Thursday, October 27, 2016

Resident Evil (2002) R

A militarized corporate security squad enter a secret underground facility to shut down a malfunctioning AI computer system after a lab accident that exposes hundreds of scientists to a reanimation virus.

The word "zombie" is never used in conjunction with the Resident Evil films, and yet I still consider the franchise to contain my favorite zombie films of all time.  We have a strong female protagonist who (at least in this film) owes her abilities to nothing more than training and intelligence... as far as we know.  We get a concise plot that has depth but is still easy to follow.  Frankly I find the films more enjoyable than the games they are based on, and I've played a lot of zombie games.  My dislike of the games isn't distaste for the genre, but we're not here to review the games.

The first in the quintet of Resident Evil films can be a bit clunky.  I can't tell if the atrocious computer graphics are to pay homage to the original game, or if they were on a seriously tight budget, but the Red Queen and any computer maps look seriously dated.  Like early '90s dated.  This is fine as an homage to the original game, but does not hold up well on film.

The first twenty or so minutes of the movie also seems slow and pointless... it's only at the end where memories are regained and the cause of events becomes clear that the necessity of the beginning being the way it is makes sense.  After that, it picks up.

This movie is not terribly heavy with gloppy gore, but there is some.  The reanimated scientists are sufficiently creepy on their own, and the addition later of the reanimated dobermans and experimental mutating beings just adds to the creep factor.

Good for the later hours of an all-night Halloween fright fest, when the pre-teens have gone to bed, you'll find that crafting during this movie works pretty well... you can drop your needles when you want to pay attention to the screen, and concentrate furiously on your hands if you don't like looking at gore.

Four and a half out of five stars.  The CGI tongues of the creatures look pretty bad, considering the era it was made, and the setup for the second film deflates the ending somewhat, otherwise this is a great action horror flick for older viewers.  There are several series sets out there now with three, four, and five films in them, so be sure to check carefully if you're deciding to purchase them as a set instead of individually, or use my links below.

 




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