Resident Evil (2002)

Pretty Good

From my favorite movies..

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

I remembered seeing this movie back in the theater, and hadn't watched it since so I thought I would watch it again since I wanted to watch all the RE movies and hadn't seen the last few (or any after the second one). The movie holds up surprisingly well after all these years - I mean the overall tone of the movie is clearly dated - it *feels* like a late 90's movie - not that that is bad per se. The acting is mediocre, but I never really care too much about that anyway. I just rate stuff on if I am entertained or not and I can say that I was indeed with this movie. It also helps that it is about 90 minutes. I don't think this style of movie could go on for much more than that - the jarring soundtrack I think would get a little too over the top if I had to keep hearing it for another 30 minutes. Overall the movie still hold up and is entertaining all these years later. Still worth a watch.

I remember the first time I caught this it was by accident (?) The opening sequence where they explain an underground facility intrigued me so I stayed with it. It pulled me right in. The story is rather unique and they pull it off in a credible way. Who doesn't like a secret underground city type facility, run by a computer that has had a breakdown of some sort being investigated by an elite squad of Marine types? It just captures you as the story unravels quite nicely. It had some nice scares and twists and just when you think you are out it pulls you back in more than once I might add. Its just a well executed movie. While I prefer no nudity in the movies, this was understandable as the story presents it. It does distract but for Hollywood that means $$$. This went on to launch a series of movies so need for me to go on and on. Give a look-see and find out what this is all about. BTW...I like to eat while watching. However, Zombie films don't stimulate the appetite and this had plenty of thrill-action keeping you occupied. Do have a tasty drink and perhaps some sunflower seeds on standby. Enjoy

Resident evil 2002 reviewHello. This is the resident evil movie franchise. And this is its story. The start of its story. It was conceptualised as an adaptation of the "Biohazard" horror genre video game, renamed "Resident Evil" for the global market. Paul Ws Anderson, director of the successful Mortal Kombat movie, was chosen to spearhead the project. But something seemed wrong. The characters were different from the game. Changed. Unrecognisable. It seemed as if he read the synopsis at the back of the video game box then tossed it out in favour of his own script. A script. Consisting of dialogue as silted as the first paragraph of this review. Considering that the games were never well liked for their characters' flowery discourse or Shakespearean soliloquy, the creators of the movie cut and pasted elements from other movies in Paul Ws Anderson's DVD collection then give it some cosmetic do-over to resemble the video games. Special force team sent to deal with an unknown threat in a cavernous facility? Aliens (which Anderson is unabashedly a fan of). The facility is "alive" and trying to kill you? Event horizon (also directed by Anderson). Actress Milla Jovovich in a skimpy red dress, combat boots, scenes teasing near nudity and doing all sorts of nimble kung fu to show off her lithe hot body? Straight out of Anderson's wet dreams. Jovovich plays Alice. Who the heck is Alice? We do not know as she's got amnesia. But clues to who she is are sprinkled throughout the film and it is fun to piece it all together by the end. What can I say? Other than that, Alice is a blank slate audience surrogate. The ultimate escapism protagonist titilating the men and allowing women to feel empowered by how she maintains her stunning beauty while fending off shameless groping perv.....I mean, shambling groups of zombies which only appear more than halfway through the movie.For much of the first half we are treated to a whole sequence of a special forces team breaking into a dark scary mansion to find Alice and another guy named Matt. The mansion is a cover for a hidden entrance to The Hive, a massive underground facility that had been had been mysteriously sealed. The artificial intelligence Programme dubbed "red queen" had killed all personnel in the hive and it was up to this special team to find out why. This is essentially a modernised haunted house story with the "house" being the hive and the red queen springing traps to kill the intruders. Though lacking in actual zombies, the film maintains a brisk pace and an increasing sense of dread as we descend further. The appearance of another amnesia named Spence compounds the mystery when they learn the lockdown was initiated by a virus outbreak and the red queen was merely acting to contain the virus. When the action kicks in, it is fantastic. Sure the characters do some silly things that fly in the face of common sense but the fight scenes are well shot with tight angles and claustrophobic feel which heighten the sense of panic when facing the zombie hordes with no escape. The mystery story is well plotted and shot but the experience is dampened by some of the corniest special effects even for a movie of its age. Near the end, they have a run in with a Super powered Monster rendered in the worst cgi ever. Why they decided to use rudimentary computer graphics instead of practical effects, puppetry and make up astounds me. The creature never blends with the rest of the footage and the disappointment is that it could easily have been done with a stuntman in a suit or animatronics. With an eventual resolution leaving more questions than answers, RESIDENT EVIL is undoubtedly a fun guilty pleasure. It does not follow the story but retains the tone of the games. A shallow superficial plot is at least held up by consistent tension and decent pulse pounding action. Once you can forgive all the familiar elements borrowed from other movies, RESIDENT EVIL proves itself to be a decent start to a Long running science fiction horror franchise.

I was never really into video games growing up, and I'm still not today. So a series like 'Resident Evil' just completely passed over my radar. With the 'Final Chapter' coming out shortly though I decided to go back and review the series to see what I think of it. Going back 14 years when it comes to a CGI heavy film can be a dodgy thing to do. Admittedly, there is a noticeable difference compared to the quality being produced today, but it's certainly not distractingly bad. I quite like films that are set in a confined space with the characters having to either work their way to the centre, or find a way out. This is one of those films and most aspects of it are done fairly well. The one element (that happened to be probably the biggest of them all sadly) that didn't work was the zombies. Zombies are simply not scary, not visually impressive and not entertaining. They're still better than vampires, but they are not a strong thing to have as a heavy component of your film. Having never played the game I can't confirm how close this is in terms of being true to it. I suspect though that it's pretty close. A lot of scenes feel like they're straight from a game and you can even imagine yourself having to pass the level that the characters are currently on. Milla Jovovich plays the lead role well, but I hope in the sequels she evolves a lot. At times in this one she felt like just another member of the squad, and certainly not the main character. People to this day say are still waiting for a great video game adaption to come out. 'Resident Evil' is a solid film, but it's certainly far from being great.