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Resident Evil [2002]

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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Given that Resident Evil is a Paul Anderson movie based on a computer game which was itself highly derivative (especially of George A Romero and James Cameron films), it's probably unfair to complain that it hasn't got an original idea or moment in its entire running time. In the early 1980s, Italian schlock films such as Zombie Flesh Eaters and Zombie Creeping Flesh tried to cram in as many moments restaged from American originals as possible, strung together by silly characters wandering between monster attacks. This is a much-improved, edited, photographed and directed version of the same gambit.

As amnesiac Milla Jovovich remembers amazing kung fu skills and anti-globalist Eric Mabius mutters about evil corporations, a gang of clichéd soldiers with nary a distinguishing feature between them (except for Michelle Rodriguez as a secondary tough chick) are trapped in an underground scientific compound at the mercy of a tyrannical computer--which manifests as a smug little-girl-o-gram--fending off flesh-eating zombies (though gore fans will be disappointed by the film's need to stay within the limits of the 15 certificate) and CGI mutants, not to mention the ever-popular zombie dogs. It's tolerably action-packed, but zips past its borrowings (Aliens, Cube, Deep Blue Sea) without adding anything that future schlock pictures will want to imitate.

On the DVD: Resident Evil on disc has the expected trailers, both teaser and theatrical; a half-hour making-of; zombie make-up tests; featurettes on music (with Marilyn Manson), production design and costume. A lively commentary track features Anderson, Jovovich, Rodriguez and producer/zombie Jeremy Bolt--Jovovich upbraids Anderson for talking about different gradings of film stock over her nude scene and everyone else talks about how much she hurt them by punching them out during action sequences. Anderson mentions an alternate commentary track with visual effects designer Richard Yuricich, but it isn't included. --Kim Newman

stylish and action packed with great special effects
Review date: 2008-07-24 Rating: 8 out of 10

I've never seen the computer game on which this film was based.All I can say is that this was a highly entertaining thriller/horror movie that moved quickly and stylishly from beginning to end.Packed with surprises,great special effects,well-placed humour and fine acting.

Reviews

another bad videogame adaption
Review date: 2008-06-06 Rating: 2 out of 10

ever since he made the excellent event horizon paul anderson has wasted his talent on drivil like this which is a shame

Insult to the name
Review date: 2008-05-22 Rating: 2 out of 10

Pointless, irrelevant, formulaic, predictable and insulting screen conversion of the Resident Evil games. Those who have never played may find some eye candy in this no-brainer movie, but those who have enjoyed the series right from the first game will be sorely disappointed. The essense, soul and heart of Resident Evil has been completely expunged in this vanilla, bums-on-seats, first weekender cobbled together by the boys in suits. Another dud added to the scrap pile of game/book/comic - to - film conversions.

Milla Jovovich -- making zombie-fighting sexy since 2002
Review date: 2008-05-11 Rating: 10 out of 10

There's just something about watching a hot babe laying the smack down on anyone and anything that gets in her way - and no one does it better than Milla Jovovich. She is, to put it mildly, a whole lot of woman. Resident Evil isn't all about Milla, though; nor is it all about the gore (actually, the movie wasn't nearly as gory as I expected). Above all, though, Resident Evil is not to be dismissed as just another video game adaptation thrown haphazardly together just to make money. This film has substance, subplots, and surprises to go along with the generally impressive special effects and, for my money, pretty good acting. In other words, while the unfortunate denizens of the Hive may be essentially brainless, Resident Evil is not.

I have only limited experience playing the original video game. I never got very far into it, mainly because I wasn't very adept in the gameplay department and didn't spend the time necessary to significantly improve my minimal skills. All I remember is exploring the house and trying to kill the occasional zombie that popped up along the way as the music did the principal work of creating a spooky atmosphere. The movie is much more intense than that - and far more suspenseful. It's not like some clumsy scientist just happened to drop a beaker, thereby exposing the deadly T-virus all of his geeky colleagues. On the contrary, this story generates a whole host of questions in the first few moments, questions such as who released the virus and why, but also why is the room housing such a deadly virus tied in to the ventilation system of the whole complex to begin with? (I can't say I got an answer to that last one.) I actually had to go back and watch the exposure moment a second time because I thought I had missed something the first time.

Don't expect Milla's character to supply you with any early answers, as Alice wakes up in a ritzy-looking house with no memory of who she is. Even the shocking jolt of a stranger claiming to be a cop grabbing her just before a team of commandoes suddenly crash through the windows fails to jog her memory, but she doesn't question the special ops commander when he tells her she is one of two security agents stationed in the house to protect that particular entrance to The Hive, the mega-powerful Umbrella corporation's top-secret, underground facility devoted to all kinds of dangerous and illegal research into bioweapons and the like - and that her amnesia is the temporary byproduct of exposure to a nerve gas. By the time she and the suspicious cop accompany the group to the entrance to The Hive, Alice has met her equally amnesiac "husband" and learned that the Red Queen, The Hive's central AI, locked the whole facility down and killed everyone inside in an effort to try and contain the super-deadly T-virus from spreading outside the complex. Their mission is to get to the Red Queen. It sounds pretty simple, what with everybody down there being dead and all. As they soon discover, however, those 500-odd dead bodies have arisen as blood-thirsty, flesh-eating zombies, and the Red Queen isn't going to let anyone into her inner chamber without putting up a fight.

The majority of the movie, to no one's surprise, consists of the team members trying to survive the onslaught of hordes of zombies, high-tech computer defenses of last resort, etc. As all of that exciting action is taking place, however, we see Alice trying to sort through the memories coming back to her in intermittent waves. She is a much more central figure in all of this than even she knows early on, and she isn't the only team member with secrets to be revealed. That leads to some surprisingly effective plot twists that not only advanced the story in important and plausible ways; they were also presented very much in the context of earlier scenes in the movie.

It doesn't matter if you've ever played the video game or not - Resident Evil is just an exciting, action-packed horror film. I don't consider it to be the least bit scary, but it is quite atmospheric. As a horror fan, I must say I've never counted zombies among my favorite monsters - let's face it, they're basically mindless, slow-footed creatures with no erotic potential whatsoever - so I'm not just whistling Dixie when I say that Resident Evil is a great movie. Of course, a lot of the credit has to go to Milla Jovovich, the finest of one-woman killing machines.

milla lover
Review date: 2008-02-20 Rating: 8 out of 10

This film has it's entertaining bits, like the lazer corridor and the licker scenes. However, what sells the movie is its star the lovely Milla Jovovich, she has mesmarising screen prescence and respectable acting talent and she is a superhot superbabe. Michelle Rodriguez was good too, but played the tough girl too much. Remeniscent of Janette Goldstien's potrayal of Valasquez in Aliens.
Overall Paul Anderson's film was a good but imperfect action horror.

Product Details/Specifications

Actor(s):
James Purefoy
Eric Mabius
Martin Crewes
Michelle Rodriguez
Milla Jovovich

Director(s):

Recording label: Pathe Distribution
Manufacturer: Pathe Distribution
EAN: 5060002831229
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2003-04-14
Number of discs: 1
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 100 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2002-03-15
Language: English (Original Language)

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Resident Evil [2002]

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