Resident Evil

I was generally surprised that I liked this movie, not being a fan of either of it's stars. I decided to give the movie a try since it does deal with one of my favorite horror topics...zombies!

As a horror movie Resident Evil fails miserably, it's not scary and contains only small amounts of suspense. It is much better as an action film although much of the action is chaotic, accompanied by lame heavy metal/thrash music. But seeing as it is based on a video game and made primarily for teenage boy video game addicts it is quite good in and of itself.

The movie plays well, even though it is apparent that some scenes have been cut to achieve an R-rating. The characters do what they need to do in order to survive.

One small problem with the movie is the relative lack of zombie screen time. They do appear in two major scenes but most of the time the hallways are clear. This hive was supposed to employ thousands of people but you only ever see 100 zombies at the most. Also, the humans seem to be able to travel easily wherever they have to go until it is time for another action sequence. It would have been better if they constantly ran into single zombies which they were able to easily dispose of, but this is nit-picking on my part.

Overall I enjoyed the movie and I have never seen, let alone played, the video game. I'm not sure if this movie will have the staying power over multiple viewings for me (like Aliens) but it's a very good single viewing action picture. Easily the best movie I have seen based on a video game. Despite it's flaws Resident Evil rates a 7 out of 10, if taken more seriously this could have been a really good movie. It would have been nice to see a George Romero version.

I had to sift long and deep for a good comment on this. Why all the hostility? I think there was great chemistry on this production and it shows; the actors and crew involved loved the game and had a good time making this. This movie successfully recreated the feel of the game, and because it kept exposition to a minimum of what you needed to know for this particular story and didn't borrow from or revise any of the original characters or settings, it supported and strengthened the franchise. No story is retold here, no words are wasted, the setting, feel and pace is familiar to fans of Resident Evil and yet it's perfectly accessible to those unfamiliar with the broader storyline. Not giving the fan-boys their favorite characters was a good choice since characters tend to get mangled in adaptation, and yet the fan-boys still complain. With this film you have a good, watchable story that can partake of the Resident Evil cosmology, showing it due respect.

It did an excellent job establishing characters without too much unnecessary background, developing them just enough to make you want to know what they'll do next, to make you care before the sudden and gruesome happens to them. The acting was above par for a Resident Evil, certainly much better than the first game. The plot was no more comic bookish than any of the games. My one complaint was that the characters were too battle-trained, too slick, too good at fighting for them to be sympathetic horror subjects. This could've been balanced out with more reaction shots showing the soldiers wetting themselves. But Alice's over-the-top commando-style action made her too much of a super heroine to really make anyone concerned about her survival; characters made of Teflon make good action but apathetic horror subjects.

This movie means business. Quick disaster with a mystery to it, jarring deaths, naked Milla, all in the first few minutes. It keeps up the pace throughout. In terms of critical comments, yes, you don't really care about the characters, but so what? How often do you really care about the monster fodder in horror films? And true, it wasn't a literal working of the movie, it didn't take place in a mansion and it didn't involve exploring lots of rooms and solving puzzles. That's because it's a movie. A literal translation of Resident Evil would probably be really dull. Games and movies are very different mediums. I don't think some people here understand that. One guy said he thought the movie rocked but after repeated viewings he thought it sucked, and that's a video game player attitude - movies don't have to have good replay value, it's okay to enjoy them once. I only enjoyed Star Wars once, but I don't think it sucked, it just didn't have a lot of depth. Not every movie has to be Citizen Kane.

It was an engaging story, moved like lightning and had some excellent scares.

Not sure why I never watched this film...I grew up playing the games and seen a few of the newer sequels...this is definitely better than those sequels and is shot really nicely. Only thing is, the regular zombies were a bit 80s looking lol. But the huge deformed ones were great looking

First things first, I really like "Resident Evil". While I can't comment on the success of the conversion to a movie as I've never played any of the numerous video games, the film is beautifully shot and has an urgent pace. It also has a great looking cast, a thumping soundtrack and plenty of boys' toys.

Milla Jovovich is stunning as the heroine, Alice. Whoever thought of casting Jovovich in this role deserves a bonus. Watching this beautiful star kick various forms of zombie butt while wearing a short red dress is a wonderful experience.

Anderson's movies may be accused of being style over substance but there's no doubting that "Shopping", "Event Horizon" and "Resident Evil" are fantastic examples of eye candy. Every shot is beautifully composed and the film has a high-budget sheen.

8 out of 10. Casio G-Shock fans will be in their element watching this movie.