focus on the laundry list of plot holes that the movie presents.
What ultimate goal is to be served by destroying all of civilization and turning them into mutant zombies?
Does Umbrella even have a plan or are they just a generically evil organization like COBRA from the GI Joe cartoons?
Why didn't Chris have a military ID or some sort of documentation he could show in order to prove his story?
Where did this second strain of zombies come from?
What's up with the Axe man, where did he come from, why does he look like a DIY Cenobite?
Why was there a boat in the sewers?
There's this little trick that the big boy storytellers like to do called "foreshadowing" this is when you mention something, or drop hints into the story about plot points or characters which may become important later."
This helps to avoids confusion when you eventually introduce that plot element into your story. As I mentioned earlier, the movie doesn't do a very good job of explaining plot points from the earlier movies and as a result you're just left in the dust if you don't remember.
Who is K-Mart? Why is she named after a department store? I know she was in the last movie but clearly she didn't leave an impression, so why should I care?
This is doubly problematic during the big surprise character reveal.
It's been almost 7 years since the last time the audience saw that character, don't just dump them into the movie looking nothing like we remember and expect people to get it. I'm not saying the plot had to revolve around it but throw us a bone here. We just spent the last 80 minutes or so watching Alice and her pals escape from a prison, our minds were not focused on the plots and characters from the earlier installments of the series.
Lastly.
There is WAY too much of the slow-motion-fade-into-action trick in this movie.
I think I can say, without threat of hyperbole that the movie would have been a good 10 minutes shorter without all the pointless slow motion shots.
I think in the end it all boils down to this.
If all you want is to see some folks punch, kick and shoot zombies for a few hours then you may enjoy it.
But if you want anything else, you might want to just go watch Dawn of the dead again.
Fixed that for ya!Primus1985 said:
Did you watch the British television series it was based on? I'll say that I kind of liked Ultraviolet the movie when I watched it. But after seeing the TV series, I can say with all certainty that it sucked and was an in-name-only sort of rip off.
The vampires are conducting research on a number of things with the goal of synthesizing their own blood source and it's hinted at that they're long term plan is to initiate a nuclear holocaust to wipe out humans. Also, they can't be killed in a permanent way. Sure, you can reduce them to ash, but add a little vampire blood and they'll be right as rain.
And did I mention the series was only six episodes long?
No I never even heard of a BBC series about this. I dont follow BBC unless its news. Frakly I give a rats ass about some BBC series!nightwolf667 said:Fixed that for ya!Primus1985 said:
Did you watch the British television series it was based on? I'll say that I kind of liked Ultraviolet the movie when I watched it. But after seeing the TV series, I can say with all certainty that it sucked and was an in-name-only sort of rip off.
The vampires are conducting research on a number of things with the goal of synthesizing their own blood source and it's hinted at that they're long term plan is to initiate a nuclear holocaust to wipe out humans. Also, they can't be killed in a permanent way. Sure, you can reduce them to ash, but add a little vampire blood and they'll be right as rain.
And did I mention the series was only six episodes long?
I rate movies on their individual merit. Even movies that are adaptations I dont prejudge based on comic book, tv series, blah blah blah. Movies are their own medium and can only tell a story in 2-3 hours, thus need to be thought of seperatly.
Ultraviolet had spectacular action, hi science fiction story telling(something of which I thought Bob would get since he says good sci-fi should parody current events, which is true, and remember a few years back people around the world where scared of SARS and the bird flu?) great acting, and terrific pacing.
If Bob's going to venerate Robocop as the best Sci-Fi movie of all time(top 5 not the best) he should look at judge other sci-fi movies on the same merit.
Come on a little research even before the movie came out lets you know that the character reveal is the return of Jill Valentine as she is listed in the cast but you never see her in any of the previews for the movie. Also in the 2nd Movie they tell you that Leon Kennedy is dead.
Actually. It kind of does. I would sooner see a shoddy film if it were in 3D than one in 2D. It's a fun gimmick. Afterlife only does the "throwing-things-in-your-face" bit about twice. The rest of it is solid.ike42 said:
OT: Thanks MovieBob for pointing out what I've been saying for the past year. If you don't like 3D, don't go see it. Problem solved! It's nothing short of aggravating how many people needlessly complain about it.
No, what's aggravating is the quality of films that make it into production based on that overused gimmick. I guarantee you that for every shitty 3D movie made there are 10 more scripts that are 10x better which never even get picked up because they're deemed unmarketable.Dr. Danger said:
I really liked the first one, I thought it was one of the best zombie movies ever tbh (I mean, 28 days was 100x better but it was still good). The second was ...... stupid. I can't even remember what happened. The third was just strange, and stupid. And this just looks like it continues the trend.LawlessSquirrel said:
I have to say I'm the opposite of MB on this one.
ughhh it's not playing? getting some error ...
