A film review by Jorge Rodriguez Copyright © 2002 Movie-Page

To begin with let’s forget about Romero, let’s take the Dead Trilogy and store it in the back of our minds for awhile for further usage. Although "Resident Evil" does draw a lot of influence from the classic trilogy it is not a part of it and you should not expect to see the same film. In a lot of ways it will be very disappointing to many people, especially those who read the original script.
However, "Resident Evil" has proven to be able to hold its own, without blatantly drawing from Romero. Through all its faults of which there were a few, I’ll admit, the film turned out to be a pretty fun flick. Just don’t expect to reinvent the wheel, it is Hollywood after all.

The story begins at ground zero of the whole T-Virus fiasco, which is probably why it was subtitled Ground Zero throughout most of production. It doesn’t take long at all to get into the film; right from the beginning you see how the T-Virus is let loose. From there it’s all down hill, that’s where the Red Queen comes in. The Red Queen is the Security System that you’ll love; you’ll hate, and will want to fry yourself by the time the movie ends. The Red Queen is thought to have gone insane and started to kill off its workers. However you begin to realize that the Queen is actually humanities best friend. Seeing as she’s the only one containing the virus down in The Hive.

Once containment begins, so does the violence. When I say violence don’t expect to see boatloads of blood shed either. Violence means death and destruction only. However bloodless it is, it does seem to create some damn good situations.
This includes the flooding in of some of the offices which make for some kick ass zombies later on.

Ah and the next scenes are quite nice, as you meet Milla’s character who is well, butt ass naked. Don’t get too excited though, this isn’t a porno flick, and we all know it cost a lot more these days to get actresses to show some tits. After that you begin to sense things with her aren’t exactly kosher either. Her memory is gone, and she’s sitting on top of a building full of dead bodies. This is where the obligatory commando’s come in, not the S.T.A.R.S. like in the game, but a group of elite soldiers trained by The Umbrella Corp. As chaos ensues we find a man posing as a cop, which the commando’s take hostage simply because he looks suspicious. Then you have Milla’s husband who was also brainwashed, a la Men in Black. From there on it’s a simple get in and get out operation. I’ll let you see for yourself.

One of the biggest worries people had about the film were the zombies, the CGI, and the story. Well let me start with the best first. I must say this, and I can hear the flames crackling in the background. The zombies in "Resident Evil" are the best zombies ever. Bold statement I know, but I don’t regret it. Romero’s army of the dead can’t hold a flame to these friggin’ nasties. The whole lot of them looked nasty as hell, and had creepiness about them. However don’t expect to be trembling; it’s not that kind of flick. Its frights are mostly stinger based much to my disappointment. The attacks however are varied, unlike many movies in recent years, Anderson’s prior work included. With RE you don’t know where it’s coming from, but you know its coming so it’s not as frightening. The major pit fall was the fact that there weren’t many zombie scenes. But they worked with what they had; the film was a prologue to the games and possibly another film so it’s harder to put the zombies in when you first have to make them. Manson’s score actually made the stingers work pretty well.

Next for the ugly, not the CGI per se, it had its ups and its down but the zombies wouldn’t be the same without it. I’ll be the first to tell you I would take prosthetics over CGI any day, but Anderson did manage to work with the CGI quite well. Let’s face it, studios love the CGI so there was no way around it.
Most of it was well done, mostly in the close ups. Once the camera was zoomed out it looked straight out of the game not in a good way either. One part was even worse it stooped down to the level of "The Mummy Returns." Overall they made the best of a CGI situation.

Now for the shocker, I know many people out there were disappointed that Romero’s script was booted. And well the plot behind RE is rather elementary I’ll give you that also, it’s really the simple things that make it fun and worth seeing again. Like I said before, it’s a prologue to the games and to possibly a sequel. As a prologue it does its job very well, not only does it give fans of the game more insight, but it sets everything in motion. Hell some of the things you discover, will draw that “hell yeah” reaction, and the ending will leave you hoping for the sequel. I for one am already eager to see a sequel, oh and expect a Nemesis.

	Running Time: 100 Min | Rated: R | US Release: March 15th | More >>

Related Links:

• Official Site
• Dark Horizons -- Resident Evil
• Upcomingmovies.com: Resident Evil