DISCLAIMER: I did not see this movie in 3D so I cannot comment on the quality of the 3D and whether or not it added anything to the movie going experience. I want Green Lantern to pop my cherry on the 3D concept. :)
Ok, let me start by acknowledging that alot of people don't like these movies. Some because they deviate vastly from the video game source material, and some because they admittedly are not cinema gold. However I have always liked these movies. I've never played a single Resident Evil game so the source material deviation never bothered me. As for the quality I found them to be enjoyable enough to keep my attention. I found the first one pretty good, and I really liked the second one Apocalypse. The third one Extinction, however I found mediocre at best, and thought for sure that would be the end of the franchise. Obviously it made enough money to warrant a fourth. So what did I think of this one?
Well the plot is pretty simple and I wont go into too many details but there are MINOR SPOILERS. The movie picks up where the last one ends with a rather promising opening sequence involving the multiple Alice's attacking the Umbrella headquarters. We are introduced to the main villian Wesker, who is about as cookie cutter as you can get for this type of movie. He's basically a poor mans agent Smith from the Matrix. Wearing his black suits and delivering his lines in a droll monotone voice he never emits the type of fear and squirmyness of agent Smith. After the attack on umbrella Alice travels to Alaska searching for the people she left headed there at the end of Extinction. Needless to say they are not there and all she finds is a crazy Claire Redfield played again by Ali Larter. The two fly to Los Angeles where they land on a prison surrounded by hordes of the dead and occupied by a few survivors including Chris Redfield. From here it becomes your typical movie where the people die off one by one, there are some zombie fights (too few for a zombie movie if you ask me) with lots of guns and blood, and some big monster zombie thing with an ax hammer that basically just shows up with no explanation. If you've seen the previews you've pretty much seen all the good action pieces in the movie. There is also a twist at the end that you probably figured out in the first 5 minutes of the movie. That's basically it for the plot, nothing special but not non-existent.
As for the performances, Milla Jovavoich and Ali Larter are the same as always. If you have seen the previous movies they don't go above and beyond or bring anything new or deeper to the characters than before. They are basically exactly the same but in a different setting. Wentworth Miller plays Chris Redfield and his talent is basically wasted since he really has nothing to do in this movie. His introduction is lackluster and actually makes zero sense. The coincidence of him and Claire (brother and sister) ending up in this same prison at the same time is too much of a stretch even for me.
Overall I was actually let down watching this movie. As I said before the previous ones weren't cinematic gold but they at least kept my attention. This was the first one in which I actually found myself looking at my watch, which is never a good sign. There isn't anything new in this. I think that when you get up to the fourth movie in any franchise there really isn't any new ground to cover. You feel like your watching the same movie for the fourth time. There's no character growth or real plot development, and new characters are thrown in and then eaten before you even learn their names. Overall I would place this movie on par with Extinction and call it mediocre at best. My rating is a 2 out of 5 or a C-. Highly dissapointed.
One last note, as has become customary in basically every movie these days there is an after credit scene so if you're interested stick around. The movie ends on a cliffhanger like all the other ones indicating a sequel. I wont give too much away but the after credit scene features the much ballyhood return of a popular character missing since Apocalypse. Any one familiar with the movies can guesse who I'm talking about, and this person will apparently be the focus of the next installment should this one make enough money to keep the franchise limping along.