Resident Evil (2002)

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Writer: Paul W.S. Anderson

Tagline: A secret experiment. A deadly virus. A fatal mistake. You're All Going To Die Down Here!

Actors: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, James Purefoy, Martin Crewes

Runtime: 1h 40m

Category: Outbreak, Video Game, Zombie

Synopsis: The Umbrella Corporation has been working on a new nerve agent called the T-Virus. It has finally been fabricated, along with the antidote, inside a top-secret underground research facility known as The Hive. Located beneath Raccoon City, The Hive has been contaminated by the T-Virus, throwing its central computer, The Red Queen, into Hitler Mode. She locks down The Hive and everyone dies…or so they thought. “They” are a S.W.A.T. team sent by the Umbrella Corporation to investigate The Red Queen’s sudden taste for genocide. Once inside, accompanied by Alice and her “husband”, two operatives who live in the mansion above The Hive, they discover the T-Virus’ purpose: to re-animate dead tissue! Now on the run from a host of ghouls, Alice and the team must reach the antidote and escape before becoming zombie rations, and by any means, keep the incident inside The Hive contained.

Review: Based off of the video game Resident Evil, the movie follows a slightly different path. One might say that the movie is kind of a prequel to the video game. The game starts you off inside the mansion fighting zombies, while the movie depicts why all those zombies are there in the first place. Having played the game once or twice, I was very impressed with its cinematic counterpart. The blood and gore were wonderful and the make-up was really, really good. I liked where they went with the story and how it ended; though we all knew there was gonna be a sequel, they left it at a point that left you on the edge of your seat. Loved it! The acting was pretty good; it was cool to see Milla kicking the shut out of zombie dogs. If you haven’t seen this movie because you were violated by some other game-to-movie flick…you are missing out! This will reinstate your confidence that the silver screen can make a decent video game movie.

Rating: 24. I have had many different interpretations of this movie, ranging from great to down-right dreadful. But I have to say that after much thought and consideration…I could not find a whole hell of a lot wrong with this movie. The action sequences were nice and the zombies were well done (the zombie dogs were really well done). I thought the storyline was nice; not streamlining the game but going in a slightly different direction that makes perfect sense and was easy to follow (not a lot of technical shut). Thus I give you, probably the best game-to-movie flick to date. Resident Evil. (24of25).