Movie

Review: Resident Evil

March 12, 2002 by Erich Becker No Comments

Resident Evil is one of my favorite game series to date. I didn’t have the curse of owning a PlayStation, so my first endeavor into the series was Resident Evil 2 for the Nintendo 64. Later I would try my hand at Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil: CODE Veronica for the Dreamcast, and later this year, gamers will we treated to two new RE games on the Nintendo GameCube. So with all of the background, and expectation, does Resident Evil (RE) make a successful video game to movie transition?

Holy Freaking-Yes!

Despite what some critics may say, and only some, the movie totally rocks. From the minute I stepped into the theatre, and saw the familiar Umbrella logo on the big screen, I was amazed, and overjoyed that this was finally happening. The movie starts off with a killer credit sequence setting up who the Umbrella Corporation is for non-fans. Constintin Films tried really hard to set this movie up for people who are not familiar with the series.

The basic plot is one of a prequel to the games, although there are some familiar elements. A mansion is shown in the first part of the movie, while it remains to be seen if the mansion is the same particular one in the first RE game, but seeing the ending of the film will make you doubt it. Milla Jovovich’s, Alice, character suffers acute memory loss in the beginning of the film, and throughout we learn about just who she is and how she ties into Umbrella. After an accident at one of Umbrella’s underground laboratory’s under Raccoon City, the 3,000 or so employees are exposed to the T-Virus, a viral agent capable of reanimating a human body into a soulless zombie whose only instinct is to feed.

After Jovovich’s character, and a rookie cop (not Leon) are caught by an elite Umbrella force sent to infiltrate the Hive and shut down the Red Queen, the facilities A.I. that they believe has gone homicidal and killed the entire staff. In short time the “l33t” squad of Umbrella personal are made into mince meat, the survivors have to piece everything together (excuse the pun, har har har).

Fans of the series will recognize some of the monsters, such as zombies, zombie dogs, and the ever cool Licker who actually evolves before your eyes when given fresh DNA. While the story may not be too above average, it does present some nice twists and turns that keep you guessing, and the best part, the movie actually produces some legitimate scares, as well as some T and A.

The Marilyn Manson score has already received high praise in our soundtrack review, but on the big screen with a high decibel level, it is even cooler.

The best part of the whole experience is that you know a sequel is guaranteed. The movie ends in just the right spot where we could see Leon and Claire barreling down the street in a police car being chased by that blasted tanker truck.

In the end, Resident Evil was worth every penny it received this weekend at the box office (around 18 million dollars), and I can honestly say I will be making more than a few trips to the theatre to see some live action zombie movie. I know I seriously doubted Paul W.S. Anderson’s potential in doing this right, but I don’t think the movie could have had a better director.

Three months later…

Written by Erich Becker
Thirty-something with a love of everything we cover here, and a few things we don't. Erich has run Entertainmentopia since the site's inception in 1999, countless redesigns, a few crashes, and a lot of media later, here you have it!