Review of Resident Evil (2002) by Pillis — 24 Oct 2019

I've always been a fan of the RE games because of their gameplay and not so much for their story or characters so this movie really elevated the whole brand when it came out. The story here is much more contained both in scope and setting building up tension continuously before an electrifying escape from the hive. OST and cast are also great!

At that time the games were more horror oriented than action packed tps so it made sense for the movie to be such a tense thriller and honestly I have always felted it lacked a bit of gore. But it does one thing right that many horror movies fail to realise: make you care for the characters and then kill them all. That's a key ingredient that eventually will be lost throughout this series also because of problems casting the same actors in the sequels.

This has become such a classic as while being a modest budget movie it was capable of doing better than the original material and and becoming iconic on its own merits. There are a few boring and cheap moments like the escape through the pipes scene but it also perfectly ties to the Final Chapter which sheds new light on so many details in a clever way. Paul W.S. Anderson is objectively not a good writer but did well here and he's a great director with a unique visual style. You can see it in the beautiful sets designed for this movie and the rest of the franchise. I honestly think he quite invented a new genre with this series and this is the beginning of it all.