Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D

Milla Jovovich is back as the genetic mutant “Alice” in the video-game Wonderland of zombies and black-ops corporate villains. Also returning is director Paul W.S. Anderson (he directed the first Resident Evil but only wrote the first two sequels, as he does again here), so all is in place to please the franchise’s most bloodthirsty fans. And of course, the whole thing is in 3-D, where bad sequels go to die. The story, never a strong suit in these pictures, is as incomprehensible as ever, with our heroine and her cohorts marooned in a sea of zombies, holed up in—of all things—a prison in downtown Los Angeles. The setting brings to mind Pauline Kael’s remark about Earthquake (1974): “There is something peculiarly gratifying about seeing the smoking ruins of the city that movies like this come from.”