After an attack by the forces of Umbrella Alice finds herself trapped in one of their top secret installations. Once again she must fight the forces of this evil zombie manufacturing corporation, but she is not alone. . .
It's official, the Resident Evil franchise cannot be stopped. This artless series devoid of anything resembling originality returns once more and everything proceeds according to the usual formulaic template. Once again Milla Jovovich jumps around shooting zombies and monsters with a bunch of forgettable characters who also jump around shooting zombies and monsters. In fairness things begin in stylish fashion with an action scene shown in reverse as the opening credits roll. It's a shame there's not a similar display of inventiveness throughout as this fourth sequel is the usual mix of dream sequences, repetitive action scenes, clones and cheap CGI all smothered in a mind-numbingly irritating score.
Maybe its a case of simply giving the fans what they want but this latest entry bears the worst hallmarks of its source material, feeling like nothing more than a videogame complete with characters moving from one level of challenges to the next preceded by lengthy exposition. But just how much enjoyment can be had from watching someone else play a videogame? Oh well, at least fans of the console series may welcome the addition of a few familiar characters and it will probably not be the last movie in the franchise. Yet again audiences are given a sequel baiting finale, worryingly one character at the climax of this mess proclaims it to be only ". . .the beginning of the end". Surely someone must want more of this?
British director who specialises in noisy, flashy sci-fi action. Made his debut in 1994 with the ram-raiding thriller Shopping, and scored his biggest critical success in 1997 with the scary space shocker Event Horizon. Anderson's Kurt Russell vehicle Soldier was a costly flop, but his computer game adaptations Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil proved more entertaining than they probably should have done. His Alien Vs. Predator was a hit, but was controversial amongst fans of the two franchises. Remake Death Race, a liberal version of The Three Musketeers and more Resident Evil sequels followed before he had a go at 3D peplum with Pompeii. Monster Hunter was a return to the gamer milieu with wife Milla Jovovich, but underperformed. Not to be confused with Magnolia director Paul Thomas Anderson.
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