"200, Stream not found, NetStream.Play.StreamNotFound, clip: '[Clip] 'http://video2.themis-media.com/ea7ae37a7a46a0c28e8f8ce7cf27f956/mp4/escapist/escape-to-the-movies/473f851d6070b91336d88414afb95cd2.mp4"
never had an issue before.
"200, Stream not found, NetStream.Play.StreamNotFound, clip: '[Clip] 'http://video2.themis-media.com/ea7ae37a7a46a0c28e8f8ce7cf27f956/mp4/escapist/escape-to-the-movies/473f851d6070b91336d88414afb95cd2.mp4"
never had an issue before.
This just proves, no matter how bad an idea is, someone is willing to put money behind it and throttle the life out of it at the same time.
alright, hang on. that was a great review and all, but...
Other M? Mediocre character development better than the mind-bogglingly awesome Prime series? Seriously? How can you possibly say that after Corruption?
Other M? Mediocre character development better than the mind-bogglingly awesome Prime series? Seriously? How can you possibly say that after Corruption?
At least we'll be getting another CGI movie soon, hopefully it'll be as good as Degeneration. Of course, the games need a reboot. And the movies, well I think we can all agree they should just stop since they've pretty much have stopped being anything like Resident Evil outside of "ooh look, T-virus and zombies!"
Also, I do agree that people complaining about 3-D are idiots. Yes, it's more expensive, but at least it's trying to introduce a new way to watch movies.
Also, I do agree that people complaining about 3-D are idiots. Yes, it's more expensive, but at least it's trying to introduce a new way to watch movies.
Sorry, Bob, but I work in a cinema (*sighs* Movie Theatre in American) and have to put up with the blunt end of the movie going public's lack of ability to not break 3D glasses, or even hand them back at the end of the night.
They're all well and good when it's done well like with Avatar, but to be honest?
3D can go eat a bowl of dicks.
Good review, Bob. having seen pieces of this at work it looks like ridiculous, silly action fun, and what's wrong with that?
They're all well and good when it's done well like with Avatar, but to be honest?
3D can go eat a bowl of dicks.
Good review, Bob. having seen pieces of this at work it looks like ridiculous, silly action fun, and what's wrong with that?
I actually liked the first movie...
As for sequencing, yes the movies happen in between the games. The first movie happens before the first game, and the house she wakes up in is supposed to be the same house from the first game. Then the second movie comes after the second game, then it goes game, movie, game, movie etc.
As for sequencing, yes the movies happen in between the games. The first movie happens before the first game, and the house she wakes up in is supposed to be the same house from the first game. Then the second movie comes after the second game, then it goes game, movie, game, movie etc.
Sorry, but this is a horrible idea. I think having the games and the movies on different linear paths make them both enjoyable in their own right.Darkguy89 said:
I love the games, but I don't want to watch a movie about a game.
Oh no. It does it more than twice. Off the top of my head, I can think of: Alice throwing shurikens, Alice shooting her quarter-filled shotgun, the huge lumbering dude throwing his axe, and Wesker throwing his sunglasses. That right there already doubles your estimate, and this is with me being tired right now, and the fact that I wasn't exactly keeping notes on the movie. So it's entirely likely that there were one or two other cases that I missed.Dr. Danger said:
As for the 3D gimmick, I find it to be just that. If you enjoy it, then fine. I don't. It's your $3, just as this is my $3. Thus far of the movies that I have watched in 3D, only Coraline proved to be an interesting experience. Part of this, I think, is because the movie itself was so animated. No, no no, I'm not talking about it being a cartoon, I mean the way the characters moved. Coraline made good use of the 3D without the obligatory "throwing something at the camera" thing that every-other 3D-base movie seems to abuse because it's the only thing they can think to do with the gimmick. Every-other movie I've bothered to see in 3D has just been bland. The movie may have been, sure, but the 3D effects really didn't add anything that I wouldn't have gotten from the regular version. Not for me anyway.
Obviously I'm in the minority though, as they wouldn't still be producing 3D movies if they weren't profitable. If you enjoy them, more power to you. Long as I can continue to have the option of which version to see.
Edit:
Also, Jill Valentine is the "shock" reveal? Given how blatantly this movie channeled the plot of RE5 (it only lacked an African setting and a black sideki- oh wait [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0462673/]), I'd say that Jill would be the first guess. In fact, the only reason she wasn't my first guess is because Bob claimed to have not been expecting her (and upon re-watching the vid, he sounds completely sincere about it, so I'm doubting that he was sarcastically remarking at it being obvious). I mean, shit, they even did the thing where they retconned her hair to be blonde for some reason.