Review of Resident Evil (2002) by Halfwelshman — 26 Jan 2012

I'll admit this from the off - I am not a fan of the Resident Evil games. I think I played Resident Evil 3 briefly a long time ago but that's where my experience with the series ends. The first film in the series is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine.

Resident Evil works as a pretty decent example of both an action and a horror movie - the set pieces are entertaining and stylish, there are a couple of decent scares and the whole film maintains momentum (if not quite tension) throughout.

Milla Jovovich has another ballsy action heroine role to add to her C.V., and while Alice is not quite up there with Leeloo, she's a solid protagonist that does exactly what is required of her, that is to say she still kicks serious undead behind.

The rest of the cast, and their characters are generic and unmemorable, and as is traditional with this kind of film, it quickly becomes a game of "who's going to be zombie lunch next". Will we ever see Michelle Rodriguez playing a different character? It's highly doubtful, but hey, she's got a good thing going with type-casting, so who am I to judge.

The script is also pretty clunky, but at the end of the day it's just an action-horror movie, and one based on a video game at that, so you don't expect much in that regard. The CGI was also never top-of-the-line (being a film entirely financed by small European studios) and these effects look even worse today, so thankfully they're used sparingly.

You can have a pretty good time with Resident Evil if you're prepared to gloss over a few issues, and just take it for what it is - a bit of fun. You'll really see it at its very best if you watch it with a couple of friends, perhaps with a beer or two, then you can all indulge in what makes it good entertainment, and as one, you can also ridicule what makes it.

..less good. Just sit back, leave your brain outside and enjoy the ride. And watch out for the lasers.