"Resident Evil Afterlife" Offers no Reason why This Franchise Keeps Going

Having directed the first Resident Evil and written every installment since, crap auteur Paul W.S. Anderson returns behind the camera to put series hero (now his wife) Milla Jovovich through the 3-D paces.

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More About

• Milla Jovovich
• Resident Evil
• Paul W.S. Anderson
• Kim Coates
• Ali Larter

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It's unclear why Resident Evil—at four films and a decade's time—is the most successful video-game-turned-film franchise ever, and Afterlifeoffers no clarity. The 3-D is what you're paying for, and Anderson obliges with impressive depth and—for the cheap seats—lots of flying shards of glass, bullets, tentacles, et al. right between your eyes.

Restored to genetic normality after all her clones are killed, Alice (Jovovich) fights her way through a future that's light on hope but heavy on zombies and apparently stocked with cosmetics. The ever-fashionable Jovovich battles alongside the equally attractive Ali Larter, who still hasn't learned what to do with her mouth or hands when she's not talking. The gang fights their way out of Dawn of the Deadredux territory to a final face-off with evil Big Boss—complete with planes blowing up and zombie dogs.

The only personal touch: a slimeball producer (Kim Coates), ruthless and untrustworthy to his last dying minute.