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Resident Evil 2002 |
Review by Jonathan Cornwell |
Directed by Paul Anderson
R, 100 min. (strong violence, language, sexuality, nudity) |
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Starring: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, James Purefoy, Martin Crewes
Producers: Bernd Eichinger, Paul Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Samuel Hadida
Screenplay: Paul Anderson
Distributor: Screen Gems
Released: 3/15/01 (Wide) |
Rating:
  (out of ) |
Resident Evil is a relentless, somewhat bizarre and illogical film based on the hit video game "Resident Evil." It's also
another in a growing Hollywood trend to attract audiences to films based on these various (usually ultra-violent) video
games. The film is part horror, part action, but the result is a dreadfully bad mix of poor acting and a ridiculously-overused
bag of clichés that are usually put to good use in films of this nature. About all Resident Evil has going for it
is the gorgeous Milla Jovovich and a spunky Michelle Rodriguez, the former scantily-clothed and the latter with her best "Vasquez"
impersonation from the sci-fi classic Aliens. Their presence is appreciated, but ultimately unimportant as the story's
nonsensical and jumbled plot leaves one confused and irritated by the time the predictable conclusion stumbles across the finish
line.
The story seems like a retread of various films such as Aliens or Night of the Living Dead. A team of specialists investigate
the locked down "hive" of the Umbrella Corporation, a company that dominates the world of medicine. This underground
facility is run by a 2001-like Hal named the Red Queen. She has eliminated all threats to exposing the outside world to
a contaminant DNA strain (being illegally developed by the company) that has exposed all workers to its affects - that of
turning everyone into zombies that must feed on the living in order to survive. The team, led by Jovovich and Rodriguez, is
slowly wiped out in grizzly fashion, although the film's best scene occurs during one of these moments. Eventually, they must
escape the facility while fending off zombies and a mutated monster with a long tongue. To top things off, they have only
60 minutes to make their escape. Fun, huh?
The film is chalk full of "what are they thinking" moments, a staple of most films in the horror genre. But this film insults the
audience with trying to pretend to be serious. It conveniently throws in a subplot involving Jovovich's character trying to
expose the company's practices, while another character is "surprisingly" the evil-doer in their midst. Please. And by the
time the zombies come around, you're wondering if it's too late to get your money back. Invariably, all that's left for the film
is to shower the viewer with as much technical jargon and unrelated visual pieces of candy as possible. While observing
Jovovich for long periods of time is fine, an entire film based on that premise is a bit superfluous.
In its defense, Resident Evil is a good deal better than other video game related films such as the disastrous Dungeons and Dragons, the inept
Tomb Raider, or the unbearable Mortal Kombat, but it pales in comparison to the most realized and best
in the genre to this point, last year's Final Fantasy.
How audiences will respond to Resident Evil is unknown given the mixed results of similar films in the past. There's some
action and a liberal use of gore on display here, but whether the average movie-goer will appreciate the lack of any real
structure or the absence of any logic whatsoever in its script is a precarious position for any film to be in. My guess is that
more thoughtful viewers will be appalled at a film that relies solely on loud noises and lazy special effects to carry the day.
In the final analysis, Resident Evil is an evil that resides in your local theater, one that would best remain unvisited.
© 2002 Jonathan Cornwell
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 | Masterpiece - Film perfection |
| Excellent - A Must See |
| Good - Highly Recommended |
| Fair - Worth seeing |
| Average - Viewable, but not recommended |
| Below average - View at own risk |
| Poor - Avoid at all costs |
| Very poor - An embarassment to the film industry |
| Zero | Awful - One of the worst films ever made |
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