Zombies recently infected our TVs with the excellent The Walking Dead. If there was an award for ‘least likely to fight the undead’, Egg (Andrew Lincoln) would have been a sure thing. But look at him now in his fancy sheriff’s outfit.

A criticism of the show for some perhaps, might be the fact that the battle against the zombies is just as much a cerebral one as well as physical. That’s all well and good, but what if you just want a simple fix of wave after wave of zombies wanting to eat your brains out? You would think that the Resident Evil franchise would tick that blood-drenched box, right?

After all this time, Alice (Milla Jovovich) still has it in for the Umbrella organisation; maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that they were responsible for releasing the deadly T-Virus that resulted in the zombie uprising in the first place, or perhaps it was that they used her as a test subject and cloned the hell out of her. Some people just can’t let a grudge go.

She and a few of her clones decide to pay the head of Umbrella a visit in their swanky underground headquarters in Japan. But Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) is a slippery so and so and escapes. This leads Alice on a journey to find safety, as well as other survivors. She discovers a radio message that reports of a place called Arcadia that purports to be a haven from the T-Virus disease.

Her initial findings don’t lead to much, but when she takes to the skies she discovers that she isn’t alone after all, in more ways than one.

When they said this was in 3D, I didn't think it would be just the glasses.

It’s easy to scoff at game-to-film projects, especially if a certain Uwe Boll is associated with them (Boll has almost single-handedly destroyed any credibility that game film titles could ever possibly have with his cinematic take on games such as Bloodrayne, Far Cry and Alone in the Dark). But Paul W.S Anderson, who began the Resident Evil series, is not only a fan of the game franchise, he’s also a competent director.

Admittedly the last two films in this series (Apocalypse and Extinction) hardly set the zombie genre on fire, but they were enjoyable enough. This fourth outing however sees Anderson (who, incidentally, also happens to be Mr Jovovich) back behind the camera, and it shows.

The best thing going for Anderson is that he’s got a good eye for action. Not only that, but he also got to play with a 3D play set; whether you’re watching the 3D Blu-ray version of this or not, you’re still aware of the 3D experience. Sure, Anderson is playing up to the technology, no doubt incorporating scenes that wouldn’t necessarily have featured, but work well in 3D. And what’s wrong with that? If you’re going to showboat new tech, why not make the most of it? Other directors may well also be championing this extra dimension, but even something like Avatar - built from the ground up in 3D – was a huge disappointment, in every dimension. Anderson’s techniques are far from subtle, but at least they entertain.

His scriptwriting abilities however aren’t so hot. But at the end of the day, the story is strong enough to get Alice from A to B ass-kicking all the way, which is all that fans of the series want to see.

He should also be commended for pushing strong female characters. Alice may not be a sci-fi icon in the same way that Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley is, but with so few strong action roles out there for actresses, Jovovich has held her own in the franchise thus far, with even further adventures as Alice on the cards.

Fans of the games will also be pleased to see some old favourites turn up; not only does Claire (Ali Larter) return, but Chris (Wentworth Miller) also makes an appearance. Anderson has also included a few new characters that make a strong impact on the series, most notably Boris Kodjoe as former basketball star Luther West, and Kim Coates as arrogant film producer Bennett.

The most surprising part of the film though, has to be that it’s not crawling with zombies from beginning to end. They certainly play their part, but it just seems to be that bit smaller than previous films, sadly. It’s a testament to Anderson then that even without an army of undead, he can still produce a fun, over-the-top, almost alarmingly entertaining chapter to this on-going series.

If you want something that makes you think, then go read a book. If you just want to marvel at Jovovich attempt to save mankind yet again, then it’s safe to say that you can look forward to what Afterlife has to offer.