Resident Evil

                A good friend of mine was recently telling me about how much he loves the Resident Evil franchise, and it made me realize that I have never actually reviewed any of the films. Well, it is time to fix that and start at the beginning. While I was never a big fan of the games, I can wholeheartedly say that if you are a big fan of the games, you are probably going to hate the films. If you are not a fan of the games, you will probably enjoy the films slightly, but not much. This film is just not that good. Even if you go into it with an open mind, it is difficult to get into it with its screenplay, effects, and acting performances. Aside from that, you also have the unique and whacky directing style of Paul W. S. Anderson. Having directed films such as AVP, Mortal Kombat, and Event Horizon, you know to expect some zaniness and crazy effects in this film, and that is exactly what you get.

            Right away, we start with the basic plot points of the franchise. We are talking Racoon City, the T-virus, Hive, etc. Now, we usually know how these things go. The virus is released inside of the facility, the facility is then placed under quarantine, and people go absolutely insane as people begin to mutate, etc. We know what these stories are about. They usually involve military, or mercenaries, Milla Jovovich’s character is caught in the middle, clearly, she is special, and so on and so forth. Let us start with my biggest issue that I have with this film; it is very contained. I understand that the games work in a certain way when they first start, but what translates in a game is not always what will translate in a film, and for a zombie film, which is essentially what this is, the last thing you want to do is make it feel clustered by giving it little space to work with. It makes the film feel less threatening and more claustrophobic, and I am not entirely sure that they were going for that. The film also tries to make up for its lack of plot and refined screenplay by falling into the same tired trope that several video game adaptations fall into, it is loud, cheesy, violent, and features as many callbacks to the games as you can think of. While that might make the casual fans of the franchise nod their heads in approval, anyone that is a fan of film and wants to be entertained will end up disappointed by the time the credits roll.

            I am not saying that the film is all bad. It has some decently cool moments, and Michelle Rodriguez is awesome in her role, but I just needed more care put into it. The film suffers from being formulaic and sloppy in its execution. I do not hate this movie the way my friend said that he did, but I am also not a big fan. It is fine. Like I said, some of the action is cool, but it just does not have much else going for it. The characters are hollow, stiff, and the screenplay is just cheesy. If you want to watch it, I say go ahead, but I doubt you will watch it more than once. Official Rating: 2 Stars.