Review of Resident Evil (2002) by William M — 30 Mar 2014

It's Paul W.S. Anderson ladies and gentlemen, it was bound to happen sooner or later and actually, this is one of his better films, in my opinion, now thats not saying much for this poorly written attempt at fan service but Anderson, does enough to make it a watchable, guilty pleasure.

Based off the outstanding computer game franchise, Resident Evil, which in the game see a group of soldiers searching for their buddies in the forrests of raccoon city and find themselves stranded in this creepy mansion, with the living dead running around and an underground laboritory which has been used to test and create a deadly virus that kills off living creatures and mutates them into the walking dead or worse.

.. Sound premise, lots to work with, lots of characters which with a good ensemble cast and the right direction could have proved a modern day living dead franchise... It isnt. instead we follow Alice, Milla, as she wakes up in a mansion, who cant remember who she is and before you know it a seals team burst through the door, which includes Rodriguez, oh wait some guy shows up out of nowhere right before they arrive.

... And they go into the hive, an underground facility that has been contaminated with the T virus and everyones dead, well sort off! Its not painful to watch, the dialogue is hilariously ropey but Milla does a good job of keeping us invested with her performance.

The rest of the cast are completely expendable, 1 dimensional wastes of time, used either to fill in gaping holes in plot points or to be used to ramp up the action factor. The action is yet again, ok, some hits and misses, There is an entertaining scene with some zombie dogs and some general zombie munching that can appease timid fans but this film lacks a real sense of bite.

The gore is limited, the scares are non existant and the camera likes to cut far to quickly to get a sense of the full picture, I presume that was down to the studio wanting to make more money off this outing.

Cinematography wise the begining is excellent, using excellent looking sets and a gorgeous looking mansion, to create a really gorgeous and what would have you think is going to be a creepy film... Then people start talking, marilyn mansons music starts playing and any sense of dread is thrown out the window.

Oh I nearly forgot the CGI, jesus, is atrocious, why? it shouldnt be? zombies have been done superbley for decades with make up, but here anderson goes for a mix of make up and CGI nonsense, leaving you completely disconnected, the big baddie as well, holy shit it looks terrible.

Its hilarious watching the making of and seeing Anderson talk about how the Zombies are being trained up and that the "Licker" will be an actual model/synthetic robot... its not, well maybe for a second it is, but the rest of the time its just a horrid pink blur that kinda just flaps about and eats people from time to time.

Over all its a omnishambles of a film but a strong leading performance, some lovely visual work and the odd bit of action here and there leave you with something to turn your brain off and watch.