Resident Evil (2002) Reviewed
RESIDENT EVIL ( 2002 )
Despite being based on a video game, RE is a passably competent zombie movie with interesting elements of bullshit science. The Umbrella Corporation is conducting some shady research deep in the earth in an underground office building known as the Hive. A team of crack commandos is dispatched to figure out what went wrong (some serious cribbing of ALIENS, down to the coward and the bad-ass Latino chick) when a virus is released, shutting down the entire complex. Milla Jovovich, a better actress than she’s given credit for, is the amnesiac Umbrella employee who may or may not have had a hand in the zombie outbreak that results. The action is swift and fairly relentless. Standard action movie dialogue does nothing to stand in the way of the blunt story that lumbers forward recklessly. Decidedly mean-spirited and hopelessly grim, RE is… a delight! The zombies look like they’ve been drinking grape Crush for some reason. Some super-mutants are introduced too late in the story to be very effective. The sets and practical effects are impressive but the CGI effects probably looked dated by the time the movie was released. It’s a good midnight movie with lots of action but no real surprises. Jovovich continues her tradition of almost-nude scenes (Return to Blue Lagoon, The Fifth Element, Chaplin, et al). A sequel, which RE’s final moments lead directly into, followed.
** ½
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