Rules of Engagement

Although I missed the first 20ish minutes of this film, I picked it up quickly and found myself unexpectedly immersed in the characters and story.  It was brisk, direct, unsubtle, exactly befitting a film about U.S. Marines.

However, the ending I was waiting for was presented as words flashed on the screen just before the credit roll.  What the heck?  I would have rather seen those words unsaid, to assume those parties went unpunished, than be told the outcome with no benefit of drama, dialog, character.  If that's all they could provide, I would rather have read a summary of the script than seen the film at all.

Rules of Engagement
2000, 128 minutes, directed by William Friedkin

Resident Evil: Afterlife

This fourth installment in the Resident Evil film franchise suffers from a few flaws I've seen crop up in the series, namely the Too Many Heroes syndrome and Kill the Extras condition.  The fast-paced action just served to hasten many a demise - the group of characters was hardly introduced when they started getting picked off, leaving only the obvious heroes to the end.  And combining Alice (even her new mere mortal version) with other heroes makes some scenes almost comical.  How long can they extend killing one guy so that all three heroes get a few shots at him?  Finally, a cliffhanger ending on a film like this always disappoints.  There's no reason for it; people still attached to the series will watch the next one regardless, so it's just a point of frustration when watching the film on its own.

Maybe I'm just disappointed that the series has turned into a zombie splatter fest instead of the survival horror of the first film.  I suppose Alien must begat Aliens, etc.  But I hoped they could do better.

Resident Evil: Afterlife
2010, 97 minutes, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson