Resident Evil

Exactly the right movie at exactly the right time. The music and atmosphere, the sets and costume design, the special effects, the cast. Everything lined up perfectly for a young shaggy. That kid was a gothy nerd with love for video-games, horror, industrial music and Mila Jovovich. This movie managed to check all the boxes. Watching it now, it still pretty much holds up. Maybe a little cheesy but stylish and entertaining. 6 stars for watchability, one for nostalgia.

I saw this when it first was up on the big screen, and then while I thought it was pretty cool I kinda forgot about it. Then a few days ago I saw it on TV, and I have to say, it's definitely better than I remember it now.

It starts out in a slightly surreal style as we get to follow the employees of the Umbrella Corp., and the events leading to the disaster in the underground laboratory. Then in the same style we get to follow an agent waking up and how she meet the SWAT-like squad she's to work together with to set things straight again.

The overall feeling of the movie is hard to describe but I like it. No nonsense, just straight forward action. No second wasted. I am sure there were clichés in this film but certainly not many and apparently they didn't bother me anyway. Usually when you watch a B action you can get bored simply because it's like every other B action. Not so with Resident Evil, which was not B in my opinion.

Visually, it's also great. At times it was almost a dream-like feeling, from the intro laboratory scenes to the scenes from Alice's home; and most that happened thereafter.

As for storytelling, it told us what we needed to know, nothing more. If there's anything from the introduction scenes that leaves us wondering what in the world happened, who did it and why, we will get the answers as the story moves on.

Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriquez both make their parts really well in my opinion. I have not seen Milla in many other movies but what I've seen so far, I definitely like. Michelle was entirely new to me as far as I know, but I liked her performance.

My complaint could possibly be that some devices in the laboratory seemed a bit of a stretch, especially one particular security defense mechanism that they encountered early on.

All in all, a good action that is somewhat unusual in its style.

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 originally watched "Resident Evil" at a movie theater when it was first released in 2002. I hadn't played the games. There was no Rotten Tomatoes and I didn't read reviews back then so I went in blind. And I utterly enjoyed the movie: the story, the action sequences, the underground "Hive," Mila Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez kicking serious ass, and more.

Panned by critics (36% RT) but liked by users (67% RT), Resident Evil was one of the first examples of how mainstream critics just don't "get" horror. Movies that try to be artsy get great reviews even as key elements fall flat for the rest of us. The recent "Beach House" is a perfect example of this -- it was loved by critics (81% RT) and panned by users (28%).

Unfortunately, the rest of the "Resident Evil" sequels except for a few moments, rarely captured that first movie's originality and allure. Instead, check out the writer/director's excellent previous outing "Event Horizon."

I wasn't waiting to see anything amazing when I started watching for this movie, since almost all the license movies have been terrible... Fortunately, my opinion was to change! Movie was great, actors were good enough, and there was actually a plot (whoa!). Director has done a great job by having that videogame atmosphere by use of light, but still keeping the movie tense. Marilyn Manson has also made a great job by composing some of his greatest soundtrack titles which really fit for this movie. I have played both Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2, and recognized many of the scenes which were kind of similar to games. What can I say? For the people who have played games, this one gives good vibes and they are going to love it. For regular people the movie might be above the average. This was one hell-of-a-movie, and I'm waiting for the sequel.