Resident Evil (2002)

Really Surprised!

Just so...so bad

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I first seen this back in 2004 on a VHS copy that my buddy owned, he myself and another buddy watch it together.Since It was my first experience seeing the movie I totally loved it, which was surprising because at the time I wasn't sure about it, since it was a horror movie, I stayed away from them a lot as a little kid. The suspense is quite creepy but not too creepy because it's also an action movie blended in to one, however this first installment is more suspense with good jump scares and small action scenes. The pace is fast and the movie is kinda edgy in music and action sequences, I've seen the remake of the original game which my one buddy owns on Game Cube, it's good but also really creepy and I like that the movie captured that essence. Alice played by MIlla Jovovich is the heroine of the film, who has amnesia, as we met her she comes to the shower, which looks like she hit her head, she is oblivious to things as the audience is, we lean what's going on as she does. Which I feel is fresh for as zombie movie.The movie is 100 minutes but fairly fast paced and has an engaging story, so you met characters as the movie goes. Alice is joined by special forces-like operatives that inform her and a couple other characters about what's going on. Video game purists will not like this movie but casual audiences will probubly enjoy it, it's made to be popcorn fun that's all, it should not be looked at as anything else but a fun movie however haters will hate so each there own I guess.Overall I enjoy the film to this day, for me it's a guilty pleasure. I give it a 7/10. If you want a fun but suspenseful action film with fun action scenes and great scares look no further. Give it a look. It's fun.

Resident evil 2002 reviewHello. This is the resident evil movie franchise. And this is its story. The start of its story. It was conceptualised as an adaptation of the "Biohazard" horror genre video game, renamed "Resident Evil" for the global market. Paul Ws Anderson, director of the successful Mortal Kombat movie, was chosen to spearhead the project. But something seemed wrong. The characters were different from the game. Changed. Unrecognisable. It seemed as if he read the synopsis at the back of the video game box then tossed it out in favour of his own script. A script. Consisting of dialogue as silted as the first paragraph of this review. Considering that the games were never well liked for their characters' flowery discourse or Shakespearean soliloquy, the creators of the movie cut and pasted elements from other movies in Paul Ws Anderson's DVD collection then give it some cosmetic do-over to resemble the video games. Special force team sent to deal with an unknown threat in a cavernous facility? Aliens (which Anderson is unabashedly a fan of). The facility is "alive" and trying to kill you? Event horizon (also directed by Anderson). Actress Milla Jovovich in a skimpy red dress, combat boots, scenes teasing near nudity and doing all sorts of nimble kung fu to show off her lithe hot body? Straight out of Anderson's wet dreams. Jovovich plays Alice. Who the heck is Alice? We do not know as she's got amnesia. But clues to who she is are sprinkled throughout the film and it is fun to piece it all together by the end. What can I say? Other than that, Alice is a blank slate audience surrogate. The ultimate escapism protagonist titilating the men and allowing women to feel empowered by how she maintains her stunning beauty while fending off shameless groping perv.....I mean, shambling groups of zombies which only appear more than halfway through the movie.For much of the first half we are treated to a whole sequence of a special forces team breaking into a dark scary mansion to find Alice and another guy named Matt. The mansion is a cover for a hidden entrance to The Hive, a massive underground facility that had been had been mysteriously sealed. The artificial intelligence Programme dubbed "red queen" had killed all personnel in the hive and it was up to this special team to find out why. This is essentially a modernised haunted house story with the "house" being the hive and the red queen springing traps to kill the intruders. Though lacking in actual zombies, the film maintains a brisk pace and an increasing sense of dread as we descend further. The appearance of another amnesia named Spence compounds the mystery when they learn the lockdown was initiated by a virus outbreak and the red queen was merely acting to contain the virus. When the action kicks in, it is fantastic. Sure the characters do some silly things that fly in the face of common sense but the fight scenes are well shot with tight angles and claustrophobic feel which heighten the sense of panic when facing the zombie hordes with no escape. The mystery story is well plotted and shot but the experience is dampened by some of the corniest special effects even for a movie of its age. Near the end, they have a run in with a Super powered Monster rendered in the worst cgi ever. Why they decided to use rudimentary computer graphics instead of practical effects, puppetry and make up astounds me. The creature never blends with the rest of the footage and the disappointment is that it could easily have been done with a stuntman in a suit or animatronics. With an eventual resolution leaving more questions than answers, RESIDENT EVIL is undoubtedly a fun guilty pleasure. It does not follow the story but retains the tone of the games. A shallow superficial plot is at least held up by consistent tension and decent pulse pounding action. Once you can forgive all the familiar elements borrowed from other movies, RESIDENT EVIL proves itself to be a decent start to a Long running science fiction horror franchise.

This really does seem like it was a movie intended for fans of the "Resident Evil" game. I've seen some of the sequels and they're not as good. I'm not familiar with the games, but as far as I know, this was pretty faithful to them. There was, however this one major problem that kept me from liking it. The CGI was simply terrible! I'm sorry, but while the practical effects were fairly nice to look at, a lot of this movie was just plain ugly! Now, I know that it's not meant to be Shakespeare. It does seem a lot like a video game.I appreciate it when people are loyal to the fanbase. The pacing is this film is kind of on and off. It gets a bit too fast into it, but then again, a lot of the film is well put together. I actually do feel for some of these characters even though I'm not familiar with the games. I also like how this does set up a story that is used for more movies, even if they're not that great of a product. It probably helps that I'm into zombies. While I found it to be okay, the creators definitely tried. **1/2

The video game adaptation sparks a franchise that has soldiered for five sequels. The first film begins with the hive of the Umbrella Corp under a lockdown as a virus spreads through the facility. Alice (Milla Jovovich) wakes up with a blurry memory inside a mansion. She encounters Matt (Eric Mabius) who claims to be part of the police force when they are captured by a military team. The leader of the team is One (Colin Salmon) who is taking them from the mansion deep underground to stop the evil rogue AI, the Red Queen, beneath Raccoon City. Alice also has memories of being married to Spence (James Purefoy). She teams up with Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) after most of the team is eliminated by a laser beam hallway. The movie turns into a typical zombie movie from that point on with cheap special effects and over the top action common for a movie directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Audiences have been spoiled with zombie gore since this film was released and this is nowhere near one of the top in this subgenre of horror. The special effects are pretty flimsy and dated too. Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com