Resident Evil: Afterlife is a 2010 action horror film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. It is the second film in the series that he directed, after the first film. A direct sequel to Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), it is the fourth installment in the Resident Evil film series, which is loosely based on the video game series of the same name, and the first to be shot in 3D. It stars Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Spencer Locke, Boris Kodjoe and Wentworth Miller.
The film follows Alice (Jovovich), a superpowered human who battles her former employer, the sinister Umbrella Corporation, following the outbreak of a T-virus, which has turned most of the Earth's inhabitants into zombies. After attacking Albert Wesker (Roberts), the head of Umbrella, Alice is robbed of her superhuman abilities and must ally herself with other survivors in order to find a rumored sanctuary.
In May 2005, producers mentioned the possibility of following Extinction with a sequel titled Afterlife. Extinction was released in 2007 and was a box office success, prompting Afterlife to begin development in June 2008, with the script being written by Anderson that December. Chris Redfield, a primary character from the video games, was featured for the first time in the film franchise, alongside returning characters Claire Redfield, Wesker, and Jill Valentine. Elements from the video game Resident Evil 5 (2009), including mind-controlling P30 devices, Chris's confrontation with Wesker, and a brainwashed Valentine were adapted for the film. Filming took place in Toronto from September to December 2009 using the 3D Fusion Camera System.
The film was released on September 10, 2010, to generally negative reviews. The film grossed $60 million in the United States and Canada on an estimated $60 million budget, and made $240 million in other markets surpassing the previous film's overseas total in the second week of release. Grossing a worldwide total of $300 million, Resident Evil: Afterlife became the second-highest-grossing entry of the series. Resident Evil: Afterlife was released to DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on December 28, 2010, in the United States. A fifth film, Resident Evil: Retribution, was released in 2012.
Plot Alice and her clones infiltrate Umbrella HQ in Tokyo, slaying the entire branch except for Albert Wesker, who escapes in a tiltrotor plane and detonates a bomb that leaves a massive sinkhole. The real Alice, having boarded beforehand, attempts to execute Wesker, only for him to inject her with an anti-virus, removing her superhuman powers. Wesker reveals that he used the T-virus to gain his own abilities. He prepares to kill Alice, but the plane crashes into the mountains. Alice survives and flees.
Six months later, Alice travels to Alaska in an airplane, tracking broadcasts from a safe haven called Arcadia; she only finds a field of abandoned planes where she is attacked by a feral Claire Redfield. Alice destroys a scarab-like device on Claire's chest, giving her amnesia and pacifying her. They fly to Los Angeles and discover survivors living in a prison surrounded by thousands of undead. Luther West leads the group, consisting of Wendell, Crystal, Bennett, Yong, and Angel. With their help, Alice and Claire land on the prison's roof. Luther explains that Arcadia is actually a cargo tanker traveling along the coast. However, the ship has ceased movement and its crew is unresponsive to the group's rescue flares. Luther takes Alice to a caged man, Chris, who he believes is the prison's last inmate. Chris protests his innocence and promises to reveal an escape route if released. Alice goes to shower and catches Wendell peeping. They are attacked by a group of zombies who have tunneled into the prison. The infected kill Wendell; Alice wards them off.
Desperate, the survivors free Chris, who jogs Claire's memory by revealing they are siblings. Chris tells the group about an armored car in the prison, hoping to escape in it. However, a giant axe-wielding monster dubbed "the Axeman" begins attacking the front gate. Alice, Chris, and Crystal go to the basement armory to retrieve firearms, but zombies kill Crystal. Inspecting the armored car, Angel finds its engine is missing, rendering it useless. A hysterical Bennett shoots Angel, steals Alice's plane, and heads for Arcadia. The Axeman breaks down the gate and zombies swarm the prison. Attacking the group, the Axeman bisects Yong and incapacitates Alice. Claire successfully defends Alice and disorients the Axeman; Alice kills it. The survivors use the zombie-dug tunnels to escape into the sewers. However, Luther is dragged into the tunnels by a zombie.
Alice and the Redfields commandeer a boat and board the Arcadia, discovering it functional but abandoned. Claire then remembers Arcadia is an Umbrella trap to obtain test subjects; after her convoy escaped to Alaska, they were captured by its crew and incapacitated using scarab devices. Claire managed to escape, but was still affected by the device. They discover the imprisoned, comatose survivors, including K-Mart, and free them. Alice follows a trail of blood deeper into the ship, where she finds Wesker. The T-virus revived him after their crash but now constantly battles Wesker for control, something he believes fresh human DNA can pacify; the Umbrella staff fled when he began eating test subjects. Wesker believes consuming Alice will help him regain control of his body, as she bonded with the T-virus on a cellular level and still retained control.
The Redfields fight Wesker while Alice battles Bennett, now Wesker's employee. Wesker easily overpowers Chris and Claire, but Alice successfully subdues both Bennett and Wesker with help from K-Mart. They lock Bennett in with Wesker, who devours him. Wesker escapes in an aircraft, activating a bomb on the Arcadia; his plane explodes instead, as Alice stowed the bomb aboard it beforehand. Wesker parachutes away from the explosion, while Luther emerges from the sewers, battered but alive. Alice, unaware of Wesker's survival, resolves to turn Arcadia into a real haven and broadcasts a new message for remaining survivors, but her victory is short-lived. As Alice, Claire, and Chris watch from Arcadia, a vast squadron of Umbrella aircraft approaches. Jill Valentine, who went missing after the destruction of Raccoon City, is dictating the attack from one of the aircraft. A scarab device is attached to her chest.
Cast
Milla Jovovich as Alice, a former Umbrella Corporation security officer turned rogue fighter Ali Larter as Claire Redfield, one of Alice's former allies who escaped to Alaska Kim Coates as Bennett, a former film producer and one of the Los Angeles survivors Shawn Roberts as Albert Wesker, the Chairman of the Umbrella Corporation who possesses superhuman strength, speed, and regenerative capabilities Sergio Peris-Mencheta as Angel, a survivor and mechanic in Los Angeles Spencer Locke as K-Mart, a young girl named after the department store where she was discovered hiding Boris Kodjoe as Luther, a former professional basketball player who leads the band of Los Angeles survivors Wentworth Miller as Chris Redfield, a United States military elite soldier and Claire’s older brother Sienna Guillory as Jill Valentine, a former S.T.A.R.S. member and Raccoon City police officer Kacey Barnfield as Crystal Waters, a junior swimming champion in her high school days Norman Yeung as Kim Yong, Bennett's intern before the virus outbreak Fulvio Cecere as Wendell, a survivor in Los Angeles Ray Olubowale as Axeman, an axe-wielding creature Mika Nakashima as J-Pop Girl, Japan's patient zero
Production
Development
In May 2005, producers mentioned the possibility of following Extinction with a sequel entitled Afterlife, to be shot and set in Tokyo, Japan and Alaska. Despite Resident Evil: Extinction being billed on the official website and elsewhere as the final installment of the Resident Evil film series; on September 23, 2007, Rory Bruer, Sony's head of distribution explained, "It absolutely would not surprise me considering the success of the franchise that they find a way to come up with another. It's a real possibility." Producer Jeremy Bolt also stated that while there was no intention of making a fourth film, that the third had been particularly well done and that Paul Anderson was talking with Sony about the possibility. In June 2008, Anderson noted that negotiations were underway with Sony for creating the film. In December 2008, Anderson stated that he was working on the script. The following year, it was announced that Sony was aiming to release Resident Evil: Afterlife by August 27, 2010.
Casting
In September 2006, reports indicated that casting for the fourth film had begun, with Jensen Ackles being considered for the role of Leon S. Kennedy. Ali Larter missed seven episodes of filming the television show Heroes in order to appear in the film. Before Wentworth Miller was cast as Chris Redfield, actor Johnny Messner auditioned for the role. Having never played the Resident Evil video games, Miller began preparing for the role by searching the internet for images of Chris Redfield. Much to his surprise, he noticed how muscular the character was; with only three weeks to prep before shooting, he knew it was impossible to increase his muscle mass to that extent. He was shown video footage of the games and saw how he was visually different, especially in the first game. He did cardio to build up endurance. Miller described his interpretation on the character from the video game as: "He's definitely capable and heroic, but there's also something quite innocent. He was still freshly scrubbed, in a way, at the beginning of this horrifying journey." He described his take as the character in the film: "My Chris has been walking down this particular road for quite some time. The edges are sharper, and they're way more jagged."
Shawn Roberts was originally going to audition for Chris Redfield before Miller accepted the role. He went to audition for the role of Albert Wesker, a role previously played by Jason O'Mara. Describing the character Roberts said: "[He's the] Chairman of the Umbrella Corporation. He is in a position of power. He pretty much runs the world, and Alice is an annoyance. It's a whole process: I get to set and wardrobe gives me this big, long black jacket, and props comes over and gives me the dark glasses and the gloves. By the time you are all dressed you stand a little straighter, you walk a little differently. He's got everything going for him—he's super fast, super strong, has the ability to regenerate—it's all the elements from the game. That was one thing we all agreed on from the start: this character has to be for the fans." Sienna Guillory reprises her role as Jill Valentine, who was last seen in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. She is featured briefly in a scene shown during the credits, setting up the sequel.
Cinematography and set design Anderson was shown footage of James Cameron's Avatar, which sold him on the idea to shoot Resident Evil: Afterlife in digital 3D. He shot in high-definition with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, using Cameron's Fusion Camera System, or more specifically a Sony F35 camera. The crew spent two weeks in pre-production learning the 3D camera system. With a budget of about $60 million, principal photography took place for 55 days, from September 29 to December 2009. Filming in 3D added 20% to the budget. Roberts began filming his scenes on October 10, 2009. The final showdown scene was filmed for about six days. During production, Jovovich accidentally shot out a $100,000 camera